TALKING GALLERIES
8th BARCELONA SYMPOSIUM
20-21 January 2020
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
Panel discussion
"Selling Art Online: Are Galleries Prepared?"
Speakers:
- Olivia Mull, Director of Digital Marketing, Gagosian, London
- Elena Soboleva, Director of Online Sales, David Zwirner, New York
Moderated by Jane Morris, Editor-at-Large, The Art Newspaper and Cultureshock, London
The failure of a number of online art initiatives in the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s may be one of the reasons why the art world has treated online selling with a degree of scepticism, especially at the mid- and upper-end. But the past decade has seen the emergence of apparently more sustainable business models, developed by the leading auction houses and online-only sales platforms such Artsy and Artnet (the latter one of the few survivors of the early internet boom). Major galleries, notably Zwirner and Gagosian have, more recently, introduced online viewing rooms selling works online at what were often considered unexpectedly high price levels.
In this session, representatives of these two galleries discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing online sales strategies. How do we define an online sale? How much time and investment goes into a digital strategy and what returns are anticipated? Who are the potential buyers? Will online ever replace the gallery experience?