Christie's 'reverse idea'... Full-fledged investment in art tech such …
언론사(미디어) Korea Economy
글쓴이 Bora Kim
보도일 2022-07-19
2,160회
작성일 22-07-20 14:50
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Edgar Degas' bronze sculpture hologram sold for $42 million at a Christie's auction last May. It was exhibited as a hologram before the actual auction, setting a record for the highest price among Degas' works. provided by Christi
Established 'Christy's Ventures'
Betting on technology companies that cover the real thing
Betting on technology companies that cover the real thing
Christie's, one of the world's two largest auction houses along with Sotheby's, has set up a venture capital (VC) to increase investment in art-related startups. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 18th (local time), Christie's London headquarters has set up an investment firm, Christie's Ventures, and will invest millions of dollars over the next few weeks in a startup that helps collectors buy and sell art digitally.
"We are looking for a technology company that can resolve disputes over the authenticity of artworks and bring greater benefits to art owners," said Devang Taka, global head of Christie's Ventures. It means that it will invest in a wider range of art-related startups beyond the technology of safely storing and distributing digital assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It is known that he is looking into Canadian startups such as Layer Zero Labs. This is attracting attention because it is different from other investment companies that are withdrawing from tech companies. In the second quarter of this year, the amount of investment in startups in the United States decreased by 23% from the first quarter to $ 109 billion (143.5857 trillion won).
Christie's has been experimenting with the digital art trade, and has had some success. A typical example is the sale of artist Biffle's digital collage in early 2020 for $69 million (approximately 90.8 billion won). Last May, he made a hologram of a bronze sculpture of a ballerina by Edgar Degas and projected it at showrooms in Hong Kong and San Francisco, selling it for $42 million (approximately 55.3 billion won), exceeding the estimated price ($30 million). This is regarded as an “incident” that set a new record for the highest price of a Degas work. However, the current digital art trading market is frozen. Christie's digital NFT-related sales plummeted from $93.2 million in the first half of 2021 to less than $5 million in the first half of this year. “The digital art trading market is in a temporary downturn, but we decided that now is the time to put in place safeguards to protect digital assets from hackers and scammers,” said Dhaka.
Rival Sotheby's invested last year in tech studio Mojito, which designs virtual spaces. He bought a stake in RM Auctions, an auto auction house, and invested $85 million in an art advisory firm. Sotheby's said, "We will focus on ways to solve the realistic problems of art collection by actively investing in early-stage ventures."
