Latest news with #artmarket
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Are China's private art museums in crisis? UCCA's struggles are the tip of the iceberg
A wave of closures and cutbacks is sweeping through China's private art museums, ringing alarm bells about the sector's sustainability and raising questions about the outlook for one of the world's biggest art markets. The Jupiter Museum of Art, in Shenzhen, announced its shutdown in June. Days later, Qingdao's TAG Art Museum followed suit. Others, such as Ennova Art Museum in Langfang, founded by the company behind Hong Kong-listed ENN Energy Holdings, have been dormant for months. Even the Beijing-headquartered UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art has come under financial pressure. Insiders say the pioneering 18-year-old institution withheld wages from January to June, and that its plans for its Shanghai branch, which opened in 2021, are unclear. The current crisis in China is a result of corporate backers tightening their budgets , consumers curtailing their discretionary spending, and rising costs, people working at the museums tell the Post. The UCCA was founded in Beijing's 798 Art District in 2007 by the late Belgian collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens and is one of the oldest non-profit contemporary art centres in mainland China. Under long-time director Philip Tinari, it has maintained a solid international reputation for its ambitious and timely responses to contemporary trends. UCCA's third museum, in Shanghai, opened in 2021 and occupies three floors of the Edge (pictured), a commercial building. Photo: UCCA The non-profit foundation, backed by private investors, has expanded its footprint aggressively, opening three more branches: in Beidaihe in 2018, Shanghai in 2021 and Yixing in 2024.
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Why Andy Warhol Is No Match for Jay Powell—Heard on the Street
A bubble at the top of the art market has burst. Expensive paintings are proving to be more sensitive to interest-rate hikes than even sophisticated investors expected. Auction sales of paintings that cost more than $10 million fell 44% last year, and continue to be depressed in 2025. Is weakness at the top of the art market a sign wealthy collectors are growing concerned about the future? Tariffs and economic uncertainty may be making them wary of tying up millions of dollars in illiquid assets like paintings. 🔎 Read more:
Bloomberg
20-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Crypto Week Was the Worst Art Exhibit in Years
Congress showed that financial regulation is like a museum: It's hard to tell the bogus from the genius. Save This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the full faith and credit of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past and how they will define the week ahead. Sign up for the daily newsletter here. The buying and selling of art is an expensive, confusing and intimidating business, but at its heart lies a simple truth: A painting is worth exactly as much as somebody is willing to pay for it. Same goes for sculpture, photographs, ceramics, installations, conceptual art, jewelry and bananas. (But not NFTs, which are worthless no matter how much some clown was willing to pay for it.)
Malay Mail
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Banana artwork eaten again: Visitor bites into US$6.2m ‘Comedian'
STRASBOURG, July 19 — A visitor to a French museum bit into a fresh banana worth millions of dollars taped to a wall last week, exhibitors said yesterday, in the latest such consumption of the conceptual artwork. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — whose provocative creation entitled 'Comedian' was bought for US$6.2 million (RM26.3 million) in New York last year — said he was disappointed the person did not also eat the skin and the tape. After the hungry visitor struck on Saturday last week, 'security staff rapidly and calmly intervened,' the Pompidou-Metz museum in eastern France said. The work was 'reinstalled within minutes', it added. 'As the fruit is perishable, it is regularly replaced according to instructions from the artist.' Cattelan noted the banana-eater had 'confused the fruit for the work of art'. 'Instead of eating the banana with its skin and duct tape, the visitor just consumed the fruit,' he said. Cattelan's edible creation has sparked controversy ever since it made its debut at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach. He has explained the banana work as a commentary on the art market, which he has criticised in the past for being speculative and failing to help artists. The New York Post said the asking price of US$120,000 for 'Comedian' in 2019 was evidence that the market was 'bananas' and the art world had 'gone mad'. It has been eaten before. Performance artist David Datuna ate 'Comedian' in 2019, saying he felt 'hungry' while inspecting it at the Miami show. Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun last year forked out US$6.2 million for the work, then ate it in front of cameras. As well as his banana work, Cattelan is also known for producing an 18-carat, fully functioning gold toilet called 'America' that was offered to Donald Trump during his first term in the White House. A British court in March found two men guilty of stealing it during an exhibition in 2020 in the United Kingdom, from an 18th-century stately home that was the birthplace of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. It was split up into parts and none of the gold was ever recovered. — AFP
France 24
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Visitor eats $6.2 million banana artwork at French museum
A visitor to a French museum bit into a fresh banana worth millions of dollars taped to a wall last week, exhibitors said on Friday, in the latest such consumption of the conceptual artwork. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan – whose provocative creation entitled "Comedian" was bought for $6.2 million in New York last year – said he was disappointed the person did not also eat the skin and the tape. After the hungry visitor struck on Saturday last week, "security staff rapidly and calmly intervened," the Pompidou-Metz museum in eastern France said. The work was "reinstalled within minutes", it added. "As the fruit is perishable, it is regularly replaced according to instructions from the artist." Cattelan noted the banana-eater had "confused the fruit for the work of art". "Instead of eating the banana with its skin and duct tape, the visitor just consumed the fruit," he said. Cattelan's edible creation has sparked controversy ever since it made its debut at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach. He has explained the banana work as a commentary on the art market, which he has criticised in the past for being speculative and failing to help artists. The New York Post said the asking price of $120,000 for "Comedian" in 2019 was evidence that the market was "bananas" and the art world had "gone mad". It has been eaten before. Performance artist David Datuna ate "Comedian" in 2019, saying he felt "hungry" while inspecting it at the Miami show. Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun last year forked out $6.2 million for the work, then ate it in front of cameras. As well as his banana work, Cattelan is also known for producing an 18-carat, fully functioning gold toilet called "America" that was offered to Donald Trump during his first term in the White House. A British court in March found two men guilty of stealing it during an exhibition in 2020 in the United Kingdom, from an 18th-century stately home that was the birthplace of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. It was split up into parts and none of the gold was ever recovered.
