Posted on

art-market disruption & the brick-&-mortar gallery

In a time of disruption of the art market by auction house and online agents, global accumulation of wealth at the high end, and growth of the world’s contemporary art market (21 times between 2001 and 2008), Belgian investment banker and art connoisseur/collector Alain Servais believes in the brick-and-mortar model of the art gallery.

In his opinion, a brick-and-mortar gallery, like a museum or an art biennale, is where works of art look best. Galleries are a “right location” and a “right context” for works of art. “There is an aura to the work of art in the right location and the right context, which nothing replaces.”

Mr. Servais provides insight into his collecting and offers his thoughts as to how the gallery could well evolve.

Why collect?

“I don’t believe that one decides to become a collector, but rather that you are or you are not. And more generally, collecting is more than acquiring works of art. It is a way of living, a way of thinking.”

“To express myself. Adding my “sentence” around the “words” created by the artists. To share new ideas, questions, doubts, and surprises. To learn about myself and the world I am living in, so to open my mind to other options. To participate in the constitution of the history of the art of today. To feed my insatiable drive to learn what is not taught. To think outside of the box.”

“Finally, art must surprise me, challenge me, open up my mind and heart following the definition that I heard many years ago from Mera Rubell: “Art is a language which opens your heart to the Other.”

How does he collect?

In “constant conversation with art history, because when you look with connoisseurship you can find people who are completely forgotten, disregarded, or underestimated.”

How should the gallery model evolve?

The goals of the gallery are to court collectors, sell artists’ works, and give priority to the artists and to the art.

What must galleries do to evolve well?

reinforce legal and best-practices infrastructure

stabilize the artist-gallery relationship

balance contracts at all levels of the industry

provide more transparency

on pricing: “there are growing conflicts of interest between artists and gallerists. Sometimes what is in the interest of the gallery is not in the interest of the artist. For example, pricing policies. How fast do you want to raise the price?”

on the gallery-museum relationship, “what’s dubious about the gallery system? One thing is the relationship between the museums and the galleries. Right now only the wealthy galleries can get their artists work into museums because one of the problems is: who can produce the works? Who can put the money up front for massive pieces for exhibitions and biennales?”

develop multiple exhibition strategies

multiple exhibition spaces

select art-fair participation

space exchanges in different cities

pop-up exhibitions in dedicated spaces

cooperative events with artists and peer-group galleries

 animate with intellectual discourse

“art spaces need to be “animated” – with talks, conferences, and events

this will serve to enable meeting spaces – forums for exchanges – between artists, galleries, dealers, curators, collectors, and other stakeholders

See:

“Interview with Alain Servais” | BMW Art Guide

“Collector Alain Servais on Why Galleries Should Act Like Luxury Brands to Survive the Internet” | Alain Servais, Artspace, 27 December 2016

“Collector Alain Servais on Insider Trading in the Art Market, “Blood-Sucking Leeches,” and Why We’re Now Just the Fashion Industry” | Andrew M. Goldstein, Artspace, 23 May 2015

“Art in the shadow of art market industrialization” | Alain Servais, NYAQ/LXAQ/SFAQ International Art and Culture, 10 November 2014

#art #artmarket #smartluxury #luxury #artcollecting #collectors #collections #connoisseurship #AlainServais #museums #galleries #brick-and-mortar #auctionhouse #disruption #finance

Posted on

Houston’s residential real estate market & Hurricane Harvey | single-family home sales decline 24% year-over-year

The Houston metropolitan area has grown by about 400 people a day, building about 40,000 housing units a year. This has made Houston the nation’s largest new-housing market, with seven percent of the nation’s residential construction. Regulation has been light, the civic model tied to growth. Building everywhere and fast, the city has kept housing prices low.

“You have a country that’s divided between high cost places like Bay Area and New York and higher unemployment areas like Detroit, and places like Houston pick up the slack,” observed Issi Romem, chief economist at BuildZoom, a startup that helps people find contractors, both residential and commercial.

The New York Times reported on September 12 that people in Houston are “betting that nothing can stop Houston’s continued growth”.

“Redfin, a national real estate brokerage firm, said its agents had 45 home buyers lined up to purchase homes here when the storm hit. Only eight buyers backed out because of the storm, and tour requests immediately rebounded a week later.

“‘I was shocked,” said Glenn Kelman, the company’s chief executive, who lives in Seattle.

“For now, buyers and sellers are trying to figure out how prices have changed after the flood. The Powells’ potential buyer and many others are looking for a deal on a damaged home.

“At the same time, many economists are forecasting that the price of undamaged homes will rise as demand outstrips supply. Early estimates suggest that tens of thousands of homes were damaged, and developers are worried about labor shortages as repairs get priority over new construction.”

Then, on September 13, Inman reported that Houston homes sales have declined 24% year-over-year in August.

“Home sales were humming throughout the first three weeks of August, but the moment Harvey struck the region, everything came to a screeching halt,” said HAR (Houston Association of Realtors) chair Cindy Hamann.

“HAR’s latest monthly report shows that all segments of the Houston housing market felt the strain.

“August sales of property types across the board totaled 7,077, a 24 percent decline compared to the same month last year, while total dollar volume dropped 22 percent to $2.0 billion. After 10 consecutive months of gains, single-family home sales took a 25 percent year-over-year hit.”

In August, Business Insider gave some thought to the Houston housing market and vulnerabilities. Houston is a city with 800 miles of creeks and bayous that can easily overflow during a storm surge. It has seen 38,000 acres of wetlands disappear in the last two decades due to a construction boom in greater Houston. The city is flat and drainage systems are outdated. Developers, further, have often not followed the federal wetlands mandate. And building regulations have not accounted for historic flooding levels.

 

See:

“Houston housing comes to ‘screeching halt’ after Harvey” | Gill South, Inman, 13 September 2017

“Houston’s Unsinkable Housing Market Undaunted by Storm” | Annie Correal and Conor Dougherty, The New York Times, 12 September 2017

“A Storm Forces Houston, the Limitless City, to Consider Its Limits” | Manny Fernandez and Richard Fausset, The New York Times, 30 August 2017

“Houston was a ticking time-bomb for a devastating hurricane like Harvey” | Leanna Garfield, Business Insider, 28 August 2017

 

#Houston #HurricaneHarvey #Harvey #realestate #realestatemarket #housing #housing market #resilience #Redfin #HAR

 

 

 

Posted on

art & emergency planning・the MFAH shares perspective

Having passed through Hurricane Harvey with an emergency team onsite 24/7 to monitor and manage everything throughout the duration of the storm, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has shared information about its protocol for storm protection.

This information could prove helpful and encouraging to other arts institutions. A lesson to be learned: best to have an emergency plan and protocols in place ahead of possible natural disasters … and practice.

Here are some elements of the MFAH emergency protocol:

  • a hurricane-preparedness team
  • storm-planning measures to secure the buildings
  • sandbags (the MFAH has thousands of sandbags, each filled with sand the museum stores and re-cycles)
  • emergency water pumps (sump pumps)
  • floodgates to be activated as needed (the MFAH floodgates are house-made and 24-inches high)
  • preparation of a disaster-recovery website
  • a 24/7 emergency team to be stationed on site to monitor everything through the duration of the storm
    • the MFAH crew includes more than 30 people, each with a list of emergency contacts, including first and second responders, printed on a slip of waterproof Tyvek in their pockets. the team splits 18-hour shifts.
      • engineers
      • art handlers
      • IT
      • security guards
      • the chief technology officer (Shemon Bar-Tal)
      • the chief of building operations (Mike Pierce)
      • the chief operating officer (Willard Holmes)
  • relocation of works | works of art that are in potentially vulnerable locations to be moved as needed
  • a sense of humor, perspective, and humility
    • “Mother Nature and water are strange. You say, ‘I’m OK, I’ve got a floodgate, I’m good,’ and then she comes around the back door!” (Willard Holmes, COO)
    • “I think we’re really good on the broad strokes, but you can never just assume that the next storm is going to be like the one that just passed. If the last four days have taught us anything, it’s that it’s not over until it’s over.” (Willard Holmes, COO)

The permanent collection of the MFAH includes 65,000 paintings, sculptures and other objects at the main campus and at Bayou Bend and Rienzi, two historical estates along Buffalo Bayou, the city’s central waterway.

The museum is also responsible for several hundred masterpieces from other institutions, on loan for shows such as the current “Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernization, 1910-1950.”

Paint the Revolution includes works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Antonio Ruiz, Alfredo Ramos Martínez, María Izquierdo, José Clemente Orozco, Tina Modotti, Adolfo Best Maugard, and Saturnino Herrán.

See:

“How Harvey unfolded at MFAH” | Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, 1 September 2017

“This Is How Museums In and Around Houston Prepared for Tropical Storm Harvey” | Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post, 1 September 2017

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH)

 

#art #artcollections #museums #MFAH #TheMuseumofFineArtsHouston #Houston #stormprotocols #emergencyteam #Harvey #HurricaneHarvey #realestate #resilience#smartluxury

Posted on

a helpful guide to settling post-disaster insurance claims

If you have sustained a major loss from Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, or from a flood, tornado, earthquake, or fire, here is a useful guide to follow.

The guide was prepared by Bernice Ross with information from Scott Friedson. Mr. Friedson is a public insurance adjuster (PA) and the CEO of Insurance Claim Recovery Support. Ms. Ross sustained over $100,000 of damage to her house from the Northridge earthquake in 1994.

what does a public insurance adjustor do?

“‘a good PA will be your advocate with the insurance company and will negotiate on your behalf to settle your insurance claim’”

Be safe.

Immediately notify the insurance company that you have a claim.

“By filing your claim right away, you are more likely to settle your claim quickly and to find a quality, local contractor. The sooner your claim is settled, the faster you can get your life back to normal.

“To file your claim, contact your local agent, call the special 800 number the company sets up, log into your online account or visit a mobile claims center.

“Flood insurance is separate from your homeowner’s policy and can be issued through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). If you have purchased flood insurance, your insurance agent will generally assist you in beginning the filing process.

“Unfortunately, if your home was flooded and you did not purchase flood insurance, you have no coverage. Nevertheless, there may be government assistance programs available. Visit DisasterAssistance.gov and FloodSmart.gov. for more information.

“The good news is that if you purchased “comprehensive” coverage on your vehicle insurance and your vehicles sustained flood damage, they should be covered.”

Establish the pre-loss and post-loss condition of your property.

Pictures, videos, documentation.

Know whether your policy requires you to mitigate damages.

To mitigate damage = to take steps to prevent further damage

Find out what the provisions for “loss of use” and “displacement” are in your policy.

When you contract to have work done, it is recommended that you only work with vetted local contractors who are willing to warrant their work.

Examine your policy: Do you have “cash” or “replacement value”?

“cash value” policy – pays on the depreciated value of your property

“replacement value” policy – provides you with the full cost of replacement

Avoid lawsuits.

Avoid bad apples.

See:

“Settling post-catastrophe insurance claims: What agents should know” | Bernice Ross, Inman, 5 September 2017

#Harvey #HurricaneHarvey #Irma #HurricaneIrma #hurricane #tornado #flood #catastrophe #insurance #claims #realestate #art #risk #resilience

 

Posted on

“blockage” & the valuation of damage to art for an insurance claim

Ronald D. Spencer, Chairman of the Art Law Practice at the New York law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, addresses the issue of the valuation of loss or damage to art for an insurance claim. He specifically addresses the use of, and questions the appropriateness of the use of, “blockage” and “blockage discounts” as applicable standards for interpreting the loss valuation provisions of an insurance contract.

The insurance coverage amount is the maximum amount the policy will pay. This amount provides the basis for calculation of insurance premiums. Most insurance claims do not involve claims for the full coverage amount.

The methodology used by the insurer to value a damage claim is a relevant variable for the insured. Most art insurance policies are vague, however, on the valuation method, “providing, simply, that in the event of disagreement on the value of the loss, the insured and insurer will each retain their own appraisers, and if the appraisers do not agree on the value of the loss, the dispute is to be submitted to an umpire or arbitrator, whose decision will be final.”

New York’s Bruce Silverstein Gallery suffered loss on October 29, 2012 caused by flooding during Hurricane Sandy. The gallery had an “All Risks Fine Art Dealers Floater” insurance policy with a “Basis of Valuation” provision stipulating that “consigned property shall be valued at the Agreed Net Consigned Value Plus 10%.” The concept of “blockage” was applied by the umpire representing the gallery’s insurance company. This was the first time the concept of “blockage” for art sales, which first arose in 1972 in the context of art valuations for estate tax purposes, was applied to an art valuation for purposes of calculating a loss for an insurance claim.

When valuing the loss of many artworks, the concept of “blockage” values works as they could be sold on one particular date, the date of the disaster (or death, in the framework of estate sales) on which the loss takes place. Blockage discounts the present value of the works of art based on future streams of income from sales over the period of time it would require to sell the art.

The application of blockage is considered to be consistent with USPAP Standard 6 which provides that when a large mass of property is to be valued as of a specific date, the appraiser is required to take into account that the value of the whole may be different from that of the individual parts.

Mr. Spencer observes that “by choosing to apply a blockage discount to an insurance loss valuation, an umpire, in effect, is deciding that the insurance loss should be determined by the price a bulk buyer of the art at the date of loss would be willing to pay.”

He observes, further, that “the art owner should understand that the result of a blockage discount for the owners’ insurance claim is that the more art the owner has lost, the less the insurer will pay per item—the larger the volume of art lost, the greater the blockage discount for each piece.”

See:

“Think Your Art Is Adequately Insured? Here Are a Few Insider Strategies to Help Minimize Your Risk” | Ronald D. Spencer, artnet.com, 8 September 2017

#art #artmarket #artcollections #collectors #galleries #insurance #fineartinsurance #blockage #blockagediscount #risk #hurricane #Sandy #Harvey #Irma #NewYork #Houston #MiamiBeach #appraisals #valuations #finance #tangibleassets #contractlaw

 

 

Posted on

artists & collectors: develop a straightforward emergency plan

Develop a straightforward emergency plan. This advice for artists and collectors is suggested by Anne Rappa, Senior Vice President, Fine Art Insurance, with Huntington T. Block, the oldest and largest managing general underwriter of Fine Art Insurance in the United States.

Such plans are created based on very simple pieces of information. Such information includes contact information for conservators and art storage facilities and assessments of needed physical protections. Gather the information together and write it down.

Isaac Kaplan of Artsy writes: 

“Anne Rappa, senior vice president with fine arts insurer Huntington T. Block, urged anxious artists and collectors to look to museums for guidance, namely by developing a straightforward plan—such as compiling conservator or art storage facility contact information and assessing what physical protections are needed for the work. And, she stressed, be sure to write everything down.

“’When you use the words ‘disaster mitigation’ or ‘disaster planning,’ it sounds complicated,’ Rappa said. “But those plans are created based on very simple pieces of information that are culled together and put in one place. It’s the advanced thought that is so important.”

“One simple tip, she said, for artists and art owners facing water damage: Buy some blotting paper.”

See:

“Miami Artists and Museums Brace for Hurricane Irma” | Isaac Kaplan, Artsy, 6 September 2017

#art #artmarket #insurance #fineartinsurance #Irma #HurricaneIrma #Miami #Houston

 

Posted on

Gabriël Metsu’s “The Sick Child”

In the collection of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum since 1928, The Sick Child was painted by Gabriël Metsu of the Netherlands in the 17th century (c. 1664 – c. 1666).

The painting of this touching work may have been influenced by the plague that spread through Amsterdam in 1663. One in ten citizens were killed.

Oil on canvas, h 32.2 cm × w 27.2 cm
h 50.5 cm × w 56 cm × t 7 cm

See:

“The Sick Child” | Gabriël Metsu, Rijksmuseum, c. 1664 – c. 1666

“Gabriël Metsu” | Wikipedia

#art #oiloncanvas #GabriëlMetsu #Rijksmuseum #museums #theNetherlands #resilience #smartluxury

Posted on

Irma, Art, & Hurricane Preparedness in “South Florida’s Gold Coast”

Miami and Miami Beach are home to many significant collections of art.

Art Basel Miami Beach, the largest contemporary art event in North America showing about $3 billion in works, has been situated in Miami Beach since 2002.

Some of the works of art are housed in residences maintained in any of the more than 400 luxury condo towers that have been developed since 2011. Some are kept in single family homes. Of course, works of art are also to be found housed in museums, both public and private, and in cultural centers.

Marion Maneker of Art Market Monitor, writing from the 2017 Global Auction House Summit presented by Invaluable, reports:

“At the Invaluable Auction House Summit in Boston, Thomas Burns from Fortress Fine Art Storage and Simon Hornby of Crozier both addressed the problems with hurricane preparedness in South Florida’s Gold Coast.

“Burns says his teams have been working all week to move their clients art into Fortress’s facility and prepare the building for an unprecedented blow. “Starting Tuesday we were inundated with clients who were completely unprepared,” Burns said. It turns out major works are in place without insurance and the insurance companies have placed a moratorium on new insurance in the area this week.

“Fortress has a program that allows collectors to put their works in storage in June when they leave the area. The big question is how many have had their works moved back to the beach houses so early in the season.

“Hornby pointed to the fact that art insurance carriers were slow to engage these kind of hurricane preparedness programs waiting until this Tuesday to call for logistical support. By then, it was already too late to add capacity amid the jammed traffic and fuel shortages caused by the massive evacuation taking place.”

Meanwhile, workers at the Faena Hotel Miami Beach have been working to fortify the bullet-proof glass that protects Damien Hirst’s life-size, gilded with 24-karat gold sculpture of the skeleton of a mammoth. Entitled “Gone But Not Forgotten” (2014), the sculpture was acquired at auction in 2014 for $15 million by Ukrainian-American Len Blavatnik. “Gone But Not Forgotten” was then installed in the garden of the Faena Hotel Miami Beach ahead of the opening of Faena Forum in 2016. Mr. Blavatnik is owner of Warner Music Group and a partner, with Argentine entrepreneur and developer Alan Faena, in the Faena Forum.

Mr. Hirst explains the sculpture of the mammoth as “an absolute expression of mortality, but I’ve decorated it to the point where it’s become something else, I’ve pitched everything I can against death to create something more hopeful.”

“The mammoth comes from a time and place that we cannot ever fully understand. Despite its scientific reality, it has attained an almost mythical status and I wanted to play with these ideas of legend, history and science by gilding the skeleton and placing it within a monolithic gold tank. It’s such an absolute expression of mortality, but I’ve decorated it to the point where it’s become something else, I’ve pitched everything I can against death to create something more hopeful, it is gone but not forgotten.”

See:

“A Miami Transformed by Wealth Braces for the Storm” | Michael Smith and Katya Kazakina, Bloomberg, 8 September 2017

“Irma Threatens Art Spread Throughout South Florida Homes” | Marion Maneker, Art Market Monitor, 8 September 2017

“Culture’s a carnival for opening of dazzling Faena Forum” | Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 25 November 2016

“Hirst’s golden mammoth on display at Faena Hotel Miami Beach” | Damien Hirst.com, 8 December 2015

“Len Blavatnik buys Damien Hirst work for $15M at amfAR gala” | Emily Smith, Page Six, 23 May 2014

#Miami #MiamiBeach #Irma #HurricaneIrma #preparations #insurance #art #artmarket #artstorage #FortressFineArtStorage #Crozier #ArtBaselMiamiBeach #Faena #FaenaForum #AlanFaena #LenBlavatnik #DamienHirst #GoneButNotForgotten

Posted on

San Diego・Smart Gigabit Community

US Ignite has selected Cleantech San Diego and CyberTECH as the key innovation partners for the City of San Diego as a Smart Gigabit Community.

“US Ignite’s Smart Gigabit Communities (SGC) program enhances local community innovation ecosystems by enabling communities to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation, gigabit applications and services that run on advanced networks.”

San Diego will join 20 other cities nationwide who are participating in the Smart Gigabit Community program. Cleantech San Diego and CyberTECH will collaborate with US Ignite in the development of six gigabit applications.

CleanTech San Diego is a member-based, non-profit trade organization working to position the greater San Diego region, including Imperial County, as a global leader in the cleantech economy.

“As a nonprofit organization, Cleantech San Diego is uniquely suited to support the industry by fostering collaborations across the private-public-academic landscape, leading advocacy efforts to promote cleantech priorities, and encouraging investment in the San Diego region.”

The CleanTech San Diego office is located on India Street in downtown San Diego.

CyberTECH also has its office in downtown San Diego, on First Avenue. Amongst many other activities, CyberTECH is leveraging experience and expertise in the Internet of Things (IoT) to develop the Smart & Safe Cities Institute.

US Ignite is a nonprofit organization working to

“accelerate new wired and wireless networking advances from research to prototype to full-scale smart community and interconnected national deployments. US Ignite’s Smart Gigabit Communities program accelerates the adoption of ultra-fast, programmable fiber and wireless networks as the bedrock of smart communities by identifying new economic and social opportunities created by those networks.”

Cox Communications has played a key role in bringing the Smart Gigabit Communities program to San Diego through a $300,000 grant to US Ignite over three years.

See:

“US Ignite Selects Cleantech San Diego and CyberTECH as Key Innovation Partners for San Diego’s Smart Gigabit Community Program” | N. Mohan, US Ignite, 7 September 2017

“What is US Ignite”

“Cleantech San Diego”

“CyberTECH”

#SanDiego #cleantech #cybertech #realestate #resilience #smartluxury #USIgnite #SmartGigabitCommunity #CleantechSanDiego #CyberTECH