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art, real estate, luxury, & billion-dollar storms | the new normal?

The superstorms and wildfires of 2017 cost the US $306 billion.

As the temperatures of the oceans rise, the increasing temperatures will increase how strong hurricanes can become.

As global temperatures continue to rise, things will get more costly.

The new normal?

There are proactive steps you can take to protect and enhance the value of your tangible assets.

See: “Billion-Dollar Storms: Is This the New Normal?” | Deborah Acosta, The New York Times, 29 January 2018

#art #artmarket #collections #collectionsmanagement #artrisk #insurance #insurancerisk #realestate #commercialrealestate #culturalrealestate #realestaterisk #GRESB #GlobalRealEstateSustainabilityBenchmarks #climaterisk #financialrisk #CO2 #resilience #luxury #smartluxury

 

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magic that can be created through space & art | Victoria Hagan

“Tapping into the magic that can be created through space and art,” Victoria Hagan highlights the “extra layer of depth, texture, color, and mood” that Old Masters’ paintings bring, as members of the family, into contemporary homes.

See: “Award-Winning Designer Reveals the Magic of Old Masters” | Sotheby’s

#art #collections #collectionsmanagement #interiordesign #VictoriaHagan #OldMasters #luxury #smartluxury #realestate

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art, risk management, & “rolling disasters” as the new normal

There is worry in the insurance industry that “rolling disasters” may become the new normal, the effects of climate change that many scientists believe have resulted in dryer conditions in the west coast and more intense hurricanes in the east coast. “Climate change is a great concern to the art insurance industry, particularly because of the hurricanes we are seeing,” Quinn said. Both AXA and Chubb are active in promoting research in climate change, recognizing that catastrophic natural events may prove to be an annual occurrence.

Insurers are concerned especially over works of art in private homes.

Insurers in areas such as California may seek to limit their risks. The extent of the damage in regions of California affected by the recent wildfires, for instance, may well increase the cost and limit the availability of fine art insurance.

See:

“As Natural Disasters Loom, What You Should Know About Insuring Your Art” | Daniel Grant, The Observer, 18 January 2018

#art #artmarket #collections #collectionsmanagement #insurance #fineartinsurance #climaterisk #risk #riskmanagement #fire #wildfire #hurricanes #flooding #risingseas #luxury #smartluxury #resilience #realestate #CO2 #H2O

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issues of condition ・ too complex to be explained?

Extraordinary that there may be ” … a consensus that issues of condition, and the work of conservators, are too complex to be explained to gallery visitors as a matter of course” (Burlington Magazine, as reported by The Art Newspaper).

Physical condition is a fundamental component of value of tangible assets, inclusive of works of art, buildings, and houses.

Neither the art market nor the real estate market are “hermetically sealed,” or entirely self-sufficient, existing apart from condition, as some believe and might like to believe.

See:

“How to identify a wreck” | Bendor Grosvenor, The Art Newspaper, 18 December 2017

#art #conservation #conservators #connoisseurship #collections #collectionsmanagement #condition #value #artmarket #tangibleassets #luxury #smartluxury #urbanluxury #architecture #design #engineering #resilience #CO2 #realestate #commercialrealestate #culturalrealestate

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The Getty | a Type 1-rated complex, designed & built to resist fire

The Getty Center in Los Angeles performs.

The New York Times and Reuters highlight how the Getty Center has been designed and built to provide resilient stewardship and protect its art holdings, even in a fire- and earthquake-prone area.

The Getty’s design, “and a plan developed with insurers eager to keep the valuable collection safe” [the Getty works with commercial property insurer FM Global], help protect the art from damage.

The Getty’s architect, Richard Meier, built fire resistance into the billion-dollar complex, said Ron Hartwig, vice president of communications for the J. Paul Getty Trust. These hills are fire prone, but because of features like the 1.2 million square feet of thick travertine stone covering the outside walls, the crushed rock on the roofs and even the plants chosen for the brush-cleared grounds, “The safest place for the artwork to be is right here in the Getty Center,” he said.

Within that lovely milky travertine skin, the buildings have reinforced concrete walls and automatic fire doors that can trap fires in sealed-off areas. A carbon-filtered air conditioning system pushes smoke out instead of letting it in, and the internal sprinklers — whose pipes remain dry until needed, to avoid damaging accidents – stand ready to douse flames.

“Should any fire move within one of those compartmentalized areas, it can’t get anywhere,” said Michael G. Rogers, director of facilities at the Getty. Since water supplies can be cut off in a disaster, The Getty has its own million-gallon water tank buried under the parking garage. The result is a complex that is rated Type 1, the highest level of fire resistance.

See:

“Why the Getty Center’s Art Stayed Put as Fires Raged Nearby” | John Schwartz and Gilbert Gates, The New York Times, 12 December 2017

“California’s Getty museum survives wildfire, ready for quakes” | Suzanne Barlyn, Reuters, 8 December 2017

The Getty Center

#Getty #GettyCenter #art #museums #collections #collectionsmanagement #stewardship #scholarship #conservation #preservation #resilience #fire #smoke #particulatematter #airfiltration #design #architecture #RichardMeier #engineering #California #LosAngeles #luxury #urbanluxury #smartluxury #realestate #commercialrealestate #culturalrealestate #insurance

 

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the newly-opened & very lovely Louvre Abu Dhabi

The result of an intergovernmental agreement signed in 2007 and opened to the public on November 11, the $1 billion Louvre Abu Dhabi is a museum of juxtapositions and chronology that serves many purposes.

The museum is an integral “part of the town and of life [La ville et la vie],” (the museum’s architect Jean Nouvel). The museum is an expression of “soft power” and enhances a cultural strategy to serve as a bridge between civilizations and counter tensions in the region (Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, the U.A.E. minister of state). The museum presents “a narrative of humankind from the beginning of knowledge, using art as a witness of the times,” (Jean-François Charnier, the project’s chief curator and scientific director for Agence France-Museums).

An iteration of a north African medina and rising no more than 30 feet in most places, the museum is composed of 55 separate pavilions, some beneath a 180-meter-diameter, 7,500-ton dome. The dome is comprised of eight layers of interlocking steel and aluminum effecting more than 7,800 perforations that filter the hot Arabic sun into brilliant spots of light that dapple the walls.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is designed to achieve LEED silver. It has already achieved a 3 Pearl Estidama Design Rating. The museum creates a comfortable micro-climate with passive design techniques. Such techniques include a concept based on traditional regional architecture, passive water and energy conservation techniques, and highly efficient HVAC systems, lighting, and sanitation. Other techniques include the use of solar shading provided by the dome roof, the self-shading of buildings, the roof perforations that allow daylight without excess solar gain or wind flow, and exposed thermal mass such as stone floor and cladding that benefit from night-time cooling.

There are 23 galleries for the permanent collection, a huge, 2,000-square-meter temporary exhibition space, a children’s museum, and a waterside restaurant. The complex is designed to be used as a social space in the evenings.

See:

“Inside the Louvre Abu Dhabi with architect Jean Nouvel” | Caroline Roux, The Telegraph, 14 November 2017

“The Louvre Abu Dhabi Puts a $1 Billion Spotlight on Globalization – But Makes Some Glaring Historical Omissions” | Javier Pes, Artnet.com, 8 November 2017

“Louvre Abu Dhabi, a Cultural Cornerstone Where East Meets West” | Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times, 7 November 2017

The Louvre Abu Dhabi | About Us, Architecture

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Leonardo’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ sells for US$450,312,500, makes auction history

Breaking (smashing through) auction records, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” (oil on panel, painted circa 1500) has sold today at the Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in Manhattan for $450,312,500 (hammer price plus buyer’s premium, net of any applicable fees).

The New York Times quotes art advisor Todd Levin as saying, “This was a thumping epic triumph of branding and desire over connoisseurship and reality.”

Alan Hobart, director of London’s Pyms Gallery, observes, “It’s been a brilliant marketing campaign. This is going to be the future.”

See:

Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale | Christie’s, New York, 15 November 2017

“Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi makes auction history” | Christie’s, 15 November 2017

“Leonardo da Vinci Painting Sells for $450.3 Million, Shattering Auction Highs” | Robin Pogrebin and Scott Reyburn, The New York Times, 15 November 2017

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buildings are a big part of our lives ・let’s get to know them

Many of us, somewhere in the world, live, work, study, go to school, see the doctor, worship, shop, eat out, vacation, collect and/or exhibit and/or sell art in buildings of some sort. The building might be a single-family home, large or small, grand or modest, a multi-family home, a residential tower, an office building, library, school, a shop large or small, a hotel, resort, or spa, a restaurant, hospital, a gallery or museum, public or private, … the list goes on and on. Buildings are a big part of our lives. Let’s get to know them.

A building is much more than an inert structure that we can take for granted. A building is a system of systems that interacts with us on many levels. A building almost lives.

Dodge Data & Analytics together with United Technologies have published a SmartMarket Report that we all can read. This particular report, World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, focuses on a crucial aspect of buildings, how they are “going green.” The intent of the report is to provide information, new world green building trends data, to support green building development.

The report is long-ish. 60+ pages. So I suggest that you read through it step-by-step, in small increments, perhaps a page or two a day. You’ll find lots of good information, valuable economic analyses, and comparative analyses, illustrating how people in different countries are approaching the development, costs, benefits, and economics of green.

How is “green” defined? “Green building” is defined in the study as a construction project that is either certified under any recognized global green rating system or built to qualify for such certification.

Why “green”? We’ll examine this question step-by-step. Hint? Quality of life, longer-term value, longer-term credibility, higher resale values, “future proof.”

Stay tuned.

See:

“World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report” | Dodge Data & Analytics, United Technologies, 2016

#buildings #builtenvironment #resilience #luxury #smartluxury #houses #museums #galleries #retail #restaurants #hospitals #art #artcollections #collections #hospitality #realestate #CRE #commercialrealestate

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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

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art restitution, “conflicting realities,” & Clemens Toussaint

Marc Spiegler, now Global Director of Art Basel, wrote “an extensive profile” of art historian and art restitution specialist Clemens Toussaint in 2003. Spiegler’s article about Toussaint, The Devil and the Art Detective, appeared in Art + Auction in July of 2003. Spiegler considers this article to be among his “best ever.”

Art restitution is, in Mr. Spiegler’s words, “a minefield of ethical dilemmas and conflicting ‘realities.'” Toussaint’s work is sensitive, with passion, compelling argument, and, oftentimes, a wish for discretion on all sides. He is known to do detailed, thorough, impeccable research and has assisted clients recover paintings from collections and museums globally.

Prerequisites for restitution of works of art include a “united family front” (all known heirs need to be in agreement) and a detailed knowledge of a work’s provenance (exactly when, how, and where a work has changed hands and which country’s laws apply to each transaction).

Mr. Spiegler writes,

“An extensive profile of Clemens Toussaint, who at the time ranked among the most controversial men in the European art world. In part because he’s a tempestuous maverick in a milieu of complicit discretion. But also because art restitution is a minefield of ethical dilemmas and conflicting “realities.” Roaming from 1930s Germany to present-day Monte Carlo, this article ranks among my best ever.”

See:

“MarcSpiegler.com”

“The Devil and the Art Detective” | Marc Spiegler, Art and Auction, July 2003

For more about Clemens Toussaint and his work, see:

“Europe Celebrates Kazimir Malevich, a Pioneer in Abstract Art” | Kevin Holden Platt, The New York Times, 25 May 2016

“How Did a Stolen Malevich End Up at Sotheby’s” | Noelle Bodick, Blouin Artinfo, 4 November 2015

“Göring, Rembrandt and the Little Black Book” | Alan Riding, The New York Times, 26 March 2006

“A Monet Off the Met’s Wall Has a Controversial History” | Brooks Barnes, The Wall Street Journal, 3 May 2002

“Met to Sell Monet” | Martin Bailey for The Art Newspaper, Forbes, 1 May 2002

#art #ClemensToussaint #restitution #artrestitution #collections #MarcSpiegler #ArtBasel #KazimirMalevich #MetropolitanMuseumofArt #Sotheby’s