What does the 'clicks and bricks' model mean for the art world? How are artists collaborating with museums in 2020? Will the future art market be regional?

A commonly recommended way to deal with a crisis or other overwhelming situation is to focus on small steps: Take on just one manageable challenge at a time, moving forward slowly but surely, and let the little successes help you rebuild a steady momentum. While the turmoil and global uncertainty of 2020 have turned the contemporary art market upside down, there has also been time for introspection and a resulting reimagining of much of the conventional wisdom about how things can best work.

The Conversations program, which will take place via Zoom and Facebook for 'OVR: Miami Beach', centers on a series of efforts to move contemporary art forward despite the unpredictable cancellations, lockdowns, and false starts that have defined much of the year.

Bricks and Clicks: Hybrid Models for the Art Market

Friday, December 4, 12pm ET

Some combination of a digital and physical presentation of art, either for a fair or a regular gallery exhibition, is growing in popularity as travel restrictions from the global pandemic drag on. Not content to present work only digitally, more and more gallerists are simultaneously installing the same work they have in an Online Viewing Room (OVR) in their gallery or some other in-real-life (IRL) location. This hybrid model has been dubbed 'bricks and clicks'. It permits collectors to view the work in person, or at least get a more three-dimensional sense of a work by viewing the exhibition through video streaming or even virtual reality. In the first panel of the Conversations program, our speakers will explore how successful this model has been for gallerists working with it, whether this hybrid will prove popular past the pandemic, and what other technologies (such as augmented reality) gallerists are using to expand their outreach to collectors. Daniela Gareh, Global Sales Director at White Cube in London will debate the issue with Agustina Ferreyra, a gallerist based in Mexico City, and Dennis Scholl, a Miami collector, in a panel moderated by Tim Schneider, Art Business Editor for artnet News. 

Register to join the conversation here.

Artists Working with Museums Today

Saturday, December 5, 1pm ET

Although many museum shows have been pushed back this year, contemporary artists are increasingly involved directly in the broader decision-making process for many art museums, beyond simply their acceptance of an exhibition invitation. As board members, activists – or as a condition of their participation in an exhibition – artists are influencing choices around issues such as funding, deaccessioning, and even programming, which had previously been the exclusive domain of administrators and curators.

This incipient shift in the power dynamic creates new complications, though, for how museums work with exhibiting artists. Our second panel in the program explores some recent examples of controversies involving artists and museums, as a path to sharing best practices for both sides, to ensure productive collaborations in this new terrain. Amsterdam-based artist Ahmet Ögüt artist joins Gaëtane Verna, Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, in a conversation moderated by Georgina Adam, Editor at Large for The Art Newspaper.

Register to join the conversation here.

Thinking Globally, Selling Locally: The Rise (and Potential Fall Again) of Regional Art Markets

Sunday, December 6, 1pm ET

Reasons to curb the globe-trotting habits of the contemporary art world have been accumulating for a while now. Concerns about our collective carbon footprint, as well as a rise in alarming nationalism in some countries, crashed head-on into widespread travel bans in response to the global pandemic. Almost as soon as lockdowns were implemented, speculation quickly rose that contemporary art markets would need to become more regional – meaning developing and catering more to local collectors – to survive. Indeed, galleries quickly began opening satellites in places where collectors had escaped to, but does this represent a lasting regionalism? Our third panel explores whether the local phenomenon will continue after a vaccine is available. And if not, is putting energy into framing one's business to anticipate a more regional focus the smart move when an international approach is often viewed as a hallmark of success? And can innovations like OVRs and hybrid models keep the international art market connected enough moving forward? Liza Essers, Director of Goodman Gallery, joins Pedro Mendes, owner of Mendes Wood Gallery, and the American art collector Suzanne Deal Booth in a discussion moderated by Charlotte Burns, editor and podcast host in London and New York.

Register to join the conversation here.

'OVR: Miami Beach' takes place from December 4 to 6, with VIP preview days on December 2 and 3. Discover more information here.