Art Basel in Miami 2025, December 5

Conversations | Building the future of the art world

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Dr. Larissa Buchholz, Associate Professor, Northwestern University, Evanston&nbsp; Pablo León de la Barra, Curator, Guggenheim, New York &nbsp; Mia Locks, Executive Director, Museums Moving Forward, Los Angeles&nbsp;
Moderator:&nbsp;András Szántó, Author and cultural strategist, New York &nbsp; 
With market downturns, institutional strain, climate change, political pressures, and demographic shifts reshaping the landscape, how should the art world evolve? Drawing on voices featured in&nbsp;András&nbsp;Szántó’s&nbsp;latest book, The Future of the Art World: 38 Dialogues, this panel gathers Larissa Buchholz, Pablo&nbsp;León&nbsp;de la Barra, and Mia Locks for an open conversation on the state – and prospects – of the art industry writ large. Moving beyond&nbsp;problem-diagnosing, the discussion focused on bold proposals, practical strategies, and opportunities for reinvention.
Dr. Larissa Buchholz&nbsp;is&nbsp;an associate&nbsp;professor at Northwestern University. Her interdisciplinary research centers on the dynamics of artistic production and art markets within a global context.&nbsp;Her acclaimed book, The Global Rules of Art (Princeton), reveals how artistic careers and the value of contemporary art are shaped on a global level. Buchholz’s work has received&nbsp;numerous&nbsp;awards, and she serves as a&nbsp;trustee of The International Art Market Studies Association.&nbsp; Pablo León de la Barra&nbsp;is Curator at Large, Latin America at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York. He was the curator of the Mexican Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale and founded the Bienal Tropical, San Juan, Puerto Rico. León de la Barra has curated numerous exhibitions around the world including the recent retrospectives of Cecilia Vicuña and Gego at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.&nbsp;
Mia Locks&nbsp;is an independent curator and the&nbsp;executive&nbsp;director and&nbsp;co-founder of Museums Moving Forward (MMF). She previously held curatorial positions at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles,&nbsp;Whitney Museum of American Art,&nbsp;New York,&nbsp;and MoMA PS1, New York. Locks is a co-author of MMF’s 2025&nbsp;report&nbsp;‘Workplace Equity and Organizational Culture in US Art Museums’, a biannual&nbsp;study&nbsp;analyzing quantitative data to&nbsp;identify&nbsp;patterns and trends across the museum sector.&nbsp;
András&nbsp;Szántó&nbsp;advises museums, foundations, educational institutions, and corporations on cultural strategy and program&nbsp;development,&nbsp;worldwide. He earned his PhD&nbsp;in sociology from Columbia University.&nbsp;As a consultant, he advises some of the world’s leading cultural institutions and corporate art programs.&nbsp;Recent books&nbsp;include&nbsp;The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues&nbsp;(2020),&nbsp;Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects&nbsp;(2022), and The Future of the Art World: 38 Dialogues&nbsp;(2025).

From Hong Kong to Basel, dive into our rich archive of talks and debates, featuring leading voices of the art world and beyond

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