Art Stage Singapore (12 - 15 January 2017), the flagship art fair of Southeast Asia, kicks off the international art season every January with the very best of Asian contemporary art. Here's an event you should consider:
Art + Money – A Dangerous Liaison?
With Franz Schultheis and Alain Servais Hosted by Lorenzo Rudolf
Date: Friday, 13 January 2017
Time: 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Venue: Marina Bay Sands, Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Level 3, Angsana Room (3E and 3F), 10 Bayfront Avenue
Andy Warhol famously predicted that “making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” Today, the global art economy largely operates on the same principle as the luxury market and the financial industry: commodities are validated by money and brand pedigrees — artists, galleries, international exhibitions, fairs, institutions, art degrees — are sought after by the “super tax” bracket for social currency and speculation. The unbridled excess of art produced on demand to keep up with the worldwide proliferation of commercial platforms and dealers, comes at the expense of possibly losing generations of art as a form of socio-political agency.
This conversation with Alain Servais, a collector who advocates engaging with art for its power to challenge, and Franz Schultheis, (co-)author of books including What People Do for Art? and When Art Meets Money: Encounters at Art Basel, probes the art market's often opaque modus operandi and asks some inconvenient questions: why should one buy art? What kind of art is worth collecting? Are fairs and galleries ruining art? Should the art market be regulated? Who should regulate it?
About the Speakers
Franz Schultheis is Professor of Sociology and Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He did his PhD at the University of Konstanz, Germany and habilitated with Pierre Bourdieu at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He was Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Geneva and the University of Neuchâtel and has taught at several Universities including Paris-Sorbonne, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, the University of Strasbourg at Louvain, Belgium, and the University of Konstanz, Germany. His main research areas are: sociology of art, transformations of work worlds, poverty, popular culture and sociology of creative class.
Alain Servais
trained in investment banking and worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert on Wall Street, and Société Générale Strauss Turnbull and James Capel in London. He was Head of International Bond Trading at Banque Dewaay in Brussels. Currently, he consults independently for banks in the management of asset-backed securities. Alain is a passionate and committed contemporary art collector and member of numerous art juries and collectors' committees among which include Art Basel's Council of Global Patrons. In 2014 and 2015, he was selected for Artnet's list of “Top 200 Art Collectors Worldwide”. Blouin Artinfo named him one of “The 50 Most Exciting Art Collectors Under 50”. He founded and designed Registr'art, a service for private collectors, and the smartphone app, European Art Tour (E.Art.T). He is an investor in ArtRunners which was created to streamline fine art logistics. Alain is an avid “information sharer” via Twitter (@aservais1) and email blog.
Lorenzo Rudolf
is Founder and President of Art Stage Singapore and Jakarta, international art fairs in Southeast Asia. From 1991 to 2000, he was Director of Art Basel. During his tenure he created a new art fair concept and transformed Art Basel from a classical trade show to the flagship of the art world. He subsequently created and launched Art Basel Miami Beach. In 2000 Lorenzo was appointed Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair. After three years in the publishing industry, he returned to the art world. In 2007, he co-founded and helmed SH Contemporary, Shanghai, the first international contemporary art fair in Asia. In 2010 he founded Art Stage Singapore with the objective of establishing the Southeast Asia region as a strong player on the global stage of art and culture. In 2016, he launched Art Stage Jakarta.
Location: Marina Bay Sands, Sands Expo & Convention CentreLevel 3, Angsana Room (3E and 3F)10 Bayfront Avenue Singapore, 018956