Thought-starter: Do auction houses need a rebrand?

As attitudes to luxury and acquisition evolve, foresight writer Holly Friend lists the auction houses diversifying to retain relevance and attract a new breed of young, moneyed consumers.

Billed as the first street culture sale, earlier this year Artcurial brought a new generation of luxurians to its Paris auction house in the hope of snapping up rare Supreme goods. In a reference to the Wu-Tang Clan song, the sale was entitled C.R.E.A.M: Cash Rules Everything Around Me, and attracted an array of French, Chinese and American youth, many of whom The New York Times reported had never attended an auction.

In July 2018, British auction house Sotheby’s also demonstrated a willingness to diversify by entering a unique partnership with Danish audio brand Bang & Olufsen, launching an exclusive range of wireless speakers. According to Bang & Olufsen, the products can be compared with works of art: ‘To create each colour, the aluminium bodies were anodised and dyed one at a time – a process that required a day-long takeover of Bang & Olufsen’s anodising plant.’

This autumn, Christie’s New York will become the first auction house to acknowledge art created by artificial intelligence (AI), with the sale of Portrait of Edmond Belamy.

Read more about the next generation of auction houses here.