Is the Future of Art Virtual?

Is the Future of Art Virtual?
By Global Arts Commentator and Benefactor Natalia Cola

The majority of the world's museums and galleries have been using the online space for quite some time, but it is extremely recently that it suddenly became the only available platform. With the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the necessity to self-isolate, online platforms have become a means of survival and functioning for galleries.

World Museums and Art Fairs are faced with the same challenges; bearing in mind Art Basel Hong Kong was cancelled, Art Basel is now organizing online visits for the first time. With more than 200 galleries presenting 2000 pieces of contemporary art through a virtual art fair worth an estimated value of 270 million dollars (USD), and more than 70 pieces individually valued at over $1 million, it will be a significant milestone.

One of the first galleries that successfully created virtual viewing rooms was the David Zwirner Gallery. In 2017, art dealer David Zwirner realised that his gallery could generate healthy business through online previews before the opening of Art Fairs.

In 2019, the Website Singulart.com created a service for advice, purchases, and the delivery of contemporary art. They provide expertise and handle the delivery of said art directly to the doorstep of buyers. This gallery exists only as an online platform and if a coupled of years ago it was rather the exception, and not the first choice for customers, right now, online galleries are rapidly becoming equal players in the contemporary art market.

As galleries adapt to the new virtual environment, they are not only arranging online viewing rooms, but are also becoming useful and innovative educational providers in the modern world. Serpentine Galleries, for example, arrange special online educational programs that open up new opportunities to communicate and work with artists which the gallery represents.

Many in the art world were not sure that online viewing rooms could replace the first-hand experience of seeing paintings or sculptures in person. Naturally, collectors feel quite confident to buy works from artists whom they know from a gallery that they trust, but that may not always be the case.

Once the coronavirus abates, and restrictions are once again lifted, will Art's future remain a virtual one?

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About Natalia Cola

Natalia Cola is a global arts commentator and presenter. One of Forbes Monaco’s Entrepreneurial Women of 2019, Cola travels the world studying various artists, mediums, and the state of the industry. Additionally, Cola is the host of Natalia Cola Presents, a lecture series in which she presents and commentates on the work of renowned artists such as Christian Maas and Romero Britto.

Cola studied at the famed Art Academy of Smirnova-Lastochkina in Ukraine and has worked in various galleries Kyiv and Sotheby’s in London before moving to Monaco where she currently resides.