MIT Researches have produced an amazing set of images as part of their New York Talk Exchange (NYTE) project, which are currently on display at The Museum of Modern Art from February 24th through May 12th 2008. The images are part of the Design and Elastic Mind exhibit which explores the dramatic ways in which changes in human communications have impacted our collective psyche as we gleefully slosh through zeros and ones. This is the age where the Oracle at Delphi is at your fingertips, after all. You don’t know how to do something, or where to turn for help? You are just a few steps away from the keyboard or phone. Our lives are indelibly changed as a people, and as individuals, and this exhibition has alot of cool items on display that explore this kind of thought.

Sources:

• Yahoo News
• Museum of Modern Art
• New York Talk Exchange

Blogger Clint Watson, in his FineArtsView Blog gives a very interesting view on how to price your artwork if it just isn’t selling. He suggests that the normal laws of supply-and-demand do not apply to the art market, and that increasing the price of your pieces may actually be beneficial, as counter-intuitive as it may seem. There apears to be a psychological element to the perceived critical value of a piece based upon its price and how the buyer feels about that price. Although I don’t thinking selling all of your napkin doodles for a million dollars each will get you rich quick soon, he clearly offers some valuable insights into the mind of the art buyer. This is something anyone actively selling their own artwork should read.

[Original story via FineArtsView Blog.]

One aspect of my day job involves making sense of the numbers. That is, how are interest rates and foreign exchange rates impacting our portfolio? While these factors are just a piece of the puzzle, they have been important driving factors in the past couple of months. And if you have not been paying attention to financial news within the past month in particular, let me just start off saying it’s looking grim.  Thus, I’ve been wondering how are these changes within the financial markets impacting the art community?

According to the Art Market Confidence Indicator, it dropped by 40% over the past six months in January!  However, according to an article by Nicholas Forrest the method to collect data for this index is seriously flawed.  So who is an artist and art collector to trust?

Speaking for myself, December was a wonderful month full of record sales.  But of course, it was the holiday season when consumers tend to spend more to begin with.

Realistically speaking, the impact from these financial market indicators will depend on who is buying your art and how these indicators fair in the long run.  So the question is, have you felt the impact of this downward spiral of our economy as an artist yet?

SOURCES:

[FXSTRET.COM] Recession? 13 signs it’s here

[ART MARKET BLOG] Art Market Confidence Index Seriously Flawed

[BLOOMBERG.COM] Contemporary Art Market Confidence Slumps 40%, Survey Shows