The Easel

21st April 2020

The art world goes virtual

Galleries are getting serious about online. New offerings – exhibition walk-throughs, restricted access sales, even robot led tours – are all being tried. One gallerist expects smaller art fairs to be hit but change might be broader than that. Says another gallerist “I don’t believe [the gallery] model will cease to exist but the scale on which we were all operating may well.” A sample of current online shows is here.

So you mean it’s not so repulsive after all?

Museums in financial trouble sometimes sell items from their collections. Problem – it upsets people. Now that many museums are worried about survival, surely more will do so. Long standing opponents to this practice are bowing to the inevitable. One observer, noting the current dire circumstances, says “the notion of a “public good” has become nothing but academic and journalistic fodder.“