Art Galleries in Transformation: Is COVID-19 Driving Digitisation?

Abstract

Compared to other consumer goods markets, art galleries have long been reluctant to innovate through digitisation. However, the global outbreak of COVID-19 forces art galleries to reconsider the role of digital channels. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the art gallery business model and its related difficulties of integrating digital channels into marketing, communication, and sales. Twenty interviews with gallery owners and managers in Vienna and Salzburg were conducted. They were asked about their attitudes towards, opinions on, and experiences with digital channels, and how they reacted to the restrictions caused by COVID-19. The findings verify that COVID-19 has led galleries of any type to reconsider their digital strategy. We identified limitations with respect to digital channels: plain presentation of information online; lacking or distanced personal interaction; online anonymity that disconnects from the social art environment; increased information and price transparency; a more commercial appearance; limited resources for digital adaptations. Galleries striving to integrate digital channels into their business model should pay attention to ensuring that analogue, as well as digital, channels are integrated into a coherent system where personal contact and the physical location remain the core of the business.

Untitled

“…After the literature review, ten aspects were set for the participation quality in each type of art assessment: 1) satisfaction from the participation (Guo et al, 2020;Quattrini et al, 2020;Zollo et al, 2021), 2) participation pleasure (Dunne-Howrie, 2020), 3) participation engagement (Dube & İnce, 2019;Quattrini et al, 2020;Y. Wu et al, 2017), 4) catharsis-experiencing possibility (Craig et al, 2020;Lee, 2011), 5) contact with the artwork itself (Habelsberger & Bhansing, 2021), 6) contact with the performer itself (Y. Wu et al, 2017), 7) participation comfort (Guidry, 2014), 8) shaping-the-aesthetical-experience possibilities (Jackson, 2017;Park & Lim, 2015), 9) own motivation to participate (Hobbs & Tuzel, 2017;Pianzola et al, 2021), 10) participation easiness (Dunne-Howrie, 2020;Fancourt et al, 2020).…”

Achieving Excellence in Art Gallery Management in a Global Pandemic

“…Both Art Basel and Frieze have rescheduled theirs (Team Artenal, 2020). However, auction houses are now hosting online auctions where people can bid from the comfort of their homes, and art galleries have recently started creating virtual showrooms where artworks are displayed and offered for sale (Sidorova, 2010 cited in Habelsberger & Bhansing, 2021). This brought about the highest sales decline in the gallery sector.…”

“…The internet has facilitated the global visibility of art market participants, making it easier for art collectors and buyers to access a boarder range of offering on an international level (Habelsberger & Bhansing, 2021). This is why galleries must, as a matter of necessity, create online access while not abandoning traditional methods.…”

“…To devise ways and means of keeping the gallery afloat amidst the pandemic is a sure way of building resilience, for instance, galleries exploiting digital channels is a way and means of continuing in business regardless of the pandemic. Compared to other consumer goods markets, art galleries which have long been reluctant to innovate through digitalization have been forced by the pandemic to reconsider the role of digital channels (Habelsberger & Bhansing, 2021). The increasing use of digital channels can help galleries attain new clients that would be hard to approach due to geographical distance or would be afraid to enter the gallery.…”

“…From a common perspective, a gallery would pass for a place that exhibits and sells artworks of different artists (Koshal, 2011). Habelsberger and Bhansing (2021) aver that gallery is the umbrella term for both contemporary art galleries on the primary market and art dealers on the secondary market -the primary market being artworks by contemporary artists that enter the market for the first time, either for direct sales by the artist to buyers or through a contemporary art gallery, while secondary market refers to artworks that are resold either by auction houses or dealers, (Velthuis, 2011). It, however, goes beyond exhibition and sales of artworks.…”