From A.I.’s ‘Dirty Secrets’ to Better Harnessing Data, 5 Key Insights From the Art Market 2050 Conference - ARTNET coverage

During a busy Frieze Week in London, art-world professionals, policymakers, and artists gathered for the second edition of Art Market 2050, a half-day tech-focused conference hosted by the organizers of The Art Business Conference. Held at the Royal Institute of British Architects library, discussions ranged from the sustainability and ethics of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to the growing role of data and the blockchain within the trade…

….. 4. The key to growth is data

It may feel as if we have more data now than ever before, but panelists noted the poor quality and inconsistency of much still being generated and used by the trade.

“We still receive shoeboxes filled with scraps of paper described as data,” said Harco van den Oever, CEO and Founder of Overstone Art Services, an art finance firm. “The challenge with that is that you’re trying to find a methodology to structure that data, before you can even begin to extract meaningful insights.”

There was some optimism among the panelists, however, and the general consensus was that opportunities for improvement—rather than correction—abound when it comes to data usage and analysis. Many noted that better shaping and use of data could improve the market in ways that go beyond transparency and efficiency, arguing that it could also drive game-changing growth.

“If you want to build a scalable business across multiple jurisdictions and regions globally, and you want to convince an institution to put significant capital behind an endeavor, you have to have scalable models, to be able to show how your financial capacity is structured,” van den Oever said.  Others noted that the art market had been relatively static in terms of absolute size for the last 10 years and argued that data was one of the few things that could bring about a wholesale change.

Click here to read the full article by Riah Pryor