Data, indices and technology

Artificial intelligence (computer systems that learn and generate images or texts themselves) is now one of the key topics of the art market. It enters the market as a tool for making art, as an aid in verifying authenticity, and as a question we are still working out how to answer.

ESG is a lens of sustainability and responsibility that art collectors increasingly apply. They want to know what subject and what awareness a work — and its artist — carries.

Geographical shifts describe how the centres of the art trade move from place to place. They show that none of them is fixed once and for all.

A correction is the natural settling of prices after a period of sharp growth, when the market returns to a more sustainable trajectory. It does not mean a crisis, more a pause between breathing in and breathing out.

Reports and indices are the tools that let you find your bearings in the art market without having to visit every auction and gallery yourself. They give numbers a context, because a number without a story usually leads nowhere.

An NFT is a way of documenting ownership of a digital work via blockchain. A steep fall followed the great boom, but the very best works are holding their position.