There has been wariness among businesses about the adoption of blockchain technology since its invention in 2008. This is partly because of its novelty and its association with volatile cryptocurrencies. Some years on and the situation is changing as distributed ledger technology is adopted by mainstream sectors including banking, the automotive industry and healthcare.

Nevertheless, the uptake of blockchain technology in the art market — especially among higher-end and blue-chip galleries — has been slow. This session will look at the reasons why museums, galleries and collectors have been hesitant to adopt it despite its potential to establish authenticity and provenance — key aspects in establishing value for expensive works of art.

Can blockchain technology stimulate the market for historically difficult-to-sell digital work, including video? Will galleries and collectors accept digital logs detailing prices and ownership history, or will traditional anonymity be maintained? Who will be accepted as verifiers of authenticity? Will the use of blockchain encourage a new generation of digital forgers? Do the art market, museums and the technology sector understand each other well enough to overcome these hurdles?

Moderator Frédéric de Senarclens, Founder ArtMarketGuru, will be joined by Christina Steinbrecher-Pfandt, Co-Founder Blockchain.art (Former Director Vienna Contemporary), Adam Lindemann, Collector, Investors & Founder Venus Over Manhattan, Johann König, Founder König Galerie and Alfred Weidinger, New Scientific Director Upper Austrian State Museum to discuss digital art, blockchain and blue-chip galleries and the pros and cons of using the technology in such a famously discreet, some would say secretive, market.

Frédéric de Senarclens, Founder, ArtMarketGuru, is an Art Dealer who has created a number of successful online art businesses, including ArtMarketGuru, ArtAndCollect and ArtAndOnly. He provides art market intelligence, analysing the impact of new technologies such as Blockchain, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the art market.

Adam Lindemann is a well-known art collector, investor and founder of the Venus Over Manhattan gallery. One of his multiple blockchain ventures, includes Artblx, which organized "The Art of Blockchains" conference during Art Basel Miami in 2018 that brought together influential names from art, technology and business to investigate potential impacts of the blockchain technology on the art market.

Meanwhile, Christina Steinbrecher-Pfandt is a former Gallerist and viennacontemporary Art Fair Director, now working in the tech sector. She became increasingly concerned about the difficulties artists working in video and new media face in selling their work, and has developed a blockchain solution to this knotty problem. The Blockchain.art system, which she has co-founded, ensures the authenticity of digital works of art, allows sales and resales, and incorporates a tool that can be adopted by galleries as a “white label solution”, allowing them to use the platform as a digital shop, integrated into their own websites.

Alfred Weidinger is an Art Historian and Museum Director, formerly at the influential Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig and now New Scientific Director of the Upper Austrian State Museum in Linz. An expert in the work of Gustav Klimt, he is also known for his interest in art and technology, recently organising a groundbreaking exhibition and book, Virtual Normality: Women Net Artists 2.0, on female artists’ perspectives on sexuality, gender and identity in the digital age.

They are joined by Johann König, a Gallerist with spaces in Berlin, London and Tokyo, who is known for his focus on a younger generation of interdisciplinary, concept- and space-oriented artists — including many working in digital.
  • 1400-1530 UTC I The Blue Chip Art Market on the Blockchain: Can Blockchain offer the Art World Ecosystem a "White Label Solution" and Achieve Maturity?
  • 1590587759-a502c415b863745d
    Christina Steinbrecher-Pfandt
    Co-Founder Blockchain.art
    San Francisco, USA
  • 1590588023-d3cfd3c08ad3dffb
    Adam Lindemann
    Founder Venus Over Manhattan Investor
    New York, USA
  • 1590588186-033d55b0e5990cb1
    Johann Koenig
    Founder Koenig Galerie
    Berlin, Germany
  • 1590588361-2e746128f3dc7763
    Alfred Weidinger
    New Scientific Director Upper Austrian State Museum
    Linz, Austria
  • 1592093825-7cf962300f5169e7
    Frédéric de Senarclens
    Founder ArtMarketGuru
    Brussels, Belgium