Over the recent years, the art market has tried to expand and find a more diverse and broad new audience. Ever since the entry of the market  players like hedge funds and private equity fund managers in the 1990s and early 2000s, more and more “monied” professionals followed. Eventually, talks of the speculators in the art market ensued. This led some people to believe art is an investable asset and has led to the “financialization”  of the art market we see today. 

  

Some financial advisors started recommending art as a separate asset class and advise their clients to add art holdings to  diversify their portfolios.  Over the last handful of years, there has been a proliferation fractional ownership of art as well as multiple art equity and debt funds for retail, qualified, and institutional investors. Most recently, this trend culminated in the securitization of $700 million art-debt by Sothebys, as the first one of this kind to sophisticated institutional investors. 

  

This raises some  major questions: 

  

Could art be considered an investable asset class or is this a mix of a passing fad and sophisticated marketing? 

   

Given that the art market is unregulated, opaque, subject to trends and rarer illiquid, how is the financial value of art established? 

   

Should a collector with an eye on investment buy art pieces outright or entrust existing market professionals with the selection of equity or debt diversified portfolios? 

   

Could a potential art  investor apply similar technics to the art valuation and investment as to other investments? If so, which ones or why not? 

   

Will the “financialization” of the art market help expand the art market itself, help artists, or go “bust” and run out of steam? 

   

Come and learn from the experts and decide for yourself if you should consider adding fine art to your portfolio.

MODERATOR: Viktoria Prigarina, Founder, ArtCrossing.io

Viktoria Prigarina started her finance career at Morgan Stanley, followed by options trading and structuring at Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank. She has lived and worked in Brazil where she created a capital raising platform for what is now a $15 billion hedge fund—SPX Capital and has served as a Member of the Investment Committee of the firm. Viktoria holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics of Finance from Columbia University and a B.B.A. with concentrations in finance and comparative literature and minor in Latin American Studies from Baruch College. Viktoria has been passionate about the arts throughout her life, has pioneered the Art Market Symposia and founded ArtCrossing.io—a forum where art market professionals and art enthusiasts come together to discuss the most pertinent topics in today’s art market. 
   

ADDITIONAL SPEAKER: Elizabeth von Hapsburg, Managing Director of Winston Art Group
 
Elizabeth von Habsburg is Managing Director of Winston Art Group, the largest independent art advisory and appraisal firm in the US. The firm’s 75 specialists cover all areas of fine and decorative art through US offices in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Palm Beach, Chicago, Denver and Houston, and worldwide representation in London, Geneva and Tel Aviv. Prior to Winston Art Group, Elizabeth was President of the US operations of an international appraisal firm for 18 years, and before that, she was Vice President of Habsburg Auctioneers. She started her career at Christie’s as Assistant Vice President in charge of the Appraisal department. Elizabeth’s BA is from Stanford, in International Relations, and her MA is from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She was a Board Member of the Appraisers Association of America from 2003-2015, and was a 2008-2015 Trustee and 2014 Chair of The Appraisal Foundation in Washington, DC. Elizabeth is a Fellow of the Morgan Library and of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and a member of ArtTable, Inc. She is a Director of the Albert Kunstadter Family Foundation, and on the Board of Trustees of Christie’s Education. Elizabeth has qualified as expert witness in Fine Art and Decorative Art in the NY, Palm Beach, Philadelphia and Texas courts, and lectures worldwide on all aspects of art. She is Certified by AAA in Modern and Impressionist art and European Furniture and Works of Art, and is compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). She revised four Antiques Hunters Guides (2000-2001), contributed to “Fine Art and High Finance” (2009), to the Appraisal Handbook (2012), and to “Regulation of Art Investments” (not yet published). In 2015, she was named one of the Fifty Most Influential Women in Private Wealth, by Private Asset Management. 
  
    

Pre-registration is required and will close at Noon on June 23rd 2024.
FOR SECURITY REASONS, NO WALK-INS ARE PERMITTED.
   
Please note that no refunds will be issued.