A record result in a difficult time: Finarte's photography auction recorded a total of almost €400,000, an increase of 40% compared to their October 2019 auction. The catalogue was deemed too important to yield to the possibility of postponing the auction to a quieter time, but initial uncertainties were swept away by the large participation of remote buyers – foreign collectors in particular – and by the end excellent results were obtained. Thanks to online platforms, video streaming and the more traditional means of telephone bidding, the photography catalogue inspired collectors, revealing, one after the other, the rarities that the Italian auction house collected over recent months.
This is the concrete example of how digital can be a great ally for auction houses and the art world, and not only in complicated moments like what we are currently experiencing. Here is what Finarte’s CEO Vincenzo Santelia, and Web & Digital Manager Andrea Cremascoli, told us.
In a difficult time like this, you have achieved an incredible result. An increase of 40% compared to your photography auction last October. Did you expect this?
The catalogue of this photography auction was our best ever with a clear international imprint and a careful look at Italian artists; both the works of the 1930s and ‘40s and also the contemporary. It was therefore clear that this sale had all the potential to attract the right audience of collectors, but given the uncertain situation in which we found ourselves, we were not so sure that it would get the return it deserved. We were therefore very satisfied with the final outcome, which was also the result of excellent teamwork in the management of this ‘emergency’ situation in which we found ourselves.
How did you manage the entire online auction? We read of great participation, especially by foreign collectors.
The online auction was managed in a particular way. One person took care of coordinating the remote connections of the various platform operators, bringing offers to the auctioneer in the rooms; it was a real ‘virtual hub’. The main problem was obviously the synchronism of communications, but today's technology offers various tools to better manage real-time communications.
Foreign collectors had certainly been attracted to the ‘international’ catalogue, which offered works by great masters of photography known and recognised all over the world. Furthermore, the conversion of some marketing investments from offline to online – due to the situation in which we found ourselves – certainly helped to reach foreign audiences more easily via the web.
If we are good at keeping online engagement high, we will likely see increased participation and remote sales in the future.
How do you think the auction world will change after this health emergency?
This situation has prompted our customers to register on our digital platform to attend live video auctions and also to more assiduously follow us on our various online sites. This situation has somehow helped us to break down the wall of some of our customers' diffidence towards the ‘virtual’. The exhibition of the photography auction for example, which, given the provisions, had to be closed to the public, was presented exclusively online on our social networks with a narrative video of the head of the department and mini-clips created ad hoc and published on Instagram.
These videos offer a no less engaging experience than physical exposure. It is true, direct vision is missing, but how much more information can you give an audience that is a hundred or a thousand times larger! If we are good at keeping online engagement high, we will probably see an increase in participation and remote sales in the future. This will encourage us to experiment with new tools again. We are thinking of creating content for use of VR headsets to enable foreigners to participate even more directly. The Art Basel Hong Kong exhibition will be entirely online.
What are your plans for the coming months? Are you thinking about other online auctions after the success of this first one?
For the next few weeks we are organising other online auctions, some completely remote with all the auction operators comfortably at home. The positive feedback we had certainly served to give us the right momentum in this direction. We also have some surprises in store, ‘goodies’ that we were waiting to present to the public and that we are now thinking of including within the new ‘readjusted’ calendar that we are going to present in the next few days. We then certainly hope to be able to return to join our traditional channels alongside our innovative ones.
For all information on upcoming auctions, results and to stay updated on future events, visit Finarte’s website.
