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Executive Column: Christie's cheers influx of Indonesian collectors, artists
Francis Belin, President of Christie's Asia Pacific, says Indonesia's young art collectors are trendsetters and the country’s artists can make it big in the global market.
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Francis Belin, president of Christie's Asia Pacific (Christie's Images Limited 2023/Christie's )
Asian collectors made the most purchases at luxury auctions in the first half of the year, according to Christie's.
A report published by the British auction house on July 12 found that the region accounted for 38 percent of the global luxury auction business, followed by 34 percent from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and the remaining 28 percent from the Americas.
Christie's Asia Pacific President Francis Belin spoke to The Jakarta Post's Yohana Belinda in Jakarta on Aug. 9 about collectors' and purchasers' preferences post-pandemic, the future of the business in Indonesia and the position of Indonesian artwork in the global market.
Question: In the post-pandemic era, how does Christie’s connect with collectors online and offline?
We started to be very active digitally before the pandemic, with online sales and live streaming, enabling people to bid on Christie’s online. […] All the innovations we had in the digital space since well before the pandemic, all of a sudden started to gain much traction in our ability to engage with the collectors.
And here we are today, as Hong Kong opened earlier this year, where everyone could return. We experienced in May the combination of both worlds [online and in-person]. We had some 30,000 people visiting our view. We also had an absolute record in terms of online viewership.
