Screen culture, online auctions, and art market spectacle

This article examines the symbolic, financial, and visual qualities of spectacular, multi-site, online art auctions staged by Sotheby’s Christie’s during COVID-19 pandemic. It is argued that these events adopted techniques drawn from television gameshows popular cinema culture to create a distinctive screen-based reality for transaction assets. Much rhetoric employed auction houses publicise suggested utopian conception technology capable encouraging artistic innovation broadening access markets. In contrast idea formats constitute democratic change in artworld, this argues control new technological infrastructures represents an extension institutional power maintains socio-cultural elitism urban centres which physical at top end market have traditionally been conducted.