| his paper analyzes how different online sales and presentation platforms adapt to changing collecting practices and art market demands. It uses discussions on the psychology of collecting, art market histories, economist reports and interviews with collectors, galleries, auction houses and virtual platforms, to understand various motivations behind internet use in the art world. To make the research and collecting sources for this thesis comparable, most examples will focus on industries dealing with contemporary art and emerging artists.1 The discrepancy between economist reports showing positive growth in the digital marketplace and academics' beliefs that virtual interactions will never adequately replace the personal connection between gallerist and client makes it important to discuss the impact of the internet on art businesses today. This thesis explains how the internet is growing in importance for the sale of art, despite this apparent dichotomy.;1 Contemporary art includes works from the 1950s to today, a date that overlaps with "emerging" artists, defined as creatives at the beginning of their career. [Don Thompson, The... |
