.ART

The contemporary art world has never been more global, more digital or more difficult to decode. While access to the field has expanded, real knowledge remains unevenly distributed, often hoarded in closed networks and transmitted informally. The Art Market Minds Academy (artmarketmindstheacademy.art) was created to change that.

Developed by The Art Business Conference in collaboration with Marc Spiegler, former global director of Art Basel, The Academy offers an unvarnished, up-to-date understanding of how today’s art world actually works. It is designed not for passive observers but for those ready to engage critically and practically with an evolving cultural economy—whether they’re launching new ventures, shifting careers, or recalibrating existing practices.

As Spiegler notes in the interview with .ART, the motivation for The Academy emerged from a simple observation: the art world’s opacity has reached a breaking point. Its educational model—one based on gatekeeping, guesswork, and inherited habits—is no longer fit for purpose in a time shaped by algorithmic discovery, hybrid institutions, and rapidly shifting sources of influence.

The Academy’s curriculum reflects this reality. Topics like digital strategy, audience-building, brand-driven patronage, and cross-sector fluency are treated not as add-ons but as foundational. Crucially, it’s not about mimicking old art-world structures, but equipping participants to understand, critique, and ultimately reimagine them. Programs like the Cultural Catalyst track call explicitly for new models—projects that may sit between art and tech, or operate outside conventional categories altogether.

In that sense, The Academy is more than an educational offering. It is a platform for cultural infrastructure-building, for those who believe that the art world’s future won’t be inherited—it will be designed.

What motivated the creation of The Academy, and why now?

Frankly, because the art world’s opacity has reached a breaking point. For decades, knowledge transfer happened over dinner tables, not in classrooms—and that model doesn’t scale.

As the art market globalized and financialized, the gap between how the industry works and how people think it works has only widened. The Academy is designed to close that gap—because if not now, when?

What are the most profound transformations in the art world over the last decade — and how are they reflected in the structure of the courses?
A handful: the collapse of geographic barriers, the mainstreaming of online sales, the rise of brand-driven collectors, and the art world’s grudging collision with transparency and technology. Each module mirrors that: digital strategy isn’t a sideshow; it’s core curriculum. Ditto for navigating financial models, audience-building, and the realities of an increasingly interdisciplinary cultural economy.

How does The Academy differ from other art business education programs currently available?

Most existing programs still teach the art world of 2010—at best. Ours is ruthlessly current. Less about theory, more about how deals are actually structured, how careers are actually built, and how influence is actually brokered. Plus, it’s taught by people who are in the arena, not just analyzing it from the sidelines.

How do you balance critical reflection on the art world’s structures with practical insights for navigating it professionally?
Look, you can’t navigate a system if you don’t understand its architecture—and its fault lines.

We don’t romanticize the art world, nor do we vilify it. We teach participants how power flows, how markets behave, and how narratives are constructed—so they can decide whether to play along, hack the system, or reinvent it.

The Cultural Catalyst Program suggests the mix of entrepreneurial training with cultural development. What kinds of ideas or projects are you hoping to see come out of it?
Not just “open another gallery” or “start another fair.” We’re looking for new models—hybrid spaces, digital-native institutions, cultural tech platforms, patronage systems for the 21st century. In a perfect world, something comes out of this that we can’t even categorize yet.

How do you help participants refine their project ideas — especially those coming from a more creative or non-profit background rather than a business one?
The same way a curator edits a biennale: cut what’s redundant, clarify the narrative, sharpen the value proposition. We bring in investors, entrepreneurs, and cultural operators to pressure-test ideas—not to kill them, but to make them stronger, leaner, and more executable.

How do you envision the future relationship between tech, finance, and contemporary art — particularly as new platforms, currencies, and audiences emerge?
It’s already underway. The walls between these sectors are dissolving faster than most people are comfortable admitting. Art is becoming less object-based and more experience-based, less dependent on gatekeepers and more on networks.

The platforms that win will be the ones that understand cultural capital and financial capital are increasingly two sides of the same coin.

What do you hope alumni of the program will take away — not just in terms of knowledge, but also network and mindset?
Three things: First, a clear-eyed view of how the art world actually functions. Second, a global network of collaborators, connectors, and allies. Third—and most importantly—a refusal to accept that “this is just how things are done” as a sufficient answer to anything.

What’s next for The Academy? Are there plans to expand the course curriculum, partner with institutions, etc.?
Absolutely. New courses are coming on topics like cultural tech, art advisory, and the future of philanthropy. We’re already in conversations with museums, art fairs, and even VC funds about collaborations. The goal isn’t just to teach the art world as it exists—but to help shape what it becomes.

Why have you decided to create the online address of the course within the .ART domain zone? What does it signify for you?
Because the art world needs to start acting like an industry that belongs to the 21st century. Using .ART is a small but intentional signal: we are part of this ecosystem, but we’re also part of moving it forward—digitally, structurally, and conceptually.