4. Private collectors

WHAT HAS CHANGED?
smart business people, they often compete, and clearly succeed, in cutthroat business arenas day in and day out. Many of them have traditionally invested in collecting at as a way to step outside of the daily pressures of their professional ambitions.I have frequently been told by collectors that visiting galleries and discussing art was an opportunity for them to slow down and think about something other than spreadsheets or corporate takeovers. Collecting was how they relaxed. Between 2008 and 2015, though, the relaxing atmosphere of collecting contemporary art began to change on many fronts. I am sure it remains more relaxing than many of the wealthy collectors' day jobs, but I would argue that during this time there was a sea change in the culture of collecting contemporary art. This change emerged due to several factors, including increased access to information online; increased competition for bankable artists' work; the "corporatization" of the contemporary art scene; the way alt lairs accelerated the pace of collecting; and how much more money in the systen grabbed the attention of new entrepreneurs hoping to get some of it.