The Great Contemporary Art Bubble Update

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Arts, Sociopolitical Documentary hosted by Ben Lewis and published by BBC in 2009 - English narration

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The Great Contemporary Art Bubble Update Art critic and film-maker Ben Lewis spent two years following the contemporary art market, from its heady peak in May 2008 until the crash and burn in October. Now, in a new and updated version of the film first broadcast in May 2009, he returns one year later, in October 2009, to discover a very different market. The last five years had witnessed an unprecedented craze for contemporary art, in which works of art by Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, and Mark Rothko sold for record-breaking prices of 30 million pounds upwards. It all climaxed in September 2008, when Damien Hirst sold 111 million pounds' worth of his art at an unprecedented auction at Sotheby's - the very day Lehman Brothers collapsed bringing down the financial markets of the western world. The bubble did not burst the night of the Hirst sale - but it proved to be a last hurrah. The auctions in October and November 2008 were a disaster, and Ben was there too, filming the art world in shock. By early 2009, the contemporary art auction market was down 75 per cent, auction houses had recorded record losses and were rapidly downsizing. In October 2009, Ben returns to find out what has been happening. In this inside eye-witness journey into the art world, Ben visits auction houses, art fairs, galleries and the homes of billionaires across the world, searching for the reasons behind the greatest rise in financial value of art in history. He interviews leading dealers, art collectors and art market analysts and discovers an extraordinary world of unusual market practices, speculation, secrecy and a passionate enthusiasm for art. In the climax of the film, Lewis’ discoveries lead him to play his own part in the bursting of the contemporary art bubble, which is revealed for the first time in this film Finally the moment came that he had long predicted. A month after the Hirst auction at Sotheby’s, the contemporary art market crashed, dropping by 40% in November 2008 and 75% by February 2009, and still falling today. The Great Contemporary Art Bubble is not only a film about the art market it is a parable for the mania, delusion and greed which drove the world economy over the edge in 2008. In future years the contemporary art bubble may come to be seen as the epitome of the boom-times we have been living through. Watch ‘The Great Contemporary Art Bubble’ and discover the reasons behind the biggest, bubbliest bubble of them all!