Under new private equity ownership, Artnet will “curate” art-market wagers for the controversial prediction platform. What could go right?
In a new low for an art world we thought had reached rock bottom, Artnet has announced an official partnership with the betting platform Kalshi in an incestuous marriage of two markets known for financial opacity, insider trading, and the most insufferable straight men you’ve ever met: art and predictions.
The news came in a press release ahead of New York’s marquee auction week, promising interested budding criminals users an exclusive opportunity to “trade yes-or-no contracts in a peer-to-peer structure” (??) on public art sales. The mechanism is as follows: Artnet will use its Price Database, once nostalgically the realm of wannabe art advisors trying to sound like they have an MBA, to “curate” (help) “events” (HELP) such as whether a lot will exceed its estimate. Surprising no one, Miami Art Week in December will be the “next major moment” for the partnership, bro.