Swizz Art Biz (Tanya König)

Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, made headlines earlier this year by selling a non-fungible token at Christie’s for $69 million. It was the most anyone paid for an NFT, and it catapulted Beeple to one of the best paid artists in the world. Now Christie’s just announced that it’s selling another Beeple piece, called Human One, in November. 

Noah Davis was one of the people behind the record-sale and has since been known as “the NFT guy at Christie’s.” He joins Swizz Art Biz from his office in New York and tells Tanya König how business has changed for the auction house since it opened up to NFTs. 

What does a buyer actually get when purchasing an NFT? Access to a community, Davis says. He also addresses the problem with lack of diversity in the NFT space, why he loves the artist FEWOCiOUS, and what to expect from the next Beeple auction. In that same auction, Christie’s will also sell their first NFT minted on the Algorand blockchain, which uses about 99.9 percent less energy than the Ethereum blockchain. 

In this episode of «Swizz Art Biz», Swiss art specialist and author Hans-Peter Keller tells Tanya König what is needed to make it as an art specialist and how to price an art work.

In his career, David Khalat merges his dedication to preserve Switzerland’s tradition of printmaking with the disruption of the traditional hierarchies within the art market. 

He currently serves as the managing director of Edition VFO located at Löwenbräukunst, an organization tracing its roots back to 1948, yet embodying a truly innovative approach to art in its accessibility. Here, Khalat and his team help world renowned artists produce museum quality work, often time by the means of historical techniques, which are then offered to the public through a transparent and affordable sale. But Khalat’s love for printmaking doesn’t stop there, as he is also the founder of ZPI, or Zurich Print Institute, a much younger organization intended to be a younger and more playful space for artists to collaborate and enrich each other with ideas. 

In this episode of Swizz Art Biz, our host, Tanya König asks Khalat about his fascination with printmaking as a medium, diving into how the organizations headed by him serve to disrupt the art market we know today. This they do, often by relying on the philosophies of the past, as he cites examples from “the early prints by Rembrandt and Dürer” and their importance in disseminating ideas among the greater public. 

Finally, in the interview, we also learn how mega-collections such as that of UBS acquire works from the same series that any of their employees would be able to afford as well, and Khalat even sheds some light on the artwork of his choice, which proves to be the most accessible of them all! 

Photo credit: Vic & Chris Photography

Recorded at Tablecast Studio and co-produced by Marcell Márthon.

AIA stands for awareness in art and We Are AIA is the name of a new nonprofit association founded by Martina Huber last year with its own space at Löwenbräukunst in Zurich.

The current show, The Mouth Is for Speaking, deals with the topic of human rights and ponders the question: What is needed to be able to speak or stand up? It includes pieces by Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem, which remembers Jamal Khashoggi—the journalist killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018—and Luke Willis Thompson, which was produced with the Black Lives Matter movement in mind.

Martina Huber is the first guest of the special series of Swizz Art Biz x Löwenbräukunst, where Tanya König, the founder of Swizz Art Biz, will speak with artists and insiders connected to the contemporary art center Löwenbräukunst in Zurich.

Follow Löwenbräukunst and Swizz Art Biz on Instagram. 

This episode was filmed at Tablecast by Christoph Soltmannowski and can also be watched as video podcast on YouTube. 

British artist Keith Tyson spoke to Tanya König in 2018 about his art , technology, and his upbringing. Hauser & Wirth is now showing his drawings and paintings at 22 Street in New York. On this occasion, Swizz Art Biz is re-sharing this honest conversation with the Turner Prize winner, which was aired on CNNMoney Switzerland in 2018. 

The interview can also be watched on YouTube. 

«Andy meets Warhol» has been named best Instagram account for contemporary art by German magazine Monopol and has almost 70,000 followers.

Alice Bucknell is a North American digital artist based in London. She focuses her work around the topics of architecture, cryptocurrencies, the environment, and capitalism. Bucknell recently showed her piece “Swamp City” in Zurich which was also part of the Venice Biennale for Architecture this year. In this latest Swizz Art Biz podcast what motivates her work, why she went from being an art and architecture critic to becoming a digital video artist, why she boycotts the Ethereum blockchain, and how NFTs can make a difference. 

Marie Livie is the woman behind her namesake LIVIE gallery, situated in Zürich’s Claridenstrasse. First opening its doors to the public in 2019, the gallery represents the emergence of a new generation of art dealers within the city, with all that they might bring. Admittedly, being an emerging gallery comes with its challenges, especially if one opens right before the pandemic, like Livie did.

Yet, such challenges never deterred her, unsurprisingly perhaps, as she is no stranger to navigating the art world. Having worked within Art Basel’s Cities initiative as a project manager in Buenos Aires, she is well aware of the global trends that drive the market forward. 

It is her view on these trends, that our host, Tanya König asks Marie Livie about, as well as her personal experience in being at the vertex of a generation shift within the art world. How does the new generation of gallerists build and maintain a loyal collector base? What new can they offer in a well saturated market to maintain a competitive edge? How do they view art fairs?

Having worked at an art fair, yet now being a frequent gallerist attendee herself, Livie is certainly the best person to answer these questions, and more, as many do come up over the conversation between König and Livie, giving the listener an insight into the future of the art world, and the workings of an excellent new gallery in the city of Zürich. 

Livie Gallery on Instagram

Swizz Art Biz on Instagram

This episode was produced at TableCast Studio.

If you’ve been a regular VIP at Art Basel in the past few years, you know her name: Michèle Sandoz. She was the Global Head of VIP Relations at Art Basel for almost a decade and is now the Managing Director of Grisebach Switzerland, a German auction house. Michèle Sandoz has an intercultural background, having been born in Zimbabwe to Swiss parents and growing up in various African countries. She studied Sinology and East Asian art at the University of Zurich after a trip to China before she entered the art market working for the auction house Koller Auktionen.

In the first episode of season 2 of Swizz Art Biz, the art world habituée tells our host Tanya König how her background influenced her career choice, what she liked about the current Venice Biennale curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa—the first Latin American and openly queer curator in the history of the Biennale—about her current trip to Art Basel Hong Kong, and what she is planning with Grisebach Switzerland.

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Michèle Sandoz on Instagram

Host/Producer: Tanya König

Intern/Co-Producer: Marcell Márthon

Recorded at Tablecast Studio by Christoph Soltmannowski

Photo credit: © Noé Cotter

Nomad was founded in 2017 by Giorgio Pace and Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte with the aim to be more exclusive and flexible than other fairs. While St. Moritz has hosted it on several occasions, Nomad, true to its name, has no fixed home, and over the past five years has also been held in Monaco, Cannes, and Venice. Next Tuesday the boutique fair will get underway in St. Moritz again through March 6. 

Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte tells Swizz Art Biz host Tanya König that this year’s inaugural summer destination will be—drum roll, please—Capri. Talk about glam! But fear not Alpine enthusiasts, he says that the fair will return to the Swiss mountains next winter.

Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte also tells Tanya how the committee picks their exhibitors, why they need to communicate their choices diplomatically, and why the noted Swiss critic and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist called Nomad the future of fairs. Listen to the conversation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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Georg Bak organized the very first art exhibition of Larva Lab's CryptoPunk's. Now some of those NFT's artworks are being sold in the London auction of Sotheby's this month. Find out more about NFT's and the history of it.

Video version on Youtube https://youtu.be/Ph-bfuna22s

From Los Angeles to Hong Kong, London to Monaco, New York’s East Side to New York’s West Side, Hauser & Wirth operates in 16 locations around the world. The gallery, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, just announced that it will open its first space in Paris in 2023.

In this latest episode of Swizz Art Biz x Löwenbräukunst, Tanya König sits down with Barbara Corti, who is a partner at Hauser & Wirth.

Corti started working at the gallery in 2005 when its only space was at Löwenbräukunst in Zurich. Shortly after, in 2006 she moved to New York, where she spent seven years working for 303 Gallery. In 2013, she went back to Hauser & Wirth to help it  open its first space in Manhattan’s Chelsea, which had become the spot to be for contemporary art galleries.

When the Covid pandemic spread throughout  the world in 2020, she decided to pack up and return to Switzerland. It was a decision that wasn’t easy but now makes perfect sense to her. She is now responsible for Hauser & Wirth’s galleries at Löwenbräukunst in Zurich and in St. Moritz. Corti tells Tanya about what she learned in the U.S., how Hauser & Wirth selects its new locations, and why everyone should drop into a gallery and just have a look around.

Make sure to subscribe to Swizz Art Biz on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. And rating the podcast also helps it to be seen by others. You can also watch this conversation on YouTube.

Follow Löwenbräukunst and Swizz Art Biz on Instagram.

This episode was recorded at Tablecast by Christoph Soltmannowski.

Andrea Hinteregger de Mayo co-founded a gallery in Zurich, is an independant art advisor, and author of the 2020 book «Nuances of Latin American Art». She tells Tanya König how she built her career in the art world.

In this live podcast recorded at the Suisse Podcast Festival, we are joined by the art world’s rule-breaking insider: Kenny Schachter!

Renowned for his unfiltered opinions, relentless energy, and wit that has disrupted galleries and auction houses alike, Kenny has carved out a unique space where art, critique, and cultural commentary collide.

Consistently challenging the status quo, he has become one of the most captivating—and controversial—voices in contemporary art. A multifaceted talent, Kenny is a writer, columnist, artist, art dealer, lawyer, and teacher, notably lecturing on art market studies at Zurich University.

In this engaging episode, Kenny shares with host Tanya König and the audience how he discovered art, why he never takes no for an answer, and why, as long as you act ethically, you can do whatever you want.

The conversation is candid and insightful, followed by a dynamic Q&A session featuring questions from the audience.

Watch the Video of this conversation on YouTube!

More on Swizz Art Biz!

Giorgia von Albertini is one of the youngest and most successful Swiss art curators at the moment. The 29-year-old started her career in the arts between her Bachelor and Masters degrees, when she collaborated with the renowned Swiss curator Bice Curiger, the renowned Swiss curator and co-founder of Parkett, who was only the third woman ever to curate the Venice Biennale in 2011.

"I simply wrote a letter to Bice saying how much I admired her work and asked if there was a way we could collaborate," von Albertini tells Swizz Art Biz. When listening to her, one can tell she is someone who dares to take initiative.

Even if it’s certainly not the best paid job in the art industry, she makes sure she gets paid for her work: “I always found that in a capitalist economy, no one should work for free and it was important to me to not devalue my work.”

So what does it take to succeed? "You need to love the work and put in the work."

Listen to this candid conversation with Giorgia von Albertini to find out her attitude towards work and why she wasn’t scared to collaborate with established figures in the art world including Swiss artist Not Vital. Plus, hear about her latest project, a monograph on Mexican artist Martín Soto Climént, which will be launched in Rome on February 3 at Karma International in Zurich on February 8, and then in London and Paris.

Follow Swizz Art Biz on Instagram and find the podcast host Tanya König here. 

Watch the conversation on Youtube. 

Produced at Tablecast Studio by Soltmannowski, solt.ch

Valeria Diaz Granada represents a new generation of art entrepreneurs, curating museum-quality exhibition programs without the need for a physical gallery space or even a fixed country of operation. Instead, rossogranada, the "art catalyzer" she founded, focuses on the artists themselves, organizing seemingly spontaneous pop-up exhibitions around the world. For instance, audiences from Basel to London have had the chance to encounter Leonora Carrington's over two-meter-tall statue, The Dancer.

However, such operations are not only costly but also require a global audience. One might wonder how a new voice like Granada's carves out a place in the art world, and by what means she manages to succeed.

In the latest episode of Swizz Art Biz, host Tanya König interviews Granada about the role of institutional and private sponsorship in the art world, as well as her perspective on the future of art patronage. Granada also shares her views on philanthropy within the art sector and the importance of giving back to the community through artist-led initiatives.

While the episode features Granada, it explores more than just the story of rossogranada. It highlights the significance of adaptability in the modern approach of curators and art dealers, underscoring the value of a global and flexible exhibition program.

Swizz Art Biz on Instagram

This episode was produced at TableCast Studio.

The video podcast can be watched on YouTube.

Co-Producer: Marcell Márthon

It’s been over a year since I interviewed art dealer Dominique Lévy for CNNMoney Switzerland. During that 2020 conversation, Lévy gave a brutally honest assessment of how she saw art galleries and art fairs moving forward. The interview was picked up by  the international press, including The New York Times, Financial Times, Artnet, and The Art Newspaper. Even noted New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz Tweeted it out. Now I've done a follow-up interview with Lévy.

In 2006, Lucerne-based Galerie Urs Meile became one of the first Western galleries to establish itself in China. Their first space in Beijing was created by none other than Ai Weiwei, who was also one of the first Chinese artists the gallery represented. René Meile, the son of the gallery’s founder, is co-director and mainly responsible for the operations in Beijing. 

He spent the past 15 months in China and observed how the clientele shifted during the pandemic.

In this episode of Swizz Art Biz, he tells Tanya König why he tries to understand China through its art and culture rather than just geopolitics, why not every show is shut down immediately when showing sensitive content, and why it’s not always easy to work with Ai Weiwei. His next project? An exhibition by painter Wang Xingwei in Shanghai, set to open in April, when Meile hopes to return.

You can watch this episode as video podcast on YouTube.

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This episode was recorded at Tablecast by Christoph Soltmannowski.