从艺术品销售解读西班牙经济

    大家在今年的第33届马德里国际当代艺术展（ARCO）上很容易就能看出参展者在艺术圈中处于哪个等级。

    周末去参展的属于平民群体。这个群体人数大概在10万左右，而且人数正在减少。这群人往往会花费20到40欧元（27.5到55美元）不等的钱购买艺术品。购买的艺术作品范围很广，从圣徒式的名家——如照相写实主义画家理查德•伊斯特斯的画作，到前途无量的新人——如墨西哥装置艺术家埃克托尔•萨莫拉的作品都有。周三或周四的参展者很可能是有钱人或艺术机构的代表，这个群体大约有400人。他们一般都是展览方邀请来的，且所有行程费用都已付清。展览方邀请他们的目的，不外乎希望他们买些大件。

    所有大型艺术展都设有VIP项目，专门吸引大买家。但ARCO却将全部450万欧元预算中的20%都用在了邀请买家及海外宣传上，。它表明，西班牙持续五年的经济危机已经迫使这个艺术展将工作重心从国内博物馆和当地买家转移到国际大收藏家身上。

    “危机发生前，大部分艺术品都卖给了国内机构。但现在这些机构都不买了，国外的收藏家买得更多，”卡洛斯•乌罗斯说。从2010年起，卡洛斯•乌罗斯开始担任ARCO展会的总监。

    西班牙泡沫经济的破灭对艺术行业打击深重。艺术经济研究所（Arts Economics）创始人克莱尔•麦克安鲁为巴塞罗那Arte y Mecenazgo基金会进行过一个市场研究。结果显示，2002到2007年间，西班牙艺术品市场规模从1.6亿欧元增加到了4.8亿欧元，增长幅度高达200%；然而2009年，这个市场一下子跌到了2.71亿欧元。一直到现在，市场才刚刚有所恢复。其中一部分原因在于，政府提高了艺术品的增值税（销售税），将2012年18%的增值税税率提高到了21%（2010年这一税率为16%）。

    “我们现在的状况跟危机发生之前比起来非常糟糕，”马德里Galería Nieves Fernández画廊的主管伊多娅•费尔南德斯坐在ARCO的白色展馆中说。“如果没有外国人来，去年的ARCO简直就是一场灾难。去年在ARCO，我们只卖了一幅画给西班牙国内的收藏家，价格是3,000欧元。”

    由于很多人不愿透露整体销量，因此展会的真实情况很难摸清。乌罗斯表示，他从各个画廊得到的回应是“满意”。

    “我们没有销售数据，”他说。“但我们有画廊的满意度指标。而且我们相信今年的情况会更好。”

    我们得到的数据却并不乐观。ARCO的参展人数在2003和2004年达到了历史新高，每年在200,000人左右。但2012年，参展人数降到了127,500人，今年则估计在100,000人左右。另外，西班牙国内的大机构，尤其是依靠政府资金支持的大机构都削减了开支。以索菲亚王后国家艺术中心博物馆（MuseoNacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía）为例，它2010年在ARCO的预算为927,762欧元，2012年降到了700,000欧元，2013年为318,999欧元，今年则只有204,625欧元。

    我们只好再次把目光投向国际收藏家。由于本土资金短缺，ARCO便邀请了许多国际收藏家来参展，同时还增加了许多拉丁美洲画廊展位，以便向这些收藏家们展示一些他们在别的地方看不到的作品。

    ARCO上周三开展，第一天基本属于收藏家与专业人士。我在参观的几个小时中发现，展会的新策略似乎起到了作用。如今艺术品增值税已经下调到了约15.5%，展馆中随处可见的是身着昂贵便装的高龄绅士、接受过极端整形手术的老年女士，以及穿着紧身裤、胡子打过蜡的年轻人。

    At this year's 33rd edition of Spain's ARCOmadrid contemporary art fair, it was pretty easy to tell where you stood in the art world hierarchy.

    If you visited over the weekend, you were one of a diminished group of 100,000 or so civilians who forked out between 20 and 40 euros ($27.50 and $55) to bask in art that ran from canonized names like photorealist painter Richard Estes to up-and-comers like Mexican installation artistHéctor Zamora. But if you attended on Wednesday or Thursday, you were likely one of the 400 or so rich folks and art institution bigwigs who'd been invited to Spain, your trip paid in full, in the hopes that you might drop some serious dough on art.

    All major art fairs have VIP programs designed to attract big spenders. But ARCO's dedication of 20% of its 4.5 million euro budget to inviting buyers and promoting the fair overseas shows how Spain's economic crisis -- now more than five years old -- has forced the fair to turn its attention from national museums and modest local buyers to big international collectors.

    "In the years before the crisis, there were a lot of sales to domestic institutions. This has disappeared, and now there are more sales to foreign collectors," said Carlos Urroz, ARCO's director since 2010.

    Spain's art world was whiplashed by the country's bubbly rise and quick collapse. The Spanish art market grew 200% between 2002 and 2007, from 160 million to 480 million euros, only to crash to 271 million euros in 2009, according to a study led by Clare McAndrew, founder of research firm Arts Economics, for Barcelona's Arte y Mecenazgo foundation. The market has recovered only slightly since, hurt in part by the government's increase of its VAT (sales tax) on art works from 18% to 21% in 2012 (up from 16% in 2010).

    "We're doing very badly compared to pre-crisis," said Idoia Fernández, sitting in the white ARCO cube of Madrid's Galería Nieves Fernández, where she is the director. "Last year, if it weren't for foreigners, ARCO would have been a disaster. We sold only one piece to a Spanish collector last year at ARCO, for 3,000 euros."

    It's hard to know how a fair is doing, as many are loath to divulge overall sales numbers. Urroz couches his response in gallery "satisfaction."

    "We don't have sales figures," he said. "We know the level of satisfaction of the galleries, and we are confident this year will be better."

    What numbers are available aren't good. In 2003 and 2004, ARCO's visitor numbers hit a high of 200,000 people annually, but this number fell to 127,500 in 2012 and an estimated 100,000 this year. And big Spanish institutional buyers -- especially ones dependent on government support -- have cut their spending. Take the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which trimmed its ARCO budget from 927,762 euros in 2010 to 700,000 euros in 2012, 318,999 euros in 2013, and 204,625 euros this year.

    Which brings us back to the international collectors. With local money scarce, ARCO has flown in international collectors and added foreign galleries from Latin America to show those collectors pieces they wouldn't see elsewhere.

    When I walked through ARCO a few hours after it opened on Wednesday, the first collector and industry day, the fair's redefinition appeared to be working. The VAT had been dropped to about 15.5%, and the halls were full of elder gentlemen in expensive casual wear, women of a certain age who'd undergone extreme plastic surgery, and young guys with tight pants and waxed moustaches.