He’s Bringing Transparency to the Art Market

Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Invites

IN THIS EPISODE:

In this episode our host, Denise Silber, is joined by David Kusin, Harvard MBA, a man whose passions for art and capital markets, led him to found Kusin & Company, the first ever established art economics firm. Together they discuss how his company is bringing liquidity and transparency to the art market, by painstakingly collecting millions of data points on valuable art assets and building a 21st century trading platform.

The global art market is traditionally known for its opacity, innumeracy, and lack of data. And although they said it couldn’t be done, David undertook, over a decade, with the help of connoisseurs and quants, to make possible the sorting of some of the most valuable works of art in the world. These unique art-price observations led to the identification of 150 art submarkets, a revolution for the art market. Learn how he did this, what it means for the world of art, and how you might use this model to identify other untapped opportunities.

GUEST BIO:

David Kusin, Harvard MBA, former curator and investment banker, has devoted the past two decades to decoding the buying and selling of art. As David Kusin observes, “Stagnant since 2014 and barely profitable, the global sector of art as a financial asset can revive only with the adoption of IP and a newly envisioned definition of asset trading platforms that did not exist 20 years ago.” His business, the first art economics firm, Kusin & Company has developed unique datasets and competency that underpin his new book, Art as an Asset in the 21st Century. The centrality of art and the daily collaboration of art connoisseurs and mathematicians set his firm, and this book, apart.