ANDRÁS SZÁNTÓ: THE FUTURE OF THE ART WORLD

What will the visual art world look like in ten, twenty, or fifty years? In a time of accelerating disruption—fueled by economic shocks, shifting taste patterns, ideological polarization, climate change, and artificial intelligence, among other looming challenges—arts institutions and markets must transform. But how?

The Future of the Art World

In The Future of the Art World: 38 Dialogues, New York–based cultural strategist András Szántó engages in conversations with artists, curators, academics, patrons, policymakers, gallerists, art-fair directors, and other key actors and intermediaries in the global art world to assess the changing playing field on which art institutions must operate.

This book is the third and final volume in a series Szántó began in 2020 with The Future of the Museum: 28 Dialogues and continued with Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects (2022). The previous editions investigated the “software” and the “hardware,” respectively, of the art museum in dialogue with museum directors and architects. But museums don’t exist in a vacuum. This volume rounds out the five-year project with a survey of the wider cultural, organizational, technological, and market environment affecting museums.

Beyond Architecture and Collections: Museums and Their Role in Society 

Each dialogue explores a different facet of the art world—from new definitions of art and creativity to market and art press outlooks to links between art and wellness, to questions around globalization, philanthropy, restitution, cultural diplomacy, new business models and technologies. Some conversations also map evolving regional art scenes, including those in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Gulf, in addition to Europe and the U.S. 

Dialogues with: Refik Anadol, Albert-László Barabási, Ana Brzezińska, Larissa Buchholz, Diana Campbell, Joshua Citarella, Michael Connor, Jonathan Crockett, Marcello Dantas, Simon Denny, Ophelia Deroy, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Léuli Eshrāghi, Thomas Girst, Holly Herndon & Matthew Dryhurst, Noah Horowitz, Isaac Julien, William Kentridge, Mona Khazindar, Agnieszka Kurant, José Kuri, Pablo León de la Barra, Sylvain Levy, Mia Locks, Carol Yinghua Lu, Miranda Massie, Atsuko Ninagawa, Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, Yoram Roth, Alain Servais, Marc Spiegler, Calum Sutton, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Fatoş Üstek, Olav Velthuis, Ge Wang, Mariët Westermann, and Dustin Yellin.

Adaptation or realignment?

The conversations capture an art world that is not only in flux but also  more globally dispersed, and commercially powerful than ever. A key question is whether today’s system can adapt to the future through incremental changes or if the art world may be nearing a more fundamental, paradigmatic realignment.

Szántó's introduction, where he lays out multiple plausible scenarios for the future of the art world, showing how this trilogy captures a pivotal moment of profound change in art systems and their institutions. “What the dialogues in this book and the two preceding volumes describe, from many different angles, is a field-wide shift in values. And what matters is whether art world actors can translate the new mindset into genuinely meaningful actions.”

An extensive series of launch and discussion events is planned, including

• Mexico City, Moseo Kaluz (November 11)
• Miami Beach (December 5)
• Venice Biennale opening week (May 2026)

About the Author

András Szántó, PhD, advises museums, foundations, educational institutions, and leading brands worldwide on cultural strategy. He has directed the Museums of Tomorrow Roundtable at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Artforum, and The Art Newspaper, as well as many international publications. He has been conducting conversations with arts leaders since the early 1990s. Born in Budapest, he lives in Brooklyn.


Portrait of András Szántó: Courtesy of M+