The film you are seeing on the system is a clip from the full film. Please use the link added below to view the full Sotheby's New York Evening Sales Livestream. This link should be used to judge the entire submission:

https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/watch-the-full-new-york-evening-sales-livestream

In March 2020 Sotheby’s realised that the global Coronavirus pandemic would present significant challenges to their conventional marquee art auctions. Without the ability to travel and with strict social distancing measures in place across the UK, US and Asia, the traditional ‘auction room’ setup was impossible to create. Sotheby’s challenged Chrome Productions to imagine the ‘auction of the future’, allowing for bidding from New York, London and Hong Kong.

Together – and in only 2 months – Chrome and Sotheby’s developed and implemented a solution that successfully came to fruition on 29^th June 2020. Chrome developed a new virtual event template that enabled the auctions to go ahead by combining client telephone bidding via Sotheby’s experts, online bidding and state-of-the-art broadcast and streaming technology. The project involved a global production team of 49 across London, New York and Hong Kong, with sets being designed in each location and the technology solution implemented – including production equipment, camera selection, studio and networking infrastructure across the three continents.

In addition, Chrome worked with Sotheby’s to create over 180 film assets covering every work of art that was being auctioned. This was also made available online via the Sotheby’s digital catalogue for people to view in advance of the event.

The New York Evening Auction combined 3 separate sales and ran seamlessly across Hong Kong, London and New York, with Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Chairman and lead auctioneer orchestrating out of a purpose built ‘command centre’ set in London.

The 5-hour-long show, broadcast on both Sotheby’s’ website and live on Cable TV channel Cheddar TV, was the first of its kind in the auction world, allowing global, real-time bidding in a high-definition broadcast. The event realised $363.2 million in sales, showcased by the Francis Bacon Triptych that eventually went under the hammer for $85 million after a 10 minute bidding war between a telephone bidder in New York and an online bidder in China. It set an action record for the ‘highest price ever achieved via an online bid’, showing an ever-increasing appetite for high value purchasing via the internet.

Oliver Barker, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and the evening’s auctioneer, said: “To have achieved what we did, and in the space of just few months is absolutely phenomenal. In the early days of COVID-19, when we were challenged to re-imagine the live auction experience I don't think any of us could have imagined we would go on to create a live television event of this magnitude, with a beautiful new auction format and production. Despite my own history as an auctioneer, I will admit that it didn’t seem possible even a few months ago to orchestrate these marquee New York sales via London and around the world. Something this complicated came with its own set of challenges and risks, but the team at Chrome truly distinguished themselves, both in their creative vision and in their execution of the event. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together.”

PRESS QUOTES

“Another extraordinarily slick production from Sotheby’s, with

the results to match. These marquee sales are now the public

face of the entire art market.”

- The New York Times

”We also have to give credit to Sotheby’s for the production

values of their major sales, which I think raised the game for

the entire industry.”

- Artsy

“Live online art auctions ‘better than Netflix’ as sales rebound from coronavirus pandemic”
inews.co.uk

Sotheby’s – Auction of the Future

CREDITS

Josh Hay

Arran Moffat

Phil Moor

Graham Howe

Adam Neville

Rupert Barth Von Wehrenalp

Ben Turze

Gold partners