The Gray Market Weekend Wrap #4

Featuring a show of beguiling industrial landscape photos and (heavy sigh) hot Banana discourse

Welcome back to The Gray Market’s weekend wrap, where I serve up a snackable set of recommendations for exhibitions, podcasts, articles and more, with thoughts on what makes each one matter to the current state of art and business. 

In this edition, you’ll find: 

• A downtown gallery show that addresses of-the-moment crises using a centuries-old photo technique  

• A grudging but necessary salvo on The Banana

• A selection of articles covering Hong Kong’s outside investment conundrum, a depressing pact between a mega-publisher and an AI overlord, and a corporate partnership that places Rome’s cultural sector in the land beyond parody

If any of that sounds interesting—or if you just want to support The Gray Market in its ongoing mission to explore where the art business is headed and why—you can subscribe or upgrade your membership using the button below. Paid subscribers will receive all future editions of the weekend wrap, access to the full Substack archive (free posts are paywalled after two weeks), and much more. And if you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you.

One question for readers

There’s been a fair amount of chatter this week about how well (or not) this season’s marquee New York auctions performed and, as ever, what it means for the trade in an existential sense. Which got me wondering: What do TGM subscribers need to see before they’re convinced that the art market is fully back on its feet? 

Email your thoughts to tim@thegraymarket.xyz, and I’ll include the best one(s) in next weekend’s newsletter. (I stand willing and ready to grant anonymity for hot takes if requested.)