Artists’ pension trust starts to sell
Dealers anxious about effects on the market as world’s largest art fund begins to sell its collection of 10,000 works by 2,000 artists
By Rachel Corbett. Art Market, Issue 254, February 2014
Published online: 12 February 2014
Investors include the mixed-media artist Pedro Vélez
As one of the world’s largest art funds starts to sell its collection, many in the trade are concerned about the effects this may have on the market and on the artists’ careers. Since it launched in 2003, the Artist Pension Trust (APT) has amassed what it says is the biggest collection of contemporary art ever—more than 10,000 works which it estimates to be worth $120m. Last month, “purchase” buttons appeared next to works in its online database.
Unlike other art funds, APT’s investors are artists, who, over a 20-year span, contribute works instead of money. The fund is international and has more than 2,000 members including established names such as Roberto Cuoghi, Liam Gillick and Nir Hod, as well as lesser-known artists. “The average work is between $5,000 to $10,000,” says Brook Hazelton, a former chief executive at Phillips auction house who now advises APT on sales.
Some say the sheer volume of works for sale could flood the market. “People are wondering what impact it will have on other attempts to sell work by those artists privately or at auction,” says the New York dealer Edward Winkleman. “I have tried to stop all of my artists from signing up with APT,” says one Manhattan dealer who asked to remain anonymous. He says the fund takes too large a cut: once a trust sells a work, it gives 40% of the proceeds back to the artist and takes 28% to cover operating costs. The remaining 32% gets distributed among the other participants in that particular trust (the fund comprises nine individual trusts, each with between 250 and 628 artist-members).
The idea is that some artists will be successful, others will not, but all can diversify their risk while saving for retirement. The video and performance artist Kalup Linzy joined APT in 2007 and says that, “because the payoff of the trust seems long-term, I actually don’t dwell on it so much”.
The company’s sales strategy is not fixed: “To maximise returns, one [has] to be flexible and not have very hard rules,” says a company spokeswoman. This is a shift in policy from that detailed in a 2005 APT filing with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) which states that a work would be deemed saleable if the artist’s prices plateaued, if they plummeted (by 30% or more in a year), or if they skyrocketed (by 400% to 500% in a year). APT could sell a work if it received a museum offer, or if it determined that an artist “will most likely not become successful” (the artist or the fund can terminate membership at any time). The SEC filing has since been abandoned, the spokeswoman says.
The sales process will be “slow and careful”, says APT’s chairman and co-founder Moti Shniberg. “It’s not going to be any kind of fire sale.” The company recently hired four specialists to liaise with potential buyers, and each transaction must be approved by a five-member advisory committee: former Whitney Museum director David Ross, former Mori Art Museum director David Elliott, adviser Mary Hoeveler, former JP Morgan Chase Collection artistic director Manuel González, and Brook Hazelton.
To avoid paying commissions, APT aims to sell directly to private collectors and institutions, rather than at auction or to galleries. The fund is encouraging institutional relationships by loaning work from its collection virtually free of charge (the borrower must pay for insurance, transportation and a $100 handling fee). “This is particularly helpful for smaller institutions where the exhibition planning doesn’t happen two years in advance,” says Emilia Layden, associate curator at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee. She says that it took just two weeks for APT to approve the loan of a sculpture by Kaz Oshiro, Trash Bin #7, 2004, now part of a group show, “Between Critique and Absorption”, at the museum (until 18 May). Some such loans lead to sales. “Curators have come to us and said, ‘I want to add this work to the permanent collection of the museum’,” Shniberg says.
It is unclear how the fund will play out in the long-term but, in the meantime, some artists are enjoying the immediate benefits of their membership. The non-profit APT Institute launched in September, offering free, temporary studios in Leipzig and Brooklyn. The US artist Pedro Vélez, who joined the fund in 2006, is currently in residence in an APT studio in New York as he prepares his contribution to the forthcoming Whitney Biennial (7 March-25 May). “I’ve seen first-hand what happens to artists when they reach a certain age and don’t have a security net. We all lose sleep at night over uncertainty like that,” Vélez says.
How the numbers add up
APT owns 10,000 works of art by 2,000 artists from 75 countries.
$120m: APT’s valuation of its collection
$500m: APT’s projected valuation of its collection in 40 years
2,002: the amount of works added to its collection last year
200: the number of museum shows the fund loaned works to last year
500: the number of museum loans it anticipates this year
8: the number of geographical trusts in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Beijing, Mumbai, Dubai, Berlin and London
628: the membership limit for APT Global One, the most recently launched trust
Artist Pension Trust or APT is an investment vehicle specializing in contemporary art, which aims to provide financial security and international exposure to selected artists chosen by its international curatorial team. It has the largest global collection of contemporary art, comprising 10,000 artworks from 2,000 artists in 75 countries, and growing by more than 2,000 each year. As of November 2013, total of 40,000 artworks have been committed to APT by 2,000 artists. In estimating the value of the collection, APT claims its worth to be more than $US100 million and projects annual appreciation of 17%.
The international curatorial team consists of over 100 art professionals with experience in identifying artists with high potential of commercial success and in supporting them in the early and mid-stages of their careers. Artworks from the APT collection have been used to curate exhibitions for museums including the MoMA, Tate Modern, Hirshhorn Museum, as well as for art venues such as the Venice Biennale, Art Basel, Documenta and Manifesta.
In 2004, a company named MutualArt has launched the Artist Pension Trust as the first pension program for visual contemporary artists. It was founded by businessman Moti Shniberg, Hebrew University business professor and leading academic and writer in business administration and finance, Dan Galai, and David A. Ross, former director of the Whitney Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
APT started with eight regional trusts and subsequently launched a global trust, APT Global One, with a total of 628 artists. APT Global One was designed for optimal risk diversification.
After the first year, Artist Pension Trust owned the collection of approximately 65 artworks created by artists in the New York branch, including Jules de Balincourt, William Cordova, Anthony Goicolea, and Aida Ruilova.
Currently, APT has several location of the APT trusts in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Dubai, Beijing, Mumbai, Mexico City, APT Global One.
In 2012, APT accelerated expansion into Asia in partnership with Simon Murray & Company, a pan-Asian investment fund management firm.
APT's Chairman and co-founder is the high-tech entrepreneur and art collector Moti Shniberg. The Advisory Board include Professor Dan Galai, an authority in risk diversification theory, David Ross, Chair of the MFA Art Practice Program at the School of Visual Arts and former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMOMA and ICA Boston, Elena Foster, founder of Ivory Press, John Baldessari, American conceptual artist, and Raymond McGuire, Head of Global Banking at Citigroup, a collector of contemporary art and member of several boards including The International Center of Photography, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
The artworks in the trust are gradually sold over the course of 20 years for the benefit of the artists. The funds from the net proceeds of each artwork sold are distributed in the following manner: 72% are distributed to the artists in the trust, with 40% to the individual artist and 32% among the artists in that trust based on the number of artworks they have deposited. The remaining 28% is used to cover the operational costs of the trusts.
In June 2013, Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy, included 26 artists who are also a part of the global Artist Pension Trust.
In 2013, artworks from the APT collection were displayed in over 100 exhibitions worldwide, including at Tate Modern in London, the Seoul Museum of Art, and Göteborgs Konsthall.
APT는
Artist Pension Trust or APT is an investment vehicle specializing in contemporary art, which aims to provide financial security and international exposure to selected artists chosen by its international curatorial team. It has the largest global collection of contemporary art, comprising 10,000 artworks from 2,000 artists in 75 countries, and growing by more than 2,000 each year. As of November 2013, total of 40,000 artworks have been committed to APT by 2,000 artists. In estimating the value of the collection, APT claims its worth to be more than $US100 million and projects annual appreciation of 17%.
The international curatorial team consists of over 100 art professionals with experience in identifying artists with high potential of commercial success and in supporting them in the early and mid-stages of their careers. Artworks from the APT collection have been used to curate exhibitions for museums including the MoMA, Tate Modern, Hirshhorn Museum, as well as for art venues such as the Venice Biennale, Art Basel, Documenta and Manifesta.
In 2004, a company named MutualArt has launched the Artist Pension Trust as the first pension program for visual contemporary artists. It was founded by businessman Moti Shniberg, Hebrew University business professor and leading academic and writer in business administration and finance,] Dan Galai, and David A. Ross, former director of the Whitney Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
APT started with eight regional trusts and subsequently launched a global trust, APT Global One, with a total of 628 artists. APT Global One was designed for optimal risk diversification.
After the first year, Artist Pension Trust owned the collection of approximately 65 artworks created by artists in the New York branch, including Jules de Balincourt, William Cordova, Anthony Goicolea, and Aida Ruilova.
Currently, APT has several location of the APT trusts in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Dubai, Beijing, Mumbai, Mexico City, APT Global One.In 2012, APT accelerated expansion into Asia in partnership with Simon Murray & Company, a pan-Asian investment fund management firm.
APT's Chairman and co-founder is the high-tech entrepreneur and art collector Moti Shniberg. The Advisory Board include Professor Dan Galai, an authority in risk diversification theory, David Ross, Chair of the MFA Art Practice Program at the School of Visual Arts and former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMOMA and ICA Boston, Elena Foster, founder of Ivory Press, John Baldessari, American conceptual artist, and Raymond McGuire, Head of Global Banking at Citigroup, a collector of contemporary art and member of several boards including The International Center of Photography, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
The artworks in the trust are gradually sold over the course of 20 years for the benefit of the artists. The funds from the net proceeds of each artwork sold are distributed in the following manner: 72% are distributed to the artists in the trust, with 40% to the individual artist and 32% among the artists in that trust based on the number of artworks they have deposited. The remaining 28% is used to cover the operational costs of the trusts.
In June 2013, Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy, included 26 artists who are also a part of the global Artist Pension Trust.
In 2013, artworks from the APT collection were displayed in over 100 exhibitions worldwide, including at Tate Modern in London, the Seoul Museum of Art, and Göteborgs Konsthall.
