Your correspondent is not usually prone to horn blowing, but it is difficult not to feel a small triumphant glow after rather achieving a rather significant victory opposing the motion that “contemporary art has sold out to the market” in last night’s (5 July) Intelligence Squared debate, hosted by Investec at Phillips. Decrying the evils of the art market and its corrupting effect on artists was the Guardian’s chief art critic Adrian Searle. Before the debate commenced—moderated by the BBC arts editor Will Gompertz—the room was 38% in favour of the motion and 15% against, with 47% undecided.
A spirited discussion ensued with much parry and thrust between the two combatants and some vigorous questioning from the audience who included Sigrid Kirk of Arts Co, the Monocle culture editor Robert Bound and the chief curator of Hepworth Wakefield, Andrew Bonacina. But your correspondent won the day by claiming a resounding 72% of the room—a 34% rise—in favour of the integrity of art and artists and that selling well need not mean selling out. In what was apparently the biggest ever swing in Intelligence Squared debates, the room of bankers and artworlders ended up by being convinced that, to paraphrase Damien Hirst’s former manager Frank Dunphy, money chases art more than art chases money. Hurrah to that!
