Art, Luxury and Market Power: Natasha Degen on the Future of Sotheby's Institute of Art New York
Join host Dr David Bellingham, Programme Director of the MA in Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art London, and guest Dr. Natasha Degen, incoming Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art New York (January 2026), Chair of Art Market Studies at FIT, and author of The Market and Merchants of Style, for a wide-ranging conversation about the evolving art market and the future of art education.
Natasha outlines her academic and professional journey from Princeton to China, the UK and New York, explaining what drew her to study the market side of art and how interdisciplinary training shaped her approach. She reflects on leading the MA in Art Market Studies at FIT, the challenges of curriculum design and the balance between academic rigour and practical vocational training for students seeking careers across galleries, auction houses, museums, fashion and luxury.
The episode surveys major market shifts of the last decade: the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, China’s rise and contraction, and the pandemic’s role as an accelerator for digital sales, NFTs and online auctions. Natasha and David discuss globalization’s new phase, the rising cost of doing art business, and how auction houses have diversified into luxury, increasingly relying on luxury sales to offset fine art volatility.
They explore the deepening convergence of art and fashion, from Warhol and Paul Poiret to contemporary brand collaborations, and consider how luxury houses and cultural institutions are reshaping value and taste. The conversation also tackles digital platforms, NFTs, and social media as new routes to recognition that have fractured traditional dealer-critic pathways.
Natasha shares her vision for Sotheby’s Institute New York: strengthening academic programming, launching new offerings (including an MA in Luxury Business), leveraging ties with the auction house, and cultivating a close-knit, interdisciplinary student community. Ethics, law, sustainability, diversity and repatriation debates are highlighted as central topics that should be re-integrated into art-business curricula.
Practical advice for students and early-career professionals focuses on identifying what excites you, playing to your strengths, being open to entrepreneurial paths, and recognizing the breadth of careers available, from studio management and logistics to artist representation and brand partnerships. Natasha concludes with a reading recommendation (Mary Davis’s Paul Poiret: Inventing Modern Luxury) and reflections on the continuing importance of fieldwork and international exposure despite environmental and ethical trade-offs.
Expect an informed, candid and interdisciplinary conversation that bridges history, theory and market practice: essential listening for students, curators, collectors and anyone tracking the intersections of art, fashion, luxury and digital innovation.
music
‘Baby, I Miss The Internet’ (Rama, Rama, Rama)
by TOT TAYLOR
is used by kind permission of the artist
©Tot Taylor/Songmatic Music (2020)
South Africa