COVID-19 put the art industry online directed galleries to display digital rather than physical spaces areas, art fairs and auction houses, or digital and mixed events.

AS OF LAST MARCH, the pandemic process, in which Turkey closed simultaneously with the world, drew an upward moving chart in terms of art, unlike other sectors. This rise marked both the visibility of the arts and the market trends. The biggest trend of this period in the art world was the increase/spread of the use of new technological tools. Thus, the importance of technology in the art world is also understood. With the closure, 3D virtual tours of museums and galleries, online sales, online auctions and Instagram live broadcasts attracted more attention than ever before, and online transactions, which have a 7% share in general sales, have reached a considerable rate today.

Pandemic pre-internet global art sales covered a fairly small portion of the market: In 2019, online transactions accounted for 7% of the $ 64.1 billion art market, according to a report by Hiscox, while COVID-19 led the art industry to online sales and made galleries prefer digital viewing rooms rather than physical spaces. According to Clare McAndrews, a prominent economist, online sales were covering 37% of galleries’ sales in the first half of 2020, a huge leap from the 10% slice in 2019. However, this leap had serious risks fort he art world which was caught unprepared. Collectors should be wary of any potential online sellers. You also need to take a good look at what your cyber insurance covers. (Does it cover the losses, does it cover your inventory?) The New York State has recently passed an act called S.H.I.E.L.D (Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security) as a legal shield. However, the cybersecurity field is still very new, almost like a cat and Mouse game, as art dealers and collectors seek new solutions then criminals adapt it and improve themselves. Collectors can prove in many ways that they are not liable for possible online fraud on their behalf. So how? Authorities list the details that need to be looked at as follows: When it comes to cybersecurity, whether there is security preventing attacks should be confirmed; does the second or third party provide software against breaches of their systems?, are there any approved certificates on their website? Do they only have a separate bank transfer account for purchases? And they add: Make sure you have firewalls on your computer and verify the links by looking at the URL from which they came before opening them. Never click when you have a doubt. The action plan called Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security, which came out in the Netherlands last January, requires a precautionary plan against possible security breaches in all employees’ computers, social networks and vendor accounts. Correspondence between the Rijksmuseum Twenthe Museum and Dickinson Gallery, based in New York and London, was hacked, and fraudsters pretended to be Dickinson Gallery, persuading the museum to transfer £ 2.4M to a fake account for artist John Constable’s painting.

According to the museum officials, they had taken every precaution regarding online security systems, there were no vulnerabilities, so Dickinson Gallery was responsible for their losses. However, Dickinson’s lawyer defended against, arguing that the museum should recheck the account before making the transfer. The court found the defense insufficient, and Constable is on display in the official museum, although Dickinson received no payment for the museum’s losses. This incident is a very important event that has happened recently to show the necessity of cyber security. One of the most common frauds nowadays, when online sales are increasing especially with the pandemic, is the situation when someone replaces someone else saying that the money was transferred to the wrong bank. The situation experienced by the Rijkmuseum is actually frequently experienced in every sector. The simplest solution is to call and check where the money is going before you pay, if it’s the first time you pay.

However some security measures are useful, their benefits are still limited because criminals use more and more sophisticated methods every day. However, as cases increase, insurance companies update their policies according to changing conditions and insurers add cyber security policies to their systems. However, the two important things to look at, especially in online shopping, are the certificate of originality and the condition (reports) of the art piece.

At the end of the day, my idea is that physical spaces will never lose their importance in art for high-budget projects. I hope the art world, which is based on the motivation of socialization, will have the environments where the all art lovers can interact in real soon.