Christie’s Art+Tech Summit 2025: A 10-Year Milestone with an Optimisation Mindset
As one of Fuelarts’ close industry contacts (who preferred to remain anonymous) aptly remarked: “Everything in the art market seems to be declining — except the ticket price to Christie’s Art+Tech Summit.” And yet, that very detail works as a positive signal for the ecosystem — especially for newcomers. If demand remains strong and ticket value continues to rise, it suggests a simple truth: the market is growing, we’re moving forward. Are you joining us?
On July 16–17, the 10th anniversary edition of Christie’s Art+Tech Summit took place in New York — a flagship international event at the intersection of art and technology. Yet this year’s agenda reflected a notable shift in tone. In response to the ongoing turbulence across the art market, the organizers devoted nearly half the program not to future-forward tech, but to the present-day challenges facing the sector — challenges that demand not just innovation, but human intervention, strategic thinking, and operational grit.
We witnessed the launch of the very first Christie’s Art+Tech Summit in London back in 2018 and have made it a point to attend this flagship event ever since. There’s no need to explain why, over the past eight years (with some years featuring multiple editions in cities like Dubai and Paris), the relationship between art and technology has undergone a radical convergence.
In 2018, the art world was merely testing the waters of digital formats — a far cry from the tech-dominant ecosystem that would emerge during the pandemic. Back then, Christie’s decision to lean into technology felt bold, even visionary — especially given that just six months earlier, the crypto market, which had surged in 2017, had sharply cooled and entered a new recession cycle.
Still, the 2018 summit drew around 300 attendees, each considering themselves ahead of the curve. In hindsight, their digital naivety was telling: of the 300 QR-coded cards distributed — each containing an NFT by artist Robbie Barrat — only about 30 were preserved by 2021. Those 30 lucky holders would later become dollar-millionaires, while most others left their gift bags behind on the chairs.
In many ways, the Christie’s Art+Tech Summit planted the seeds for what would eventually become Fuelarts. At the time, we were still a startup ourselves, spending breaks networking with fellow founders, sharing pain points and frustrations. Chief among them was the lack of investor trust — not just in individual startups, but in the Art+Tech segment as a whole. The market lacked a recognised stamp of credibility, something investors could anchor their belief in.
This recurring theme would later crystallise into a clear insight: the sector didn’t just need capital — it needed structure, education, and trust. Within a year, that insight materialised as Fuelarts, the first dedicated accelerator for Art+Tech startups.
So, what else has changed?
To begin with, the 10th anniversary edition of Christie’s Art+Tech Summit cut networking time in half — leaving only a working lunch with buffet plates and early-morning coffee chats for those who arrived first. That said, turnout was strong on both days, especially among emerging startups.
What stood out was the strategic approach of these younger founders. Many came in groups, optimizing their presence across the venue. For example, SmartStamp (Switzerland) and Awwt (Germany) each sent three team members — one embedded in the audience capturing speaker content, one stationed by the stage exits to spark quick small talk, and one lingering near the coffee machines to catch passing attendees.
However, by midday on Day 1, it became clear to many hopefuls that most speakers were slipping out via a backstage exit, bypassing the usual post-panel networking. While understandable from a logistics standpoint, this undermined one of the Summit’s core values: access. Over the past decade, the Summit has earned a reputation as a place where industry leaders engage directly with early-stage founders. It may be time to revisit speaker navigation policies to ensure meaningful face-time with the very entrepreneurs who paid premium prices to build those connections.
Over the years of attending industry events, we’ve noticed a curious pattern: the same speakers behave quite differently depending on the venue — even when it’s the same person. At Christie’s Art+Tech Summit, speakers tend to be far more responsive — to small talk, follow-up emails, and outreach in general — than at events with lower ticket prices or less institutional gravitas.
In other words, the prestige of Christie’s and the high cost of entry ($1,877 including taxes for a last-minute ticket) seem to signal something important. For many speakers, anyone willing to pay a premium to attend is perceived as serious — someone investing in their business and worth engaging with. As the old saying goes: “Show your intent with your wallet.”
One of the notable changes introduced at this 10th edition of the Summit was the shift in session format. Audience Q&A was entirely removed — despite the evident buildup of questions in the room. Speakers’ remarks were limited strictly to moderator-led conversations. While this may have disappointed some attendees, we believe it was less about dismissing the audience and more about maximising the number of voices on stage within a tight schedule.
The venue choice also marked a significant shift. For the anniversary edition, Christie’s moved out of its iconic Rockefeller Center auction house and into the legendary Radio City Music Hall, just a few blocks away. On one hand, this neutral, high-profile space created a sense of equality — no one felt entirely "at home," leveling the field between organizers, guests, and participants.
On the other hand, given the art market’s challenging year — coupled with the high-profile cyberattack on Christie’s website just a year earlier — one could argue that hosting the Summit in Christie’s own building would have been a stronger signal of resilience and transparency. A “back at headquarters” format, perhaps even including a peek at the auction house’s security or data infrastructure, could have helped restore confidence in both the market and its tech ambitions.
While it was encouraging to see so many young startups actively engaging at the Summit, the presence of more seasoned players was equally notable — and valuable. When direct access to headline speakers proved elusive, many attendees naturally shifted their focus to veteran founders and high-level executives — the so-called “glass-breakers,” the early pioneers of Art+Tech.
Among them was Robert Norton, co-founder of Saatchi Art and now CEO of blockchain certification platform Verisart, which he’s been building for the past eight years. He attended as a guest and quickly became a magnet for startup conversations.
Another popular target for founder questions was Alexander Forbes, VP, Global Partnerships at Artsy. The platform has recently completed a successful investment round and undergone an ownership change — making Alexander a go-to for insight on scaling and fundraising in today’s market.
And then there was the elusive figure everyone was quietly tracking: Andrew Wolff, the British investor behind Beowolff Capital, reportedly linked to the acquisition of both Artsy and Artnet. His attendance was so anticipated that some founders checked at the reception desk just to see whether he had picked up his badge — a clue as to whether they should begin their search on the floor or not. The badge had indeed been collected, but Wolff either disappeared backstage, sent a proxy in his place, or blended in so well that no one could identify him in the networking zones.
This year, the organisers structured the Summit around four thematic blocks — two per day. The first day opened with Sports and Entertainment, spotlighting cross-industry collaborations between art and global brands. In the afternoon session, titled Age of Innovation, artificial intelligence naturally took centre stage.
Day two shifted the focus toward the Art Market and its broader global context — addressing financial, legal, and ethical concerns. But the most eagerly anticipated session by far was Funding the Future — an exploration of investment in physical art, digital art, and, crucially, Art+Tech startups.
The emphasis on sports at the 2025 Summit felt especially timely. In recent years, even within the creative industries themselves, we’ve seen a surge in cross-industry convergence — with collaborations emerging at the intersections of art and fashion, music and film, TV and cinema, streaming and digital art, architecture and sound. Today, founders are actively encouraged to study these adjacent industries, borrow from their business models, and explore how those dynamics might apply to Art+Tech.
Sports stands out as a prime example. It’s a massively scaled industry that, like art, is built around audience engagement, emotional intensity, and a devoted fan base. There’s catharsis in both arenas — whether it's a stadium or a gallery.
Auction houses aiming to innovate might take notes from the sports world — particularly in how betting systems and mass engagement drive viewership and participation. Imagine applying those mechanics to auction outcomes — not just as a gamified layer, but as a full-fledged audience-building strategy.
We recall how, back in 2011 at the Communicating the Museum conference in Düsseldorf, the inclusion of the President of the French Football Federation as a keynote initially raised eyebrows. Yet during breaks, he became one of the most sought-after speakers — his insights on audience engagement would later inform strategies adopted by major museums around the world.
Today, major sports brands are collaborating with blockchains like Polkadot and Tezos — though many of these early Web3 ventures may have jumped the gun. Now, with platforms like Christie’s Art+Tech Summit serving as a more balanced stage, sports brands have an opportunity to recalibrate, take a step back into Web2, and re-enter the market with stronger cultural grounding — this time supported by the credibility of art and heritage.
One of the most notable partnerships of this year’s Summit came from Andreessen Horowitz — arguably the most active VC fund in the Art+Tech space over the past decade. And their involvement wasn’t just symbolic, with brochures or a token speaker slot. On the contrary, their contribution was both strategic and substantial.
To close the Summit, Andreessen Horowitz premiered its new documentary film Any Problem is No Problem, which offers an inside look into startup acceleration. Out of ten featured companies, it was particularly encouraging to see three focused on the creative industries — specifically, art and culture.
Even more encouraging was the audience’s response: both institutional investors and young founders stayed until the final credits, applauding the film’s honest portrayal of the founder journey. And in a rare but meaningful moment, the personas viewers built in their minds during the film matched the real-life interactions with those very founders afterward — a testament to the authenticity of both the storytelling and the entrepreneurs themselves.
A separate point worth noting is the somewhat careless use of terminology by certain speakers — a subtle but telling detail. One unnamed speaker (unlikely to be reading this article) made a puzzling distinction in his presentation, categorizing art into "assets" and "storesofvalue."
Any finance professional with even a modest grasp of fundamentals knows that a store of value is, by definition, one of the core attributes of an asset — whether tangible or intangible. We understood the broader point he was trying to make: a division between short-termspeculative (liquid) trades and long-term holdings intended to weather market downturns. But the delivery — clumsy at best — highlighted more than just a lack of event-specific preparation.
In contrast, the most successful and respected speakers — those with real public stature and track records to back them — were impressively clear, structured, and generous in their messaging. Their remarks were as tight and impactful as a well-structured cap table. No fluff, no ego. Meanwhile, others, often with less demonstrable success, compensated with performative nonchalance and unsolicited moralising — and yes, the audience picked up on it.
What stood out most was that many business-savvy guests weren’t particularly fazed by the current market dip in art sales figures — especially those who don’t treat total turnover as the sole metric of success.
As Martin Noam Slutzky, CEO of SmartStamp (an entrepreneur with 20+ years in business development), put it succinctly: “You’re looking at the wrong numbers. I don’t care how much auction revenue was generated — what matters is the growing number of buyers. That’s the true market signal. Even if their initial spend is small, this audience can be nurtured, and their appetite scaled. That’s real growth — that’s how you expand a market.”
Slutzky’s perspective is refreshingly grounded — informed not by art world orthodoxy, but by decades of commercial experience. And he’s right: buyer growth is a far more future-facing KPI than volume alone. That said, a caution from our side: let’s just make sure the art market doesn’t lose itself in becoming pure retail.
Among all the sessions, it was the opening keynote that truly set the tone. Delivered by Devang Thakkar, Head of Christie’s Ventures, the presentation managed to cover a sweeping timeline of cultural, adjacent, macro-, and microeconomic trends — all within 15 minutes and with precision. Importantly, the visuals weren’t AI-generated filler slides. These were clearly curated with thought, intention, and genuine respect for the topic — a rare but welcome level of craftsmanship.
Another standout moment came with the arrival of Noah Horowitz, CEO of Art Basel. His words struck exactly the right chord — not only calming market nerves, but also restoring a sense of direction and trust. He sounded like someone who knew what needed to be done — and that resonated.
By contrast, a few other speakers felt oddly out of step. Even five years on, some continued to cite the pandemic as a blanket excuse for the art market’s woes. That line is wearing thin. At this point, blaming COVID for current stagnation is like blaming the French Revolution of 1789 — or the Great Depression of 1929-1933 — for why collectors aren’t buying today. We’ve moved on. The problems lie elsewhere.
Arguably the most insight-packed session of the entire Summit was the one-on-one conversation between the moderator and Tom Hulme, Managing Partner and Head of Europe at Google Ventures. Nearly every sentence Hulme delivered contained either a striking statistic, a meaningful observation, or a memorable aphorism. One standout line: “Opportunities reveal themselves to those who are prepared.”
Equally noteworthy was the skill and precision of Andrew Goldstein, who moderated several other sessions. Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Artnet News and now a leading strategist in cultural technology and the creative economy, Goldstein brought an intellectual clarity to the stage that few can match. His questions weren’t just vehicles for answers — they were framing devices in themselves, offering a strategic lens through which to view the evolving dynamics of the art-tech space.
If Hulme’s appearance was a masterclass in thought leadership, then Goldstein’s moderation was a masterclass in discourse architecture — the kind of precision and vision today’s conversations sorely need.
Constructive feedback is essential, and we trust the organizers won’t take this the wrong way. But from a partner experience and navigation standpoint, there’s room for optimization. Specifically, traffic flow could have been directed more strategically — guiding attendees entering or exiting the main hall to consistently pass by the sponsor booths in the lobby. These booths, funded at a significant cost, featured real products, dedicated teams, and high expectations — all of which deserved more foot traffic and attention.
We’re happy to highlight them here and encourage our readers to check them out. If even a few more visitors engage with them post-Summit, perhaps the experience will feel a bit more rewarding for the teams involved:
Basta – a next-gen e-commerce tool for embedding branded, high-impact auctions anywhere, launched by former Sotheby’s CTO Oli Stephensen
Frequency – a blockchain built to empower decentralised social networks and give users control over their digital identity
Voices Onchain (VO) – a platform enabling creators to harness blockchain tech for unlocking new modes of creativity
The Render Network – the world’s first decentralised GPU rendering platform for digital creators
These teams represent the forward motion of Art+Tech — and they deserve to be seen. What was somewhat surprising, however, was the absence of startups from the Christie’s Ventures portfolio. Given the prestige of the event and the natural alignment, one might have expected the auction house’s own venture arm to showcase the companies it backs — leveraging the Summit as a platform to elevate its investments and signal strategic direction.
Despite the current industry narrative revolving around tangible — and to a lesser extent digital — art, each attendee at this year’s Summit, just like a decade ago, received a digital gift: an NFT byEmily Xie, a generative artist working in the spirit of Hokusai. Notably, the term NFT was barely mentioned — it was described instead as "generative art," likely to sidestep the negative connotations still lingering around NFTs.
And perhaps wisely so. Memories of the infamous 2018 giveaway — when 90% of Robbie Barrat’s NFTs were abandoned in their unopened envelopes inside Christie’s auditorium — clearly informed this year’s strategy. Only 100 NFTs were minted, and a clever logistical twist was introduced: they were handed out exclusively to the first 100 participants leaving the venue at the end of the Summit.
Positioned at the exit was a friendly, well-dressed attendant distributing the flyers — meaning that claiming your NFT also meant leaving the building. With a simple gesture, Christie’s managed to elegantly clear the room right on schedule, fulfilling its rental agreement with Radio City Hall to the minute. A true example of audience flow engineered through Web3.
But what happened next was telling. Within two hours, only 56 of the 100 flyers had been redeemed online. By the time this newsletter was published (one week later), the number had crept up to just 66.
And so, in poetic symmetry: NFTs launched the Christie’s Art+Tech Summit story eight years ago — and this year, they quietly closed the chapter. We now look forward to seeing how Christie’s will continue to support Art+Tech initiatives in the 11 months between Summits — because, as any seasoned insider knows, it’s the time between events that truly shapes an industry. Events themselves are merely milestones — moments of convergence, not construction.
If you don’t believe it, just ask Noah Horowitz — he’ll tell you: the real success of Art Basel is built between the fairs. And yes, it often begins with a crowd of new buyers… even those starting with small checks.