Iwan Baan

Meet Iwan Baan, the most famous architectural photographer of the 20th century. http://www.iwan.com

Chocolate Market Update

CI World Helveta + Armajaro has a new innovative tagging system so that consumers can now trace their cocoa beans straight to the source. Check it out.

Useful links:
http://corporate.helveta.com
http://www.armajaro.com

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow

A Sophie Fiennes film about an artist. http://www.overyourcities.com

The Gold Report Update

I regard gold as a special asset class, whose specialness is derived from the fact that gold is very rare, hard to bring above ground and generally useless due to its high cost, unlike silver, which is more abundant than cheap and gets fabricated into all sorts of industrial applications. Gold would be a wonderful conductor for electronics, too, but it's just too expensive. We have just over 5 billion oz. (Boz.) scattered around the world in safes, vaults and jewelry boxes not doing much at all. Because gold has limited utility, its price is irrelevant to ongoing economic activity. As a comparison, if oil shoots to $500/barrel that means that your paycheck would allow you to drive just one-fifth the distance it allows you to drive now. Such a move in oil would have drastic implications for the global economy. But if gold shoots to $5,000, what happens? Well, the gold stays in my teeth. Jewelry demand goes down even more, but nobody makes any decisions to substitute out of gold because it really isn't being used for much. In other words, it really should not affect the economy.

- John Kaiser
http://www.kaiserbottomfish.com

An interesting viewpoint.

Art Market Update

Souren Melkian's opinion piece in the New York Times about Albert Houthuesen was interesting and insightful. Many thanks.

Useful links:
http://www.richardnathanson.co.uk
http://www.marlboroughfineart.com

Random Thoughts

I didn’t expect the appetite of the market to be so monstrous, but especially in this field there is a great urgency to buy because there is very limited supply and an increase in demand. The history of China in the 20th century explains why people are trying to rebuild their own history. Collecting art is one of those things that helps them rebuild their identity and reclaim their culture.

- Nicolas Chow
http://www.sothebys.com

So true.

Paul Adams Viewpoint

Paul Adams’s presentation on social networking was interesting. Great many thanks to Daniel Tunkelang. http://thenoisychannel.com + http://www.thinkoutsidein.com

The India Technology Review 35

The TR35 winners are under the age 35 as of October 1, 2010. The awards span a wide range of fields, including biotechnology, materials, computer hardware, energy, transportation, and the Internet. Take a look.

Useful link:
http://www.technologyreview.in/TR35