2010-05-18

The artists who invest in themselves

The Artist Pension Trust could provide a nest egg for an uncertain future. If it works

Turner prize-winner Richard Wright and nominees Roger Hiorns and Mike Nelson, Britains representative at the 2011 Venice Biennale, share a common bond beyond their recent honoursboth are participating artists in the Artist Pension Trust (APT).

APT is an art investment fund with a twistthe artists contribute the works themselves, and the trust is structured to provide future income for the artists. Now in its seventh year, it has a global portfolio of 1,100 artists and a collection of more than 4,500 works, which it values at $45m. This year, its lending and exhibition division, APT curatorial services, will mount five exhibitions in Bahrain, Beijing, Berlin, Cairo and at Bard College in upstate New York.

Around 110 individual investors support the fund. Share holders in APTs parent company MutualArt, they each gave an eight-year commitment to fund APTs operations, and have contributed $10m to date.

Since 2004, APT has established eight regional hubs. The first four were launched between 2004 and 2005: the New York hub has 250 artists, and closed in 2009, while Los Angeles, London, and Berlin are expected to close this year with between 200 and 225 artists each. The newer four hubs, Mexico City, Dubai, Beijing and Mumbai, were set up between 2005 and 2007, and are on track to fill their complement of artists, according to APT chief executive Pamela Auchincloss, although, she added: Dubai and Mumbai will be smaller due to a smaller talent pool and APTs desire to maintain quality."

Each hub has a curatorial committee to recruit artistic talent: the committee screens and invites select emerging and mid-career artists to participate, and APT says that around 75% accept the invitation.

The artist selects works for contribution20 works over 20 yearsunder certain guidelines; each work must have a minimum market value of $5,000. As the artists career progresses, the work is expected to reflect average price levels. Work valuation is decided on the basis of the artists current gallery prices. If an artist is unrepresented, APTs curatorial staff will decide work value. The fund finances the storage, insurance and transportation of the collection at an annual cost of around $525,000.

By Maura Cahill Pettengill | The Art Newspaper, issue 213, May 2010