Discussion
Main conclusion:
Newspapers and art magazines both played an important role on Twitter, they helped enhance the publicity of the guide which released from Artbasel official account and created a better viewing experience for visitors and consequently improves the image of ArtBasel.
Implication:
The findings probably help discover how, with a joint effort, the art fair and exhibitors promote the fair itself and as well the galleries and artworks presented, so as to attract strong collector turnout and be rewarded with vigorous sales across all sectors of the market.
The economic benefits that Basel may bring is one of the reasons why a considerable amount of exhibitors seek opportunities to participate in the ArtBasel. More importantly, participating in the ArtBasel has become an important criterion and mark for the industry to recognize whether the gallery is professional or high-end. Nowadays, for specialized gallery practitioners, whether or not they are invited to participate in ArtBasel has become a benchmark for success. The reason is demonstrated by Wu Hongbin (2012), who tells us, “The enlightenment that Basel has brought to us is probably how to gain an infinite amount of vitality in the market-oriented environment that emphasizes the academic industry. How can academics not lose themselves in the face of the market, and use market mechanisms to achieve a complementary effect. ArtBasel Fair model has provided a new path for us.” And according to the report of ArtBasel (2004), the host suggested that, “ We are not merely having something to sell. We consider the best contemporary art, to help those forms of art that are difficult for business to be aware among people. That is why we opened projects or events such as ‘Artless’ Space(藝術無限) and ‘Art Film’. We are trying to maximize our potential to promote contemporary art.
Chinese galleries have applied for participation in Basel in early years but were deeply questioned and refused. Jonathan Napak, an observer for ArtBasel, disclosing the reason, “some Chinese galleries call themselves galleries, but they do not do what galleries should do.”, which shows that in the mature international fair market, most of the current galleries in China are not professional, and the agency and cooperation mechanisms of artists have not yet been commonly formed.
From the inspiration of Artbasel, it is reasonable to conclude that the mode that solely relying on the profitability of buying and selling and ignore the academic quality of the galleries would never be accepted in the international market.
Limitations
Missing accounts:
As the data was collected from 20th to 28th March, only the last day (28th) could see visitors posting tweets after the fair opened, therefore, merely a few people are ordinary people or art collectors who attended the show. Most of the accounts were sellers, such as exhibitors, artists and gallerists, who were beneficially connected to the fair. As a result, promotion-oriented tweets gained the most visibility, which might influence the results of the first and second research question.
Repeating same tweets:
In the content analysis, repeated tweets with same content from some users were found for many times, which may influence the keywords presented in the Voyant visualization, as they might increase the times the words being mentioned and thus other potential keywords might be ranked l ower and hidden.
BOUNDJOY 