Watch Our Art Basel Panel on Using a Finance-Sector Outlook as a Collecting Tool

Today the notion of the " financialization of the art world" has become a shorthand for the dark side of the explosion of the art market, from the rise of speculation to a new breed of collectors who stalk fairs in search of dollar signs, not art. But is a finance-inspired outlook necessarily an evil when it comes to a sane, healthy approach to collecting and patronage—or can it also be a positive perspective all around?

In an Salon conversation at the recent edition of Art Basel , Artspace editor-in-chief Andrew M. Goldstein discussed the topic with Bilge Öğüt , managing director of private equity directs, Partners Group , London; Alain Servais , former head of international bonds trading at Banque Dewaay , Brussels; and Etienne Ficheroulle , a collector who in the 1990s devised a financial data model for the art market that can be seen as a precursor to Art Rank .