If you’ve got four minutes to spare, check out this great video—part one (Auctions) of a four-part series on Artsy.net.  How did the art auction business become a multi-billion-dollar industry?  This video is a quick review of the complex history of auctions, with specific attention to the last 20 years. It features record-breaking sales, like Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting Untitled (1982), selling at $51 million, and anomalies such as Ai Weiwei’s Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds) (2010), which pop up at auction in countless different quantities, making the connection between the auction price and the market value of art.

The series is produced in collaboration with UBS and directed by Oscar Boyson.

Director: Oscar Boyson
Editor: Nate DeYoung
Producer: Sean Barth
Produced By: Neighborhood Watch Films
Assistant Editor: Erin DeWitt
Sound: Colin Alexander
Music: Jay Wadley of Found Objects Music Production
Colour: Irving Harvey