The Art Newspaper reports on a conference held in Florence to discuss the relationship between banking and art. Harking back to Florence’s role as both a center of credit and a cradle of artistic innovation, the conference was not open to the press. Nonetheless, Professor Robert Hewison got at least one attendee on the record:

Swiss-based Bijan Kherzi is both a financier and an enthusiastic collector of contemporary art [which] gave a weight to his words that academic critics cannot claim. In Kherzi’s view the art world “has been hijacked by the very same forces that poisoned the world of finance: herding, greed, and short-termism leading to asset inflation, market collusion, lack of substance and too many self-possessed individuals”.

Does Art Need Bankers? (The Art Newspaper)