What’s Happening: After a cyberattack put the Christie’s website offline days before the season’s marquee sales, concerns have arisen about whether blue-chip auction houses have enough digital security in place.

The Download: The blue-chip art market runs on discretion. It’s often high-profile people like world leaders and powerful businesspeople competing for multimillion-dollar artworks, meaning auction houses are privy to the sensitive (and coveted) financial information of high-net-worth buyers. The pandemic forced major auction houses to pivot to online sales—nearly 80 percent of bidding across Christie’s auctions was placed online last year compared to just 45 percent in 2019. Yet in the wake of a cyberattack earlier this month that forced Christie’s website offline just days before its marquee spring sales kicked off, it seems auction houses need to enforce greater cybersecurity measures.

In a post on the dark web, the hacker group RansomHub claimed it was behind the cyberattack and gained access to sensitive information about Christie’s rolodex of 500,000 wealthy art collectors. It wasn’t immediately clear what data was leaked, but the group said it would release the data at the end of May because Christie’s refused to pay a ransom when one was demanded. “It is clear that if this information is posted, they will incur heavy fines from GDPR as well as ruining their reputation with clients,” the post read, referring to General Data Protection Regulation, an information privacy law in the European Union that requires companies to share when cyberattacks compromise sensitive financial information. The threat, which Christie’s described as a “technology security incident,” didn’t noticeably influence sales, which were still considered tepid at $528 million.

The episode isn’t the only cyberattack to hit Christie’s, nor is it the only art-world entity to weather such an incident. Gallery Systems, a digital service provider often used by museums to display collections online, went down this past December after a cyberattack left computers running its software encrypted and inoperable. In 2021, Art Basel informed dealers about a malware attack against its parent company that potentially exposed their data. Hackers have also used straightforward email deception to steal large sums of money from galleries and their clients. Maintaining robust digital security systems isn’t cheap, and teams are difficult to find. Good security hygiene is possible on a tighter budget, though. One expert suggests keeping an offline server for client information, utilizing multi-factor authentication, and training staff to detect phishing scams.

In Their Own Words: “Unfortunately, what we see is a degree of risk tolerance that you’d never typically see in the physical security realm,” Jordan Arnold, a former Manhattan prosecutor and co-founder of the risk advisory and investigative firm ArtRisk Group, told ARTnews. He went on to say that most art-world businesses wouldn’t leave their doors or windows unlocked, but many are doing the digital equivalent.

Surface Says: We’d hope that auction houses selling ten-figure paintings on the regular can invest in more security safeguards than Norton Antivirus.

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The L.A.-based artist and designer CK Reed sat down with Surface to reflect on the highlights of the fair’s West Coast edition: from scene-stealing mirrors at The Future Perfect to Carmen D’Apollonio’s lamps at Friedman Benda and the decidedly un-fairlike atmosphere of leisurely idyll at the Holmby Hills estate where it was held.

In the last few years, I started going back to South Florida for Design Miami. I enjoy design fairs more than fine art fairs. I’m more interested in interior design.

I don’t really go to get inspired for my own art. I like the people watching; I like creating illustrations about what I saw and what people were doing. I definitely get inspired if I see something really unique and a really interesting material done in some way that I’ve never seen before. That is exciting. That’s what I liked about going to Design Miami.LA.

After breaking onto the Parisian culinary scene as a successful restaurateur with the burger-forward PNY brand and designing the interiors for several of his own eateries, Rudy Guénaire launched his agency Night Flight in reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s eponymous novel. The Paris-based talent draws most of his inspiration from the worlds of poetry and travel, channeling his cinematic dreams into pristine apartments, buzzy restaurants, and now a clean-lined ‘70s-inspired furniture collection with Monde Singulier.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

Instagram Is Training AI on Your Data. It’s Nearly Impossible to Opt Out. [Fast Company]

North Korean Trash Balloons Are Dumping “Filth” on South Korea [CNN]

After the OceanGate Implosion, the Ultra Wealthy Still Can’t Resist the Deep Sea [WSJ]

On the Black Market for Human Poop, Sellers Get Rich, and Buyers Try Not to Get Sick [Slate]

Mummy Dismembered During Museum Renovations in Mexico [ARTnews]

When: Until Aug. 3

Where: Claire Oliver Gallery, New York

What: A group show featuring BK Adams, Barbara Earl Thomas, Stan Squirewell, LaNia Roberts, and Carolyn Mazloomi examines how each artist grapples with temporality in their work. Though their mediums range from paper cuts, glass, quilting, and painting, what unites them is their exploration of how past, present, and future are intertwined. An excerpt from Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel Parable of the Sower serves as a guiding text: “All that you touch You Change. All that you change Changes You. The only lasting truth is Change...”

ALMA Communications is an arts and culture firm in New York City, operating at the intersection of contemporary art, design, social change, partnerships and innovation. The team at ALMA approaches communications and partnerships with an emphasis on collaboration and humanism, treating each project with utmost care.

Surface Says: With the firm’s art-world expertise, it’s no wonder high-profile galleries and institutions like FLAG Art Foundation, Jack Shainman, Nicola Vassell, and Creative Capital choose ALMA.

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