There is a whole generation of art dealers who have only known the art boom – which has lasted more than a decade now. “They weren't in the least bit prepared for this recession, and they are traumatised,” says London dealer Karsten Schubert. He knows something about it, having been hit badly in the 1990s art slump. “In 1991 the assumption was that the late-1980s boom would go on forever, and suddenly we dealers made the nasty discovery that we weren't in charge of the situation any more, it was in charge of us,” he says.
整整一代的藝術(shù)品交易商只知道藝術(shù)繁榮時(shí)期——目前已持續(xù)了10年多。倫敦交易商卡斯滕?舒伯特(Karsten Schubert)表示：“對(duì)于此次衰退，他們沒有一點(diǎn)準(zhǔn)備，他們受到了傷害。”他對(duì)此有些了解是因?yàn)樵谏鲜兰o(jì)90年代的藝術(shù)品暴跌時(shí)期受到重創(chuàng)。舒伯特稱：“在1991年，人們認(rèn)為80年代末的繁榮將永遠(yuǎn)持續(xù)下去，但突然之間我們這些交易商就痛苦地發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們不再控制局勢(shì)，而局勢(shì)控制了我們。”