Ooh la la! A chic Parisian cafe: Cafe au lait, wifi and… stock lists??

I am spending a long weekend in Paris in advance of an exhibition in the States and find myself in the laptop-friendly L’Autre Café in the 11th arrondissement, updating my art stock list. It’s a fabulous setting that provides everything needed by this gal (power, wifi, coffee, and great food).

Things are so different from a few years ago, when one needed to print absolutely everything in advance of leaving on a trip. Not only that, one no longer needs to lug about a ‘stock book’. These days, one simply needs to connect to wifi to ensure that the latest version of the digital stock list is synced, and that’s that. That is — if one has taken the plunge to use technology….

If you think that handwritten stock books are entirely a relic of days gone by, think again. Not long ago, I talked with a gallerist whose stock book had gone missing. He was distraught since the book was the only record of which pieces are held by the gallery, what the original purchase prices were, and so forth. It will take him many days to piece together basic records, and for a time-poor independent art practitioner that is precious time one cannot afford to lose.

Similarly, a few years ago I came across a printmaker who showed me his stock records (consignment location, sales details for each number in an edition, etc.), all neatly recorded in a single book. He was proud with his record-keeping competence whilst I was horrified to think that this single record could unknowingly be forgotten on a bus or tube. Why weren’t these details saved onto the computer at minimum?

These days, digital records can easily be saved online as well as on an external hard drive. Should the worst happen and a laptop is stolen or lost, one needn’t fret as everything is backed up. It’s a no-brainer that protects a business and can also save vast amounts of time and anguish.

The current Parisian trip gets even better. When the artist and I decided which pieces were to be included in the exhibition, he compiled a (digital) consignment note with all needed details. As everything was already recorded on his computer — including his own reference numbers for works of art, this only took a few minutes to prepare. The artist knows to supply not only the title, year, medium, size and price of each piece on the consignment note, but also accompanying thumbnail images, which saves me significant admin time. He would rather I invest time promoting the exhibition than spend it doing admin.

Not needing to spend time working out details for each work of art, we took the opportunity to record an interview between several exhibiting artists. Furthermore, we filmed the artist in action in the studio. This fascinating piece of video will be placed on YouTube, supported by an online marketing campaign driven by all collaborators: the artists, venue partner and curator.

And now, with some time for myself: au revoir, readers — and bonjour, Paris!

— — — — —

Keen to read more articles like this one? Check out the blog and sign-up to receive free pearls of wisdom in your inbox on Sunday each week.

Originally published at www.besmartaboutart.com.