This year, 1st-year Art Market students were able to immerse themselves in the world of auctions through a role-playing game. In the shoes of auctioneers, experts, criers, dealers, or journalists, our delighted students really got into the game!

On March 19 and 26, the 48 1st-year students of the Bachelor in Art Expertise and Art Trade held a mock auction. Organized by their professors, Kathleen de Francesco, Mathilde Berger, and Karine Milon-Hamot, this role-playing game aimed to help students understand, through immersion, how an auction unfolds and the role of the various players who guarantee its success, in both French and English, a language that is essential if you want to take part in major auctions or join prestigious auction houses such as Christie’s or Sotheby’s.

This role-playing game was an excellent teaching tool because it allowed students to put into practice the knowledge acquired during the preceding classes:

  • history of auctions from the 16th century to the present day, history of the auctioneer profession
  • technical French and English vocabulary for how an auction unfolds (how a sale works, how to bid,…) supported by videos of real auctions
  • technical English vocabulary for describing art objects

First, the students completed a cataloging exercise, describing the objects (real works chosen from museums and collections) in the auction catalog, an essential tool for the rest of the role-playing game.

In a second phase, for the auction itself, the students were assigned English and French roles, and everyone had a specific mission:

  • the expert who announces and describes the lot
  • the auctioneer who runs the sale in the room and by telephone
  • the crier who assists the auctioneer and "warms up the room"
  • dealers specializing in painting, memorabilia, tapestry, furniture… as well as private collectors and billionaires who use a set budget to buy, at attractive prices, objects that they will resell in their business or add to their private holdings.
  • the museum representative who exercises the Musées Nationaux’s right of pre-emption
  • the auction house’s journalists and press officers, who are there respectively to introduce the event to the general public and to relay it in the specialist press.

This role-playing game, which students enjoyed, allowed them not only to understand how an auction works and the conditions that guarantee its success, but also to get a sense of their future professions. This teaching tool has revealed its potential and will no doubt be reused in the future as part of IESA arts&culture’s programs.