High-end US developers use valuable artworks to draw in potential buyers
Valuable sculptures and paintings are being used as a marketing tool at luxury US properties, drawing on potential buyers' passion for culture
Visitors to homes being built by Miami-based developer The Related Group might see a dramatic Markus Linnenbrink sculpture in an outdoor space, an installation by Uruguayan artist Ana Tiscornia in a lobby, or any number of valuable pieces hand-picked by the company's three in-house curators.
In what is a growing trend in hot property centres around the world, developers and builders are increasingly using art to showcase, market and brand their projects.
"In this new world, art is like an introduction. It's your business card," said Carlos Rosso, president of the condominium division of The Related Group.
When you think of luxury, you think of everything that threads across it
"When you are selling real estate to billionaires from Russia, the Middle East and China, what distinguishes you is what is hanging on your walls."
The Related Group, which is working on 35 developments around Florida, is incorporating art into each one.
"We get real artists to come and intervene in the projects, whether it's the facade of a garage or artwork that we put inside the building or sculptures we use in the park areas," said Rosso. The company has its own curators, who seek out intriguing artworks to be used in the building, and earmark hundreds of thousands of US dollars towards a single piece to be used in a lobby space.
