* 1966 in London (UK), lives and works in London

The Great Contemporary Art Bubble, 2009

British award-winning film director and art critic Ben Lewis gained fame for sharp and ironic documentaries on cultural and political issues. His films are commissioned by the BBC, ARTE, and several broadcasters from Europe, North America, and Australia. As a true “art lover” Lewis has been poking the contemporary art system since 2003, when he realized Art Safari I, a three-episode film on Gregor Schneider, Matthew Barney, Maurizio Cattelan, and Relational art. In The Great Contemporary Art Bubble Lewis deals with the recent booming of the contemporary art market despite the global financial crisis. On September 15, 2008, Lewis was banned from attending and shooting Damien Hirst’s auction Beautiful Inside my Head Forever at Sotheby’s in London. Described by the director as “the greatest rise in the financial value of art in the history of the world,” the auction took place on the very same day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Investigating the reasons behind his banning, Ben Lewis’ documentary depicts through interviews, figures, and humor the subtle mechanisms regulating the contemporary art market. (SG)