Art and algorithms at Sotheby’s

Do fine art and high tech ever converge? At Sotheby’s they do, thanks to Kelly Shen ’17. Shen works in the growing field of art intelligence for the New York auction house.

Shen builds algorithms to predict prices, using factors like buying trends and artists’ popularity. She has also worked on such efforts as cataloguing and ensuring that real-time systems can handle thousands of potential bidders visiting the house’s website. At the same time, she serves MIT as a class officer, vice president of the Association of MIT Alumnae, and a volunteer for the MIT Club of New York.

A double major in computer science and math, Shen credits lessons from MIT—along with a lifelong passion for drawing—with shaping her career. Her favorite class was Project Laboratory in Mathematics, where students present creative answers to intricate math puzzles. “The class helped me talk about what I do with different audiences,” she says. 

Though she appreciates elegant algorithms, she understands when they’re impractical: “You can build a super-sophisticated algorithm, but if it doesn’t bring more audience engagement, it doesn’t really matter.” 

Read more at www.technologyreview.com/alumni-profiles.

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