Paper, “Global Markets and Contemporary Art,” 22 pp. (original) (raw)

The booming global market of contemporary art

The present economic and financial crises do not seem to particularly influence the global art market of contemporary art. In an attempt to understand this apparent opposition, I adopt a macro perspective, combining my own research ventures in Dakar and Vienna with general art market studies. I argue that this market is a special representation of millennial capitalism (Comaroff and Comaroff 2001). The global art market puts in place an organization of diversity that allows a high flexibility in including specific centers and marginalizing others, as well as a special focus on a globally acting group of "ultra high net worth" individuals. Striking features are the concentration of capital flows to a few major centers, the constitution of complex, transnational networks, the dominant logics for each market field (gambling, glamour, moral economy), and the diversification of the commodity character of the work of art.

Making Markets Global. Introduction to Cosmopolitan Canvases: The Globalization of Markets for Contemporary Art (Oxford University Press)

This book brings together recent, multidisciplinary, cutting edge research on the globalization of markets for contemporary art. Focusing on different regions including China, Russia, India, and Japan, the chapters in this book study the extent to which art markets have indeed become global. On the one hand, it focuses on organizations such as the art fairs, Internet platforms, and auction houses which have enabled global flows of contemporary art. It shows how art from places such as the Middle East has been transformed into a new asset class. On the other hand, the chapters highlight the multiple barriers which globalization has encountered in art markets. Although markets for contemporary art have indeed emerged across the globe, cross-border flows of works of art have remained comparatively insignificant. The reasons behind these barriers are explored. They include differences in taste across the globe, trade barriers in countries like India and Brazil, and vested interests of actors in local art worlds like Japan. This book recognizes the coexistence of various ecologies of contemporary art exchange and sketches the presence of resilient local networks of actors and organizations within art markets. Some chapters moreover argue that Europe and the United States continue to dominate the global market, especially when considering rankings of success and participation in the most prestigious commercial events such as Art Basel.

Changes in the global art market

Oeconomia Copernicana

Research background: The dynamics of the art market are usually presented in terms of price fluctuations, price indexes and financial returns. This paper proposes the value and volume approach, which has not been considered in an aggregative way for a long time in the economic literature. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to present changes in the global art market in the period 2002–2015. The results of dynamic analysis of the art market are presented, including two approaches: value of transactions and volume of transactions. The impact of the global crisis on the art market is considered. Methods: In order to present the changes on the global art market, statistical indexes of dynamics (single base and chain indexes) are used. Moreover, trend analyses have been conducted for the value and volume of transactions on the art market. The sources of data on the global art market are from Artprice, ArtTactic, and TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation). Findings & Value ...

Globalization of contemporary art markets. Published in: European Societies (2013)

Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, this article explores the extent to which Western art markets are globalized by focusing on the nationality of contemporary artists represented by art galleries in Amsterdam and Berlin. Far from the borderless world presupposed in the globalization literature as well as by art dealers themselves, galleries in both countries show a strong home bias, whilst American artists dominate in Amsterdam and Berlin galleries. The article explains this home bias by focusing on widely diffused organizational practices, business conventions and role models within market settings, which are the outcome of cultural globalization, but also pose barriers to art dealers' global aspirations.

Paper, “Art Market, Global Economy and Information Transparency,” 23 pp.

Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management, n. 2, 2003

The economic role of art is sustained by complex marketing processes, which tend to modify the aims and conditions of artistic enterprise. The great dynamism which characterises the global markets in which businesses move nowadays also affects artistic enterprises and hence the artist-cumentrepreneur. In the global art market, therefore, information flow between demand, supply and distribution, risks being asymmetrical. With globalisation, the art market has recorded considerable changes. The market has become internationalised up to the point of becoming a worldwide market. On the whole, globalisation of the art market appears to have favoured an increase in supply and its revitalization, too. Demand has undergone a remarkable growth, probably due also to its fragmentation and diversification.