Arts Special Issue “The Contemporary Art Market”

John Zarobell

doi:10.3390/arts10030043

Abstract

When setting out to organize this Special Issue of Arts, I began with the goal to survey the emerging field of art market studies but also to expand the notion of the market to include alternatives, such as art collectives and festivals, that challenge the dominance of the market as the pre-eminent arbiter of cultural value [...]

Highlights

The complexity that emerges from the issues raised in these papers, and their overlapping considerations, provides a more diverse and complete image of the contemporary art market today than any single author could ever produce
When setting out to organize this Special Issue of Arts, I began with the goal to survey the emerging field of art market studies and to expand the notion of the market to include alternatives, such as art collectives and festivals, that challenge the dominance of the market as the pre-eminent arbiter of cultural value
Art Market Studies remains a nascent field and while studies of dealers, collectors and philanthropy have long been an arena of Art History, the domain has opened up a lot in recent years as the result of sociological, anthropological and economic studies into cultural producers, venues and markets

Summary

Introduction

The complexity that emerges from the issues raised in these papers, and their overlapping considerations, provides a more diverse and complete image of the contemporary art market today than any single author could ever produce. While this issue does not represent the complexity of work in this field in its entirety, it presents a variety of perspectives that allow readers to discover many of the various strands of contemporary art market studies.

Results

Conclusion