Evaluation of Contemporary Art in the Process of Production, Distribution and Consumption
Research Article
How to Cite
Lopatkova A.R. Evaluation of Contemporary Art in the Process of Production, Distribution and Consumption. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2024. Vol. 16. No. 1. P. 28-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2024.16.1.2 (in Russ.).
Abstract
How does the art community evaluate contemporary art? This question is discussed based on 16 interviews with artists, gallery owners, curators, and collectors. The contemporary art market is conceptualized as a “creative industry that unites actors involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of art objects. The research methodology is based on the anthropological approach of Igor Kopytoff and the discursive psychology of Rom Harré, according to which the history of the movement of cultural objects through social space and the discourses accompanying them are sources of symbolic values. Market practices of art distribution are described: criteria for selecting artists by galleries, legal aspects of distribution and consumption of art objects, informal purchasing practices, moral and pragmatic taboos on buying art objects. Four logics of justifying the value of art objects — “commercial success,” “testimony of the times,” “intellectual development,” “emotional experience”—have been reconstructed. It is demonstrated that consumption as a collector's practice requires following the rules of a “professional approach” to be recognized in the art community.
Keywords:
sociology of valuation, art market, cultural capital, creative industries
References
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Berdysheva Ye. (2012) Sotsiologi o tsennosti i tsene rynochnykh tovarov [Sociologists on Value and Price of Market Goods]. Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology]. Vol. 13. No. 3. P. 134–145. (In Russ.)
Callon M., Muniesa F. (2005) Peripheral Vision: Economic Markets as Calculative Collective Devices. Organization Studies. Vol. 26. No. 8. P. 1229–1250. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840605056393
Caves R.E. (2003) Contracts Between Art and Commerce. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol. 17. No. 2. P. 73–84.
Farkhatdinov N.G. (2011) Iskusstvo kak tovar: staryye i novyye issledovatelskiye perspektivy [Art as a Commodity: Old and New Research Perspectives]. Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology]. Vol. 12. No. 3. P. 127–144. (In Russ.)
Hanquinet L. (2018) “But is it good?” Why Aesthetic Values Matter in Sociological Accounts of Tastes. Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change. Vol. 3. No. 2. P. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20897/jcasc/3990
Harre R. (2006) Materialnyye obyekty v sotsialnykh mirakh [Material Objects in Social Worlds]. In: V. Vakhshtayn (ed.) Sotsiologiya veshchey [Sociology of Things]. Moscow: Izdatelskiy dom “Territoriya budushchego”. P. 118 – 133. (In Russ.)
Kompatsiaris P. (2020) Curators, Words and Values: the Branding Economies of Curatorial Statements in Art Biennials. Journal of Cultural Economy. Vol. 13. No. 6. P. 758–771. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2020.1716825
Kaneman D. (2016) Dumay medlenno… reshay bistro [Thinking, Fast and Slow]. Moscow: AST. (In Russ.)
Kopytoff I. (2006) Kulturnaya biografiya veshchey: tovarizaciya kak process [The Cultural Biography of Things: Commodization as Process]. In: V. Vakhshtayn (ed.) Sotsiologiya veshchey [Sociology of Things]. Moscow: Izdatelskiy dom “Territoriya budushchego”. P. 134 – 166. (In Russ.)
Karpik L. (2010) Valuing the Unique: The Economics of Singularities. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Stewart S. (2015) Aesthetics and Time: Sustained and Distracted Modes of Engagement. Cultural Sociology. Vol. 9. No. 2. P. 147–161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975514557549
Stewart S. (2017) Evaluative Judgements: Ethics, Aesthetics and “Bad Taste”. The Sociological Review. Vol. 65. No. 1. P. 37–51.
Strauss A., Corbin J. (2001) Osnovy kachestvennogo issledovaniya: obosnovannaya teoriya, protsedury i tekhniki [Basics of Qualitative Research]. Transl. from Eng. by T.S. Vasilyeva. Moscow: Editorial URSS. (In Russ.)
Velthuis O. (2008) Simvolicheskiye znacheniya tseny: konstruirovaniye tsennosti sovremennogo iskusstva v galereyakh Amsterdama i Nyu-Yorka [Symbolic Meanings of Prices: Constructing the Value of Contemporary Art in Amsterdam and New York Galleries]. Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology]. Vol. 9. No. 3. P. 33–59. (In Russ.)
Vogl E.R., Pekrun R., Loderer K. (2021) “Epistemic Emotions and Metacognitive Feelings”. In: D. Moraitou, P. Metallidou (eds.) Trends and Prospects in Metacognition Research across the Life Span. Cham: Springer. P. 41–58. (In Russ.) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51673-4_3
Wohl H. (2015) Community Sense: The Cohesive Power of Aesthetic Judgment. Sociological Theory. Vol. 33. No. 4. P. 299–326. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275115617800
Wohl H. (2021) Innovation and Creativity in Creative Industries. Sociology Compass. Vol. 16. № 2. P. 1–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12956
Wohl H. (2019) Creative Visions: Presenting Aesthetic Trajectories in Artistic Careers. Poetics. Vol. 76. P. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2019.03.003
Wohl H. (2020) Performing Aesthetic Confidence: How Contemporary Art Collectors Maintain Status. Socio-Economic Review. Vol. 18. No. 1. P. 215–233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwz041
Yogev T. (2010) The Social Construction of Quality: Status Dynamics in the Market for Contemporary Art. Socio-Economic Review. Vol. 8. No. 3. P. 511–536. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwp030
Zelizer V. (2010) Chelovecheskiye tsennosti i rynok: strakhovaniye zhizni i smert v Amerike XIX veka [Human Values and the Market: The Case of Life Insurance and Death in 19th-Century America]. Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Journal of Economic Sociology]. Vol. 11. No. 2. P. 54–72. (In Russ.)
Article
Received: 22.01.2024
Accepted: 29.03.2024
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APA
Lopatkova, A. R. (2024). Evaluation of Contemporary Art in the Process of Production, Distribution and Consumption. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation, 16(1), 28-50. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2024.16.1.2
Section
Field work research
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