Sociological study of the contemporary art market

1. Hostile Worlds, Questionable
Speculation & Contests of Meaning
Three Types of Controversies Around Art
Erica Coslor
Doctoral Candidate, University of Chicago
University of Edinburgh Sociology Seminar
January 28, 2009
All pictures and charts are the intellectual property of their creators;
They are included in this presentation for educational purposes only.

2. Overview
• Hostile Worlds – Art & Money
• Questionable Speculation – Art Investment
• Control of the Biography & the Prestige
Allocation System
• Contests of Meaning – Art in Movement

3. Does Money Corrupt?
Hostile Worlds vs. Independent Spheres

4. ‘Superprices’
‘Oh S---’ by Damien Hirst
Sold for over £2.3 b in Sept.
‘Surfing Nurse’ by Richard Prince
Sold for over £2.1 m in 2003

5. Questionable Speculation
Stocks
Bonds
Commodities

6. Mei/Moses Chart

7. Financializing Art
Financial Asset Classes
Art Stocks Bonds Commodities
Art Investment
Funds
Repackaging Quantification & Measurement

8. Competing Arenas
Auction Houses
40% of Sales
Art Galleries
60% of Sales
Sales of high-end contemporary art. Sources: interviews, Wall Street Journal

9. The Exchange Biography of Art
Long-Term Value Established
Construction Circuit Collectors
Art ‘Good
Artists Museums
Galleries Investors’
Block Sales
Art
‘Speculators’ Speculative Circuit
Auctions

10. Control of the Biography
“We only sell to people that we know and trust.
If it is a seminal piece in an artist’s oeuvre
then we only sell to certain trusted people.
But, if it is a less established artist [or] work
of lesser importance then we are more open.
We do encourage new collectors, but at the
same time it is difficult, as we need to trust
them. We sell to people who will come to us
before selling to anyone else.”

11. Prestige Allocation
“You can’t walk into Victoria Miro, and go,
‘I’d like this.’ …they’ll say, ‘Well, first of all,
we’ve sold out this show a month before
we put it up. Second of all, there’s a two-
year waiting list for this artist’s work. And
third of all, who are you? Can we have
your name?”

12. Elite and Elistist
“Yes, I mean it is something that I really dislike,
but it is something that is really cultivated as
well. [Galleries] covet this mystique. They
have a policy of not selling to new clients.
You cannot just approach them and buy.
There are waiting lists for all of the work that
they sell. It may be the case that this is
genuine, but I think it is all manufactured.
People have this natural instinct to want what
they can’t have.”

13. Circulation & Contests of Meaning
What happens when art moves to a different context?

14. Conclusions
• Contested commodity concerns are widely held
and do matter.
• Hostile worlds are not the only relevant concern.
• Speculative art buying is opposed for more
pragmatic reasons by art world insiders.
• Meaning comes through context, and when art
moves, there can be a struggle over whether
something is lost through that lack of context.

15. Thank you!
Erica Coslor
ecoslor@uchicago.edu
Presentation based on conference paper
submitted to Arts, Culture & the Public Sphere,
Venice, Italy

16. Selected References
• Bolger (2006). quot;Is it just art, or is it investment?“
• Chancellor, E. (2007). Popping the Art Bubble. The
Sunday Times. London: News Review: 8.
• Velthuis, O. (2003). quot;Symbolic meanings of prices.
Constructing the value of contemporary art in
Amsterdam and New York galleries.quot; Theory and
Society 32: 181-215.
• Velthuis, O. (2005). Talking Prices: Symbolic
Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary
Art. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
See the full paper for more sources.

17. Competing Exchange Motives?
‘Investment’
Profit-Seeking
Long-Term Profits
Exchange
(Acceptable & Expected)
LT-VALUE
ENHANCING
‘Speculation’
Long-Term Value
Short-Term Profits
LT-VALUE Construction for Art
(Problematic)
DAMAGING

18. Additional Conclusions
Q: When is ‘Investment’ in
Contemporary Art Acceptable to
Galleries?
A: When you play by the rules of the
gallery system
– Long time horizon – No ‘flipping’ pieces
– Work with the gallery – No arbitrage at
auction
– Work within established networks

19. Comparing Returns
Chart Source: Hutter, Knebel, Pietzner, & Schäfer, 2007. Two games in town:
a comparison of dealer and auction prices in contemporary visual arts markets.

20. Work on Art Pricing Strategies
• O’Neil 2008. “Bringing art to market: The
diversity of pricing styles in a local art
market” Poetics 36: 94-113
• Velthuis 2005. Talking Prices. Princeton.