Art Unlimited?.Dynamics and Paradoxes of a Globalizing Art World

Abstract

The globalization of the art world and its limits With the end of the Second World War the contours and the weighting of the continents and regions of the world map of art shifted massively. The division of Europe, the rise of the USA as a super power, the beginning of the Cold War and the worldwide triumph of Western capitalism did not fail to have an effect on the sphere of art. The rapid and lasting erosion of French hegemony in the art market and of the predominant role of Paris in the production, circulation and consecration of art after the war was accompanied by the equally swift rise of abstract expressionism and pop art, as a result of which New York developed into the leading art metropolis in the course of the 1960s. And to the present day it has maintained this position of power and monopoly, enabling it to determine the canon of what was now called contemporary art. Around the middle of the 1980s an opening of the art world took place which is frequently associated with the transition from the modern to the socalled post-modern age in art and with the dynamics of contemporary art itself. The appearance of young artists from post-colonial contexts at the Paris exhibition "Magiciens de la Terre" in 1989 is an exemplary, ever emblematic sign of the increased inclusion of non-Western actors in an art scene whose mapping had hitherto been almost exclusively restricted to North America and Europe. The historical and paradigmatic upheaval symbolized by the year 1989 and characterized by the end of a bipolar world order is accompanied by an increasing and widely attested globalization. The art world, organized around the museums, galleries, fairs, auctions, biennials, the throngs of artists, collectors, curators, critics and a steadily growing public, did not remain untouched by this change. The transformations of the world of art

From the Train Yard to the Auction House: Connecting the Graffiti Subculture to the Art Market

“…This renowned architect, specialized in celebrity mansions, proclaimed to the mainstream media that 'graffiti art is a breath of fresh air in a financialized contemporary art market' (L'Express, 2011).The interviewed partner of Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr -a famous Parisian auctioneer -adopted a similar position referring to the planning of a thematic sale at the Hôtel Drouot in April 2012: 'this movement offers the art market the new blood it needs, a bit like pop art did in the 1960s' (Consultant for Millon and Cornette de Saint-Cyr auction houses). This illustrates how denouncing the institutionalization of contemporary art favours access to museums (Schultheis et al, 2016) but also to the secondary art market. Di Gallizia had opened his architect studio to graffiti writers for artistic experimentation from 2004.…”

“…This case study on the commercialization of graffiti artworks also extends sociological work on the role of cultural intermediaries in recent changes in the contemporary art market, shaped by a globalization process and the decline of boundaries between highbrow and popular culture (Crane, 2009). Globalization implies an increased circulation of artists and their productions, but also of collectors and cultural intermediaries (Schultheis et al, 2016; Velthuis and Brandallero, 2018). In art-trade hubs such as New York, London or Paris, this process reinforces the position of major auction houses with respect to art galleries.…”

Becoming Asia’s Art Market Hub: Comparing Singapore and Hong Kong

“…In the 2000s, the creation of a series of non-profit organizations stimulated the scene (Schultheis et al 2016). The Asia Art Archive (AAA), launched in 2000, contributed in filling a gap in the documentation and diffusion of Asia's contemporary art history by conducting digital and physical archiving beyond national borders, and supporting research and discussions on art in the region.…”

“…Sociologists have traced the emergence of art market systems consisting of auction houses, galleries, fairs, biennials, cultural institutions. They highlighted their similarities with their Western counterparts, and pointed out the peculiarities of the Asian art market landscape (Khaire and Wadhwani 2010;Schultheis et al 2016;Kharchenkova 2018). Building on this emerging literature, this paper aims to analyze the territoriality of the emergence of the Asian art market and investigate the strategies of cities that compete to position themselves as the region's art market hub.…”

»Wir machen Kunst für Künstler«

“…Gilt für den zeitgenössischen Kunstmarkt, wie immer wieder in Gesprächen mit Experten zu hören ist (vgl. Schultheis et al 2016)…”