The book examines the contemporary art system with a broad and systematic approach, through the application of models of microeconomics and industrial organizations. By breaking down the traditional barriers between different academic disciplines such as art and economics, this book offers a unique opportunity to grasp the complexities of the contemporary art world and provides the tools to conduct a structural analysis of that market. The result is an in-depth analysis of the contemporary art market from an interdisciplinary perspective. While it is not a textbook in the strictest sense, the book offers a concise and effective overview of all actors in the art system, and provides supporting data and valuable information, both conceptual and practical. It is therefore a text that can be used by students wishing to better understand the complex dynamics that govern the contemporary art market, but also by cultural managers, collectors, potential art investors or simply art lovers who need a quick reference.​

"Political economy is defined in this volume as collective state or corporate support for art and architecture in the public sphere intended to be accessible to the widest possible public, raising questions about the relationship of the state to cultural production and consumption. This collection of essays explores the political economy of art from the perspective of the artist or from analysis of art's production and consumption, emphasizing the art side of the relationship between art and state. This volume explores art as public good, a central issue in political economy. Essays examine specific cultural spaces as points of struggle between economic and cultural processes. Essays focus on three areas of conflict: theories of political economy put into practices of state cultural production, sculptural and architectural monuments commissioned by state and corporate entities, and conflicts and critiques of state investments in culture by artists and the public."--amazon.com edit. desc.

Contemporary art has never been so popular - but the art world is changing. In a landscape of increasing globalization there is growing interest in questions over the nature of contemporary art today, and the identity of who is controlling its future. In the midst of this, contemporary art continues to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, flout generally received ideas, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great emotional profundity and jaw-dropping triviality. In this Very Short Introduction Julian Stallabrass gives a clear view on the diverse and rapidly moving scene of contemporary art. Exploring art's striking globalisation from the 1990s onwards, he analyses how new regions and nations, such as China, have leapt into astonishing prominence, over-turning the old Euro-American dominance on aesthetics. Showing how contemporary art has drawn closer to fashion and the luxury goods market as artists have become accomplished marketers of their work, Stallabrass discusses the reinvention of artists as brands. This new edition also considers how once powerful art criticism has mutated into a critical and performative writing at which many artists excel. Above all, behind the insistent rhetoric of freedom and ambiguity in art, Stallabrass explores how big business and the super-rich have replaced the state as the primary movers of the contemporary art scene, especially since the financial crisis, and become a powerful new influence over the art world. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

'Ruth Towse is to be congratulated on assembling such a high quality range of writers on cultural economics and on orchestrating their contributions so expertly. From anthropology and auctions through copyright and superstars to visual arts and welfare economics, scholars and general readers alike will discover in this Handbook an absorbing compendium of entries covering the main themes of a fascinating sub-discipline.' - Martin Ricketts, University of Buckingham, UK 'The best collection on cultural economics, definitive. An invaluable, original, and important addition to the field. Ruth Towse is the perfect person to put such a book together. Unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon.' - Tyler Cowen, George Mason University, Mercatus Center and James Buchanan Center for Political Economy, US A Handbook of Cultural Economics includes over 60 eminently readable and concise articles by 50 expert contributors. This unique Handbook is both highly informative and readable; it covers a wide area of cultural economics and its closely related subjects. While being accessible to any reader with a basic knowledge of economics, it presents a comprehensive study at the fore-front of the field. Of the many subjects discussed, chapters include: Art (including auctions, markets, prices, anthropology), artists' labour markets, arts management and corporate sponsorship, globalization, the internet, media economics, museums, non-profit organisations, opera, performance indicators, performing arts, publishing, regulation, tax expenditures, value of culture and welfare economics.

The Economics of American Art analyzes the most pervasive economic issues facing the art world, applied to the whole spectrum of American art. Both practical and accessible, this book will be essential for collectors, auction houses, American art experts of all kinds, museums, gallery owners and, not least, by economists with continuing scholarly interests in these matters.

The Evolution of Contemporary Arts Markets looks at the historical evolution of the art market from the 15th century to the present day. Art is both an expression of human creativity and an object of economic value and financial refuge at times of economic turbulence. Historically, the art market evolved with the development of capitalism, finance and technical change, and art schools responded to social events such as wars, revolutions and waves of democratization. The author discusses the main features of modern art markets such as complexity in art valuation, globalism, segmentation, financialization, indivisibility, liquidity and provenance issues. The book studies the impact of wealth inequality and economic cycles and crises on the art market and features a chapter focusing specifically on the art market in China. This accessible publication is ideal for a broad, interdisciplinary audience including those involved in the economic and financial fields as well as art lovers, art market participants and social and cultural scholars.

Who gets to say what counts as contemporary art? Artists, critics, curators, gallerists, auctioneers, collectors, or the public? Revealing how all of these groups have shaped today’s multifaceted definition, Terry Smith brilliantly shows that an historical approach offers the best answer to the question: What is Contemporary Art? Smith argues that the most recognizable kind is characterized by a return to mainstream modernism in the work of such artists as Richard Serra and Gerhard Richter, as well as the retro-sensationalism of figures like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, Smith reveals, postcolonial artists are engaged in a different kind of practice: one that builds on local concerns and tackles questions of identity, history, and globalization. A younger generation embodies yet a third approach to contemporaneity by investigating time, place, mediation, and ethics through small-scale, closely connective art making. Inviting readers into these diverse yet overlapping art worlds, Smith offers a behind-the-scenes introduction to the institutions, the personalities, the biennials, and of course the works that together are defining the contemporary. The resulting map of where art is now illuminates not only where it has been but also where it is going.

The home is, for many people, the location for their most intense relationships with visual things. Because they are constructed through the objects we choose, domestic spaces are deeply revealing of a range of cultural issues. How is our interpretation of an object affected by the domestic environment in which it is placed? Why choose a stainless steel teapot over a leopard print one? How do the images hanging on the walls of our homes arrive there? In placing contemporary art in the context of the ordinary home, this book embarks on the contentious topic of whether high art impacts on ordinary people. What is the size and nature of the audience for contemporary art in Britain? Do people really visit more art galleries than attend football matches? What is the significance of the home in relation to such questions? Indeed, what constitutes art in the home? This book carefully unpicks these questions as well as the troubled relationship between the home as a place of comfort and reassurance and the often unsettling and challenging images offered by contemporary art. Within the art world, the home has been addressed as a subject and even used as a temporary gallery and a space for installations, and yet it is not common for works by todays avant-garde artists to be conceived and marketed to participate in the domestic lives that most people live. Handsomely illustrated, this book unites contemporary art, craft and design, with sociology, anthropology and cultural studies to provide an unusual and forthright addition to ongoing art and culture debates.

EBES conferences have been an intellectual hub for academic discussion in economics, finance, and business fields and provide network opportunities for participants to make long-lasting academic cooperation. This is the 26th volume of the Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics (EBES’s official proceeding series), which includes selected papers from the 39th EBES Conference which took place in 2022 in Rome. The conference was organized with the support of the Istanbul Economic Research Association in hybrid mode with both online and in-person presentations at the Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome in Rome, Italy. At the conference, 205 papers by 436 colleagues from 49 countries were presented. Both theoretical and empirical papers in this volume cover diverse areas of business, economics, and finance from many different regions.