Abstract
Today, art fairs are one of the most important distribution channels for art. Art dealers make almost half of their turnover there. The many newly established fairs are an indication of the fair hype glaringly apparent since the beginning of this century. The success of art fairs goes hand in hand with the process of progressive economisation, which produces winners and losers. While a small group of branded galleries continues to expand through a worldwide trade fair presence, smaller galleries suffer from the pressure of participation and high costs. In a sociological field study on Art Basel that lasted several years, a team from the University of St. Gallen tried to trace the change of the art market and the art world through art fairs.
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Notes
- 1.
Art fairs accounted for an estimated 46% of dealersales in 2018 (McAndrew 2019, 20).
- 2.
This publication represents the results of a multidimensionally designed field study of Art Basel in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong stretching over a few years, financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF and the Research Committee of the University of St. Gallen. A broad spectrum of social-scientific methods were used, which extend from qualitative approaches—such as more than 150 interviews with art dealers, collectors, museum directors, curators, art consultants, and other actors of the art world, expert surveys, photographic documentations, content-analytical treatment of texts, literature study, and secondary evaluation of data—to quantitative surveys on art dealers and visitors based on standardised questionnaires.
- 3.
- 4.
For a discussion on commercialisation at this time, see Bongard (1967).
- 5.
In his social critique of the judgement of taste Pierre Bourdieu identified art as an important example of social distinction (Bourdieu 1984).
- 6.
- 7.
Our survey of the galleries at Art Basel showed that on average the galleries took part in 5 other art fairs each year. The number of fairs ranged from 3 to 13 per year. Claire McAndrew comes to the conclusion that on average, dealers attended four fairs in 2018, down from five in 2017 and 2016 (McAndrew 2019, 227). But 25 percent of the sample participated in 10 or more fairs.
- 8.
According to research by ArtNewspaper in 2018, the price range is large and varies for example from $4700 for the cheapest booth at Independent Brussels to $60,840 for 40 sq. m at Fine Arts, Paris or $100,000+ for The Armory Show’s 93 sq m booth. A 40 sq. m booth at Art Basel Hong Kong costs $34,400, Freeze Masters $29,700, Art Basel in Basel $32,200, TEFAF $37,500 and FIAC $27,000. See https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/fair-s-fair-the-murky-world-of-stand-costs (2019-1-2).
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Single, E. (2020). The Art Fair Boom and Its Contradictions. In: Glauser, A., Holder, P., Mazzurana, T., Moeschler, O., Rolle, V., Schultheis, F. (eds) The Sociology of Arts and Markets. Sociology of the Arts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39013-6_15
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