THE SENSE-MAKING POTENTIAL OF THE ART MARKET IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURAL CONSUMPTION
Abstract
The aim of the article is to analyze the sense-making processes of the art market, which are crucial to the contemporary model of artwork circulation.
The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach, methods of hermeneutics, and phenomenology. The art market was studied using cultural analysis as a model of the circulation of works of art that corresponds to contemporary culture and time. The theoretical model of culture circulation was applied, which contributes to a thorough consideration of the cultural features of consumption and production of works of art in the context of the art market as a semantic space.
Results. The art market appears to be a co-author of the work based on the concept of consumption. The performance of the destruction of Banksy's artwork, which got a new significance at the end of the auction for its sale and subsequent destruction, exemplifies the art market's recognition that it is a co-author of the artistic process while consuming it. Banksy was able to expose the auction's dual function as a semantic component of art and a consumer component of art. The art market provides the most efficient model of the full cycle of the circulation of works of art: from the inception of the ideas,
their discussion at educational programs of reputable art exhibitions and art fairs, professional evaluation by art experts and the audience during public presentations and participation in exhibitions, to the purchasing of newly created works of art by collectors and museums, and their safe further circulation by countries, museums, collections, and licensed use of images in art catalogs, references in works of popular culture, which contributes not only to the material support of artists, but also to the making of new senses and socio-cultural dynamics in general.
The scientific novelty. The term «cultural biography» has been applied for the first time ever to the study of artistic practices and works of contemporary art, broadening the scientific perspective of applying cultural analysis to the study of the art market.
The practical significance. The research opens up a new perspective for the formation of new perspectives in the study of the circulation of works of art – not so much from the status of previous owners, but from the meanings that are formed from the actualization of works of art at one moment or another. Cultural biography can include the following semantic elements: representation, identity, production, consumption, and regulation
