Seven days in the art world
By: Sarah Thornton.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
ISBN-13: 9780393067224
Subjects: Art -- Marketing; Art -- Exhibitions; Art -- Competitions; Art criticism
Description: The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion. In a series of narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton's entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: The auction; title: The crit; title: The fair; title: The prize; title: The magazine; title: The studio visit; title: The biennale; title: Author's note; title: Acknowledgments; title: Selected bibliography; title: Illustration credits; title: Index.