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ABSTRACT
In this article, I forward an analysis of the art market that seeks to emphasize the often unexamined yet central economizing practices that fuel the circulation of objects and thus contribute to the distinct patterns of consumption, ownership, and mobilization of the art world. In stressing these economizing practices, I attempt to make visible the underlying sociality and symbolic practices that provide aesthetic and cultural meaning to artistic objects and institutions. The analysis presented here derives from the so-called performativity program and that has been extended in recent years throughout economic sociology. Specifically, this article draws on the performativity program to highlight the mechanisms through which artistic objects are taken-into-account prior to their circulation in the market. As is argued, such forms of actuarial practice are not restricted to orienting action within networks of market exchange; rather, they are partly constitutive of the aesthetic and cultural values attached to art in contemporary capitalism.
Notes
1Auction Estimates, https://www.christies.com/services/auction-estimates/index.aspx, accessed 1 April 2010.
2Appraisals and Valuations, http://www.sothebys.com/services/appraisals/, Accessed 1 April 2010.