Seven Days In The Art Wld Pa

by Thornton,Sarah

• ISBN13: 9780393337129
• ISBN10: 039333712X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-11-02
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

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 beautifully paced 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.

Author Biography

Sarah Thornton has written about the art world and art market for many publications, including The Economist, Artforum, and The New Yorker. A contributor to the BBC and NPR, she has a BA in art history and a PhD in sociology. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
The Auction	p. 1
The Crit	p. 41
The Fair	p. 75
The Prize	p. 107
The Magazine	p. 143
The Studio Visit	p. 181
The Biennale	p. 219
Author's Note	p. 255
Afterword	p. 261
Acknowledgments	p. 267
Selected Bibliography	p. 273
Illustration Credits	p. 277
Index	p. 281
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