AHT 211 Collecting and the Art Market in the Age of Globalization
The globalization of the art market and the hunt for status symbols of new collectors have driven art prices through the roof. Were these prices higher than they should have been? Who really knows how to scientifically convert cultural into monetary value? Is the modern art market promoting the production of art for financial speculation? Do artists produce for the market or for poetic reasons? What are the implications for museums and its art-interested public? Is the art market fostering the illicit trade of stolen and looted antiquities? How will the art market react to the world financial crisis? These are some of the issues the course addresses, together with looking at collecting from a historical point of view: princely and scholarly collections in the Renaissance, the Wunderkammer, the birth of the public art museum and the invention of the private art market. Students will furthermore be encouraged to explore the museum culture of Lugano and topics such as women collectors, the Venice Biennale, and the major art fairs