[artinfo] ART, PRICE AND VALUE at CCSC

[Alessandro Ludovico]

ART, PRICE AND VALUE
Contemporary art and the market

http://www.strozzina.org/artpriceandvalue/index.html

The Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina 
(CCCS), at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 
will present from 14 November 2008 to 11 January 
2009 :

ART, PRICE AND VALUE - Contemporary art and the 
market, curated by the critic Piroschka Dossi 
(author of Hype! Kunst und Geld, Deutsche 
Taschenbuch Verlag 2007) and Franziska Nori, 
project director of the CCCS.

The exhibition will examine the increased links 
between contemporary art and the international 
market.  The power now exerted by the economy on 
political, social and cultural life has extended 
its hold on art production so that the whole 
system is undergoing a complete transformation in 
response to the demands of an increasingly global 
market.  Contemporary art plays an ever more 
prominent role in our culture.  Its economic 
power is reflected in the exorbitant prices now 
reached at international auctions and in the 
increased popularity of exhibitions, biennales, 
festivals, shows and mega-happenings.

In the last twenty years contemporary art has 
become a specialized industry with its own rules 
and a network of professional operators.  Artists 
are drawn into the international dynamics of a 
highly competitive system.  This places them in 
competition with artists from widely different 
backgrounds but demands they speak a global and 
commercial language.  There has been a drastic 
change in the rules:  witness the impact of the 
emergence of contemporary Chinese art on the 
market.  In recent years with the growing 
interest of collectors, galleries and 
institutions in the west it has become the ideal 
environment for speculators.  With pressing 
demands for the new and sensational, the process 
of production and commercialization is speeded up 
but art is also increasingly drawn into mass 
culture and commerce.

The exhibition will feature the work of 
contemporary artists which throws light on the 
mechanisms of the international art system.  The 
selection explores different points of view, 
ranging from complete conformity to the 
prevailing rules of the market to irony and 
sarcasm and even to an "anti-market" stance taken 
by those anxious to avoid the commercial aspects 
of the art market entirely.  Artists, whose work 
may be included, are Luchezar Boyadjiev 
(Bulgaria), Marco Brambilla (USA), Marc Bijl 
(Netherlands), Fabio Cifariello (Italy), Claude 
Closky (France), Denis Darzacq (France), Eva 
Grubinger (Germany), Pablo Helguera (Mexico), 
Damien Hirst (UK), Bethan Huws (UK), Christian 
Jankowski (Germany), Michael Landy (UK), Atelier 
van Lieshout (Netherlands), Thomas Locher 
(Austria), Aernout Mik (Netherlands), Takashi 
Murakami (Japan) Antoni Muntadas (Spain), Josh On 
(USA), Dan Perjovschi (Rumania), Wilfredo Prieto 
(Cuba) and Cesare Pietroiusti (Italy).

The exhibition will be accompanied by a bilingual 
(Italian/English) catalogue published by Silvana 
Editoriale in which all the art works will be 
documented along with essays written by the 
curators: Dr Boris Groys (professor of 
Aesthetics, Art History, and Media Theory, 
Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, 
University of Karlsruhe); Pier Luigi Sacco 
(professor of Economy of Culture, IUAV, Venice); 
Julian Stallabrass (reader in modern and 
contemporary art, Courtauld Institute of Art, 
London); and Wolfgang Ullrich (professor of art 
history and media theory, University of 
Karlsruhe).  The project will also be 
complemented by a lecture programme to stimulate 
an interdisciplinary debate on the topics 
addressed by the show.

Location:	Centre for Contemporary Culture 
Strozzina (CCCS), 50123 Firenze, Italy

Public Information:	Tel. +39 055 2645155,  http://www.palazzostrozzi.org

Opening hours:	Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 20.00, 
Thursday 10.00 to 23.00, Monday closed

Tickets:	¤5.00 multiple entry (up to five 
times in one month, including lectures)
	¤4.00 (ATAF Travel card/ticket holders and Touring Club members)
	¤3.00 for primary and secondary schoolchildren
	Combined ticket ¤10.00 Strozzina + Piano Nobile

Access:	Lifts and wheelchair access to all areas.
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Alessandro Ludovico
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