Who Runs the Artworld: Money, Power and Ethics

272 Pages·2017·3.136 MB·English

by  Brad Buckley, John Conomos

Who Runs the
ARtWoRld

Who Runs the
ARtWoRld:
Money, Power
and ethics
Brad Buckley and John Conomos
First published in 2017 by Libri Publishing
copyright © Libri Publishing
authors retain copyright of individual chapters.
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Acknowledgments
t he editoRs sinCeRely W ish to thank the following people for
making this book possible. Paul Jervis and John sivak of Libri Publishing for their
unwavering professionalism and dedication in seeing our manuscript through from
its conception to its realisation.
to tracey clement and sarah shrubb respectively, for their consummate copyediting
of the book and to helen hyatt-Johnston for her professional advice, encouragement
and assistance over the past two years. to ian McLean for his suggestion that in the
title we use ‘artworld’, rather than art world drawing on arthur danto’s use of the
word, signalling that it is a thing in its own right.
also to Lucy Frontani of carnegie Publishing for her strategic book and cover design.
also, we are indebted to amy scaife for allowing us to use the image, which is on the
front cover, and also to the other artists for their generous assistance in helping us to
illustrate this book.
we are of course especially grateful to all of our contributors who gave their time and
expertise in helping us to materialise our editorial intentions and objectives. Many
heartfelt thanks to all of you in sharing our concern for how our society and culture
are undergoing rapid and unprecedented change.
it is hoped that Who Runs the Artworld: Money, Power and Ethics in its own way
contributes to a better ethical understanding of contemporary art’s broader ecology
of capital, history, power, space and spectacle.
Brad Buckley and John conomos

For occupy sydney college of the arts students
2016
For John clarke, in memoriam
1948–2017
For John Berger, in memoriam
1926–2017
vii

Contents
Acknowledgments v
Contents ix
List of Illustrations xi
Introduction 1
Part i: Money 23
chapter 1: Qui ou Quoi (who or what) rules the artworld? taking care of
Business: the art curator as ‘hedge Fund Manager’ to the artworld’s
Ponzi scheme. 25
Bruce Barber
chapter 2: the Valorisation of art: what artists are up against 43
Peter Booth and Arjo Klamer
chapter 3: what do artists want? re-reading carol duncan’s 1983 essay
“who rules the art world?” in 2017 57
Gregory Sholette
chapter 4: Gift Vouchers: Giving and rebates in the age of appropriation 75
John C. Welchman
Part ii: Power 89
chapter 5: the Precarious nature of curatorial work 91
Michael Birchall
chapter 6: Libidinal economies 105
Juli Carson
ix
who runs the artworld
chapter 7: the task of the curator 125
Adam Geczy
chapter 8: Because we can: curatorial intervention at the intersections of
intention and reception 141
Brett M. Levine
Part iii: ethics 153
chapter 9: Bodies for sale 155
Amelia Jones
chapter 10: Lost causes and inappropriate theory: aboriginal art it’s a
white thing and other tales of sovereignty 177
Ian McLean
chapter 11: the space of reception: Framing autonomy and collaboration 201
Jennifer A. McMahon and Carol Ann Gilchrist
chapter 12: watermelon Politics and the Mutating Forms of institutional
critique today 213
Stevphen Shukaitis and Joanna Figiel
chapter 13: art scene, art scene, sweet especial art scene as the World
Comes to us thus we Come to the World 221
John von Sturmer
About the editors 235
About the contributors 237
Bibliography 243
Index 254
x