Artists (and Markets) in Motion

Impressive growth of art works produced and exchanged, marked globalization with resistance in traditional Western art scenes, transformation of selling channels and relevance of national systems for the promotion of artists: these are the elements that have dominated the market for visual arts over the last few years.
Between 1998 and 2008 auction volumes grew from $48 million to $1.3 billion. In the next two years there was a 50% reduction in volumes, but two thirds of this has already been recouped, especially at the high end of the market (works priced at more than $75,000). Today, according to recent estimates, in the world there are 375,000 galleries and advisors and 25,000 auction houses, representing more than 2 million employees (A. Zorloni 2011).
As far as the globalization of the market is concerned, from 2005 to 2010 the number of artists coming from the Far East, Latin America Latina and Africa to the Basel Art Fair has trebled. The most visited art fairs have been those of Canton (200,000 visitors), New Delhi e Buenos Aires (128,000 and 120,000, respectively), as well as Madrid. China has multiplied by six its turnover at art auctions, attaining a 33% market share and world leadership. On the other hand, as Alain Quemin notes, in the same period that share of US and European artists ranked in the first 100 of the Kompass ranking has stayed constant between 90% and 92%, thus showing the continued dominance of traditional art production systems. In the meantime, selling channels have changed. If in 2005 US galleries sold 50% of works in house, 25% at auctions, and 25% at fairs, in 2011 fairs account for more than 40%, while galleries have dropped to 32% and auctions now account for 28% of sales. This shift has affected the strategies of gate-keepers (galleries and museums): for instance Art Basel has acquired the Hong Kong fair, as part of an expansionary strategy on a global scale.
Finally, the importance of urban and national systems for the promotion of artists must be noted, especially for creating networks and alliances among galleries, curators, museums. These are networks that act locally and globally, determining the status of artists according to paths of growing complexity. It's a situation in which the US, UK and Germany are excelling, while Italy is trailing behind.
Since the postwar period, we have not witnessed a comparable transformation in the world trade of images, esthetics, and meanings. It's not only an economic transformation. The art market is a system where rhetorical elements dominate and whose implications for cultural diplomacy are major.
It is a giant and pitiless exercise in cultural memory, which produces a hall of fame of artists and styles that challenge the passing of time and impose hegemonic cultures in a subtly competitive game.
In such a system, prices are signals and cultural trackers. Their sometimes absurd level can reaffirm immortality, but can also lead to ruin. Prices also must be interpreted, because buying art is not only a subjective economic or esthetic choice. It's about taking part in contemporary culture, deciding whether to sing along with the chorus or take the risk of going against the tide.