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University of California Press

About the Book

Art and the Global Economy analyzes major changes in the global art world that have emerged in the last twenty years including structural shifts in the global art market; the proliferation of international art fairs, biennials and blockbuster exhibitions; and the internationalization of the scope of contemporary art. John Zarobell explores the economic and social transformations in the cultural sphere, the results of greater access to information about art, exhibitions, and markets around the world, as well as the increasing interpenetration of formerly distinct geographical domains. By considering a variety of locations—both long-standing art capitals and up-and-coming centers of the future—Art and the Global Economy facilitates a deeper understanding of how globalization affects the domain of the visual arts in the twenty-first century.
 
With contributions by Lucia Cantero, Mariana David, Valentin Diaconov, Kai Lossgott, Grace Murray, Chhoti Rao, Emma Rogers and Michelle Wong.

About the Author

John Zarobell is Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of San Francisco. He has held curatorial positions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A regular contributor to the web-based journal Art Practical, he has written for numerous exhibition catalogues and has curated exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. He is the author of Empire of Landscape: Space and Ideology in French Colonial Algeria.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Measuring the Economy of the Arts

Emerging Art Center: Delhi
Chhoti Rao

PART ONE: MUSEUMS IN FLUX

1 • Museum Funding: Who Shapes Institutions?

Emerging Art Center: Hong Kong
Michelle Wong

2 • Museum Exhibitions in the Era of Globalization

Emerging Art Center: Moscow
Valentin Diaconov

PART TWO: THE EXHIBITIONARY COMPLEX

3 • Biennials, or the New Terrains of Contemporary Art

Emerging Art Center: Istanbul
Emma Rogers

4 • The Art Fair: Cultural Tourism in a Pop-up Free-Trade Zone

Emerging Art Center: Doha, Qatar
Grace Murray

PART THREE: ART AND THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE

5 • The Global Gallerist: Eruptions in the Primary Market

Emerging Art Center: Mexico City
Mariana David

6 • Expansion and Diversification of Auction Houses

Emerging Art City: Johannesburg
Kai Lossgott

7 • The Art Market in the Margins

Emerging Art Center

The Contemporary Carioca Art Scene
Lucia Cantero

Conclusion: Collectivization and the New Geography of the Art World

Works Cited
Index

Reviews

"Anyone who cares about art or their community will gain insights for riding the tides of economic globalization from anywhere in the world."
YaleGlobal Online
“For ten years I have been looking for books to include in my graduate seminar on art and economics and artist’s alternatives to the art market. John Zarobell’s Art and the Global Economy is the ideal book for my class and for any artist interested in understanding the complex relationship between the creative mind and the challenging materialistic context in which it exists.”—Enrique Chagoya, Artist and Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University