Originalität durch Unverschämtheit?

Summary

The objective of this paper is to understand certain developments in contemporary arts from an economic point of view. The peculiarity of art is its aesthetic quality in combination with its value as an investment object. Accordingly, four segments of the art market may be distinguished: warehouse art, business art, connoisseur art and high art. Because of their high aesthetic quality, only the last two segments of the market are of interest in this paper. On the market for high art, a dominance of investors is to be expected because this art has to please the average taste of investors. The market for connoisseur art will be dominated by an art elite which is merely interested in aesthetic quality. One of the crucial elements of contemporary art is its chutzpah. The economic reason for this is the necessity to attract interest. This aspect of modern art is seen as a common feature of art and marketing. This may explain the alliances between art and enterprises as well as the blur of the boundaries between art, fashion and design.