Unwrapping: Art and Money

Undergraduate / Graduate

Art and entrepreneurship are completely intertwined; art is a commodity and as such, is mired along with economics in social, political, historical and philosophical issues. This course brings these two seemingly disparate fields into what is an inevitable conversation, probing each to address questions including taste formation, assessment of value, monetary as well as other cultural factors that are conditioned by hegemony, varying over time and across geographies. Through a combined methodology that includes hands-on experience, actual case studies, visiting guests, and a range for readings (from critical and social theory as well as art history and economics, students will address basic questions regarding taste and value, how it is formed and appraised, its shifting tides that reflect social, political and other hegemonic factors across time and geography, the importance of gender and race historically and contemporaneously, notions of originality and the copy as informed by the Enlightenment and an expanding global framework, who and how the market is controlled and by what vehicles from the artist through galleries to collectors and institutions.