An Anthropology of Contemporary Art: Practices, Markets, and Collectors

Drawing on the exciting developments that have occurred in the anthropology of art over the last twenty years, this ground-breaking book uses ethnographic methods to explore shifts in the art market and global contemporary art. Recognizing that the huge diversity of global phenomena requires research on the ground, it examines the local art markets, biennials, networks of collectors, curators, artists, patrons, auction houses, and museums that constitute the global art world. Divided into five parts - Picture and Medium; World Art Studies and Global Art; Art Markets and Art Biennials; Patrons and Collectors; Participatory Art and Collaboration - the seventeen chapters go beyond the standard emphasis on Europe and North America to present first-hand fieldwork from a wide range of areas, including Brazil, Turkey, and Asia and the Pacific. With contributions from distinguished anthropologists such as Philippe Descola, George Marcus, Roger Sansi Roca, and Arnd Schneider, Capturing Contemporary Art provides a fresh approach to key topics in the discipline. A model for demonstrating how contemporary art can be studied ethnographically, it is a vital read for students in anthropology of art, visual anthropology, visual culture, and related fields.