Call for Papers | Art Markets without Borders – artists, networks, demand, value

Call for Papers | Art Markets without Borders – artists, networks, demand, value

Conference | University of Melbourne, Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Today’s global art world offers multiple opportunities for artists and artworks to cross borders. Institutional and commercial platforms such as biennales, art fairs, mega galleries and auction houses afford global footprints to translocate cultural productions and their creators to diverse audiences. Simultaneously, visible and invisible boundaries impact this movement both positively and negatively – government regulations, parochial markets, art world gatekeepers and economic drivers. Ostensibly, a global art world proposes art markets without borders but is this really the case, and if so, how do transnational markets operate? If boundaries are crossed, what impact does this have on art and its reception? In a borderless environment, what is the relevance of centre and periphery?

Art Markets without Borders – artists, networks, demand, value is a conference convened by the Art Market Studies Research Project at the University of Melbourne. It will consider the past, present and future dynamics of world art markets. Specifically, this conference wishes to address the following research questions:

• What is the interrelationship between critical and commercial value?
• Why does provenance continue to play such a major role in creating
  confidence within the art market?
• To what extent should government and industry regulation and oversight
  be imposed on the natural forces of a thriving and dynamic market?
• How do informed agents interact together to create influence in the
  market?

The Art Market Studies Research Project welcomes interdisciplinary approaches to these research questions. The conference seeks paper proposals from all those with an interest in the area, including academic researchers, artists, critics, art museum and curatorial professionals, collectors, policy makers, commercial agents and other art industry participants.

Conference papers should be of 20 minutes in length maximum and it is anticipated that a selection of papers will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

If you would like to propose a paper to present at this conference, please send a brief proposal of approximately 400 words to david.challis@unimelb.edu.au by 15 December 2019, including a short bio and institutional affiliation (if any).