Reflections on the marketization of art in contemporary neoliberal capitalism

This chapter focuses on the marketization of art as a modality of the neoliberal economization, discussing how understandings of the role of art in society and the relationship between art and the market have evolved over time and how the ongoing marketization of the artworld is manifested today, particularly in the context of art museums. The aim is to explore and better understand how, in the contemporary conditions of neoliberal capitalism, the creation, presentation, and reception of art as a cultural practice has become problematized as economic activity. Overall, the chapter argues that the marketization of art involves not only processes through which artists and art organizations becoming more market-oriented — more customer and profit-oriented — as a rational response to increased competition, government cuts, and demands by funding organizations. Marketization, in the field of art, also reflects a more general process of economization through which the role of art in society, and in the everyday lives of individuals and communities, is changing.