Art Market Outline
Performance Art- Is it possible to make a profit?
I would like to talk about performance art for my final project. With the rise of youtube, and recording devices, performance art has started to take an interesting turn. One thing which is difficult to understand is how performance artists make money and sell their art. It is my opinion that in an era of high value auctions and questions of who actually created a piece, the performance art market may give the most credit to the artist and is less based on collectors and auction houses.
Thesis- Just as with other mediums, the goal and ultimate validation of artists, dealers and collectors is the value of the work. However, due to the difficulty with tangible/ sellable objects, in order for performance artists to become financially successful they have to have certain features to their performance: brand equity, tangibility/ ability to record, and demand.
Brand Equity- Just as in any other medium, brand equity is important to create an image, recognition and value for the collector.
Marina Abramovic
Andrea Fraser
Tangibility- Buyers need something to buy in order for the artist to be paid, however this pushes the limits of how people experience art
Marina Abramovic
Yayoi Kusama
Demand- The demand is the ultimate validation of artists work and the build up of the art market. However, with the recent involvement of youtube, performance art takes on a new market.
Use of YouTube to convey messages- and being paid for advertisers
Inability to fully take in the live performance- but access parts in different ways
Funny versus serious art performance.
Conclusion
Ultimately it may be difficult to hang the true essence of a performance art piece on your wall. And getting the same emotion and experience out of the performance a second time on camera may not bring the same utility level- however with the introduction of youtube, performance art can take on notoriety and per haps the performance art market is the only art market where people pay to experience the art, not to say they have the experience.
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/750983/how-do-performance-artists-make-any-money-a-market-inquiry
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-performance-art.htm
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/965
1 Comment
Cheryl Finley
Hi Nicholas -- please do see my comments on the main outline page from January 13th re: your topic and ways to hone your focus. I like your conclusions stated above, especially, "per haps the performance art market is the only art market where people pay to experience the art, not to say they have the experience." As I mentioned in my comments earlier, most performance artists earn a living from the byproducts of their performances -- the videos and material objects that come from them -- as opposed to the actual performance itself. It will be interesting to see how youtube affects the notoriety of the artist or performance, but how might that also affect the artist's own earnings, I wonder. Might you also comment on this and how perhaps, performance artists are more than just performance artists. Many are working as conceptual artists in multiple media, in fact. Others receive commissions to do other performances. Karen Finley and Yoko Ono also come to mind as high end performance artists who are quite successful. You might look at their careers as well for some ideas. Good luck. I hope this is helpful.