Between the act of creation free of all constraints and the art object conceived as a product of financial investment, there are many areas of intersection and progressive nuance, both historically and in the contemporary context.

The complex relationship between art, which is supposed to be pure, and money, which is supposed to be impure, is made up of a thousand facets that are still often a blind spot in the context of art schools.

Yet questions of value, marketing, insurance and, quite simply, price are on everyone's mind as soon as creation becomes a profession and professional structuring is posed as a necessary issue for students and young alumni.

• wednesday 12 february 2025
  ‘Investment issues in art’ Adriano Picinati di Torcolo
  Kim Oosterlinck (ULB-MRBAB), in conversation with Anne-Sophie V. Radermecker (ULB)
  The evolution of an artist's price can have a decisive influence on his or her career. In particular, price trends depend on demand, part of which is linked to investment in art. It is therefore important for artists to gain a better understanding of the process of financialisation of the art market, especially as works of art have characteristics that complicate their valuation as investment goods. In concrete terms, who are art investors, and how does art differ from traditional investment goods? Under what conditions does art become a financial asset? Are the profits solely monetary and do they accrue solely to the investor? Are all art forms suitable for investment? What are the advantages/risks of a meteoric rise in popularity? Are investment and social impact compatible? Adriano Picinati di Torcello and Kim Oosterlinck tackle these questions to find out, among other things, whether art is a ‘good investment’ and how artists can position themselves in relation to the monetisation of their work.

• Wednesday 9 April 2025
  ‘Questions of value in art'
  Nathalie Moureau, in dialogue with Anne-Sophie Radermecker
  What are the multiple values that make up a work of art? How do the players in the art world work together to create value, and who ultimately decides the price? Is the artistic value of a work necessarily reflected in its market value, and vice versa? Starting with the now-famous Comedian, a banana taped to a wall by the artist Maurizio Cattelan and sold for $120,000 at the Art Basel fair in Miami in 2019, Nathalie Moureau (Université Paul-Valéry-Montpellier) and Anne-Sophie Radermecker (ULB) discuss the strategies of distinction and legitimacy in the contemporary art world. Using this polemical case study as a starting point, they also ‘peel back’ the mechanisms by which the price of works is determined, extending their analysis to other categories of artistic production in order to gain a better understanding of buyers' motivations and willingness to pay for certain characteristics.

Published on 30.01.2025

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