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This paper explores the nature of art as a product through a network perspective, accounting for key contributing stakeholders in shaping its essence.

This study adopted a qualitative data collection and analysis design and is centred on a series of face-to-face interviews with established Australian visual artists.

Results support the notion of an art product shaped by interconnections and interdependencies of actors in the art market. In particular, attention is paid to the roles of actors in conceptual, production and distribution networks.

Although there are idiosyncrasies that (in part) define the Australian art market context, the issues identified here are nonetheless useful in determining the nature of the interconnectedness of the art market in other similar Western contexts. Many Australian artists have achieved similar recognition and status to other established artists elsewhere. Future cross-cultural comparative research should be carried out in order to assess this relationship in the longer term.

Artists at different stages of their careers can transfer the findings of this research into the development of a series of relevant strategies and tactics for developing their art and culture products more effectively.

Although philosophical assessments of art as a product have been carried out elsewhere, there is a lack of evaluation from an art versus marketplace lens in considering the perspectives of interested stakeholders

The overall aim of this chapter is to investigate whether the notion of cultural value can have utility as a context for urban and regional development strategies. It does this by proposing a conceptualisation of ‘cultural assets’ that encompasses both tangible and intangible resources, as well as resources existing and yet to be created. The purpose of the conceptualisation is to establish a framework within which we can better understand how cultural value might be activated or generated in urban and regional areas and so become a context for developmental strategies. Importantly, this paper also sets out to provide further insight into the notion of cultural value itself, particularly in relation to matters of definition, and the notion's utility in other areas of theory and practice.

The aim of the study is to contribute to the extending body of literature on ‘the different effects of cultural engagement’ through cases from Turkey. In the context of art and society interaction, the study seeks to find evidence from practice within the scope of the ‘cultural value’ and ‘arts marketing’ literature. ‘Co-creation’ is mentioned as an important term in the cultural engagement context, and purposeful co-creation acts are investigated in the art industry. Therefore, the research focuses on interaction in the context of culture in order to explore the complex nature of co-creation of cultural value in alternative places and cultural frames. From this perspective, the study underlines the roles of place and atmosphere in the cultural engagement process. The cultural engagement areas of art and the public are determined in three different fields: nature (art in the village), science (campus) and business (shopping mall). The case study research is realised in order to gain a detailed and holistic view of the process. While the intention of all art events is the interaction of art and society, all three cases lead to different dimensions of ‘cultural engagement’ in different contexts. In this manner, these different cultural frames enlarge our comprehensive view of the constitution of ‘art and cultural value’ in terms of place and cultural frame of the field. The study underlines that society-oriented local art events and organisations are supporting the art and society link rather than focussing the economic value of art and artists as the actors of a commercial art industry.

This chapter is based on more than a decade of art world research in Singapore but offers a single case of a composer who has composed a work for an orchestra. This study presents the creative reputation dilemma faced by many artists who attempt to be more entrepreneurial. Most countries promote their creative economy, and that has generated a class of artist entrepreneurs or ‘artrepreneurs’. Professional artists are encouraged and challenged to be economically independent and also to make their practice more profitable. For many artrepreneurs, maintaining their creative reputation comes with emotional costs. The thick description in this chapter demonstrates how an artist negotiates with the patron in finalising a new piece of commissioned music. But they failed to close the deal. This case deviates from studies that focus on successes in the creative industries. Creativity entails experimentation and creating new things, but new things may not be well-received. Nonetheless, these ‘unsuccessful’ works are part of the art world and contribute to creating cultural value in society.

This chapter explores the role of entrepreneurship within the careers of fine artists. This is positioned within the context of the discourse of cultural value. How artists manage their artistic and, sometimes conflicting, entrepreneurial identities is explored. The fields of entrepreneurship, and more recently the creative industries, have received much attention from both policy makers and researchers. Fine artists are perhaps one of the least employable, and arguably most entrepreneurial (by necessity), as Higgs et al. suggest ‘some occupations naturally have substantially higher numbers of self-employed people such as “Artists” with 91% self-employment’ (Higgs, Cunningham, & Bakhshi, 2008, p. 94).

The study captures the career histories of a cohort of fine art graduates, all of whom had graduated at the same time (1994), from the same institution. Taking a narrative approach, detailed career stories were obtained. The relationship to and tensions surrounding entrepreneurship and artistic practice were explored in detail. While artistic identity emerges as a strong force for this group, artistic identity and entrepreneurial identity are sometimes at odds with each other. The practicalities of making a living as an artist, arguably, call for entrepreneurial activity. However, the findings suggest that this presents a conflict for some artists, both aesthetically and emotionally. This chapter explores what this means in the context of cultural value, and cultural value as a ‘lens’ for understanding an artist's career.

In the contemporary visual art market, for art to be valuable, it must be deemed authentic. In this chapter, we deconstruct the space within which the authentication of art takes place to understand the structural underpinnings of value and its ideological foundations. Through a three-part model, we demonstrate how authenticity in the art market, as a socially constructed concept, relies on the interpretation of cultural brokers who demonstrate recognition of the artist's vision in the work by placing it within an art context and thus legitimising it as culturally valuable. In our spatial analysis, we illustrate the complexity of visual art products and their valuation, demonstrating how authenticity operates through multiple dimensions. Ultimately, we demonstrate that authenticity is an autopoietic market practice which serves to further monopolise power.