Anna Tilroe (NL)

The art world, it is said, is a microcosm of the real world. It is dominated by global jetsetters riding the wave of casino capitalism, where celebrities and the über-rich strive to outdo one another with spectacular art purchases and stunning personal collections. The massive rise of this new elite has shot the art market to the epicentre of the art world. Here, the major auction houses work in league with wealthy galleries and mega-collectors to land record prices and maximum media attention, yet at the same to stifle the notion of art as pure commodity. To this end, critics are hired to promote artists with a great deal of pomp and ceremony, and art markets stage intellectual debates, preferably featuring speakers with left-leaning political reputations. In this way subversity, too, plays a role in the market process.

All this puts independent, public museums on the back foot. With very small budgets, they are increasingly forced to compete with the private museums of the mega-rich or compelled by politicians to appeal more to the wider public.

Is the art world, like the ‘real’ world, now wholly at the mercy of the ‘free’ market system? Or is there hope yet for a counter movement? Anna Tilroe, extraordinary professor of Art and Culture at Radboud University Nijmegen, discusses these issues following her recent pamphlet ‘The yes leap: Towards a new vitality in the art world’ (published by Querido).

A-Z lectures take place on Tuesday at Zebrazaal at Z33.
Entrance is free, but registration is required.
Save your seat and fill out the registration form for the A-Z lecture by Anna Tilroe here.