Book Feature
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art
Donald Thompson
About the Author
Donald Thompson, Professor at the Schulich School of Business, has been invited to present the Trinity term Cerebus lecture at Balloil College, Oxford on May 7th . Cerebus is the Philosophy, Politics and Economics society at Balloil. Previous speakers include Chris Patten, Tony Blair, Peter Singer and Simon Blackburn. The talk will be based on Professor Thompson's 2008 book, "The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art", which has now been translated into ten languages.
About the Book
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark delves into the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world – artists, dealers, auction houses, and wealthy collectors. If it's true – as so often said – that 85 percent of new contemporary art is bad, why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? The $12 Million Stuffed Shark explores money, lust, and the self-aggrandizement of possession in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work of art valuable while others are ignored.
In the style of the bestselling Freakonomics, Thompson uses economic concepts to explain the unique practices employed, to great success, in the international contemporary art market. He discusses branding and marketing and how various strategies are tailored to a wealthy clientele, driving a "must-have" culture. Drawing on exclusive interviews with both past and present executives of auction houses and art dealerships, artists, and the buyers who move the market, Thompson launches the reader on a surprising journey of discovery.
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The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art 272 pages, Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-230-61022-4 |