Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the effects of economic globalisation and new technologies on the way contemporary artistic values are formed. The first part of the analysis considers the growth of the art market from a dual point of view, the geographic extension of the artistic world and the extension of the notion of art (multiplication and dematerialization of works). The second part of the analysis considers the changes wrought by the increased power of auction houses, the proliferation of art fairs, and the development of online sales in the globalisation of the contemporary art market. The way in which values are formed appears to be holding out, though, for the time being, against the forces of artistic and economic change.