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Collectors, investors and speculators: gatekeeper use of audience categories in the art market

Coslor, Erica; Crawford, Brett; Leyshon, Andrew

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Authors

Erica Coslor

Brett Crawford

Andrew Leyshon



Abstract

This research examines gatekeepers' categorization work to assess and sort audience members. Using a multi-sited ethnography and interpretivist qualitative lens, we explore how high-value art gallerists sort buyers via categories, but also encourage conformity with preferred audience categories, both for artistic consecration goals and to discourage disruptive speculation. Categories served as reference points, with preferred and problematic buyer categories providing a discursive socialization tool, but also informing gatekeeping strategies, for example, problematic behaviors and buyer categories led to value-protecting gatekeeping and exclusion, often justified in moral terms. Monitoring continued throughout the relationship, with decisions considered both fair and necessary for gallerists’ professional practice. Gatekeeping decisions included long-term temporal considerations, prompting strategies including ‘placement,’ monitoring and audience recategorization. This extends gatekeeping beyond simply passing muster at the ‘gate.’ We also illustrate the dynamic and fluid nature of hidden categories, which provide gatekeepers with heightened abilities to punish perceived wrongdoing.

Citation

Coslor, E., Crawford, B., & Leyshon, A. (2020). Collectors, investors and speculators: gatekeeper use of audience categories in the art market. Organization Studies, 41(7), 945-967 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619883371

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 24, 2019
Online Publication Date Dec 16, 2019
Publication Date 2020-07
Deposit Date Nov 12, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Organization Studies
Print ISSN 0170-8406
Electronic ISSN 1741-3044
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 7
Pages 945-967
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619883371
Keywords Categories; Art market; Gatekeeping; gatekeepers; Stewardship; Valuation; Categorical boundaries; Moral assessments; Audience categories; Market intermediaries
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2553926
Publisher URL https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0170840619883371

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