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From Global to Local Creative Dynamics: The Location Patterns of Art Galleries

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Creative Industries in Europe

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to analyze art galleries’ locational patterns. We successively investigate regional, city, and district scales. Firstly, we show that art galleries are concentrated within historical centers of the art market in Western Europe and North America. Nevertheless, we highlight the emergence of gallery polarities in new art market areas in Asia or Latin America. Secondly, within these regions, galleries are concentrated in a few cities such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Zurich, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Thirdly, in each of these cities, most galleries are located in a few districts, either in affluent inner-city neighborhoods or in semi-peripheral areas subject to urban transformations. We assume that these location patterns can be explained through various agglomeration forces such as wealth, urban and cultural assets, and connectivity. But the formation of art gallery districts also results from the collective endeavor of art world actors to differentiate from the already established art districts and from the strategies of private or public urban developers to enhance land value.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Our definition of the art market comprises both fine arts, including paintings, sculpture or drawings, and contemporary art, which covers a wider range of artwork such as artistic installations, video art or performances.

  2. 2.

    The Art Compass is a ranking of artists performed initially by the German magazine Capital. The ranking is based on their presence in major art institutions and magazines. To each location or magazine, is allocated a number of points (e.g., MOMA 400 points) and the artists in these places or reviews accumulate these points and can thus be compared to others. Art Review publishes an annual ranking of the 100 most influent personalities of the market (Power 100). This ranking is made by a sample of experts.

  3. 3.

    For instance, in Paris, the Association of Parisian Art Galleries provides a mapping of several art gallery districts (http://www.associationdesgaleries.org/). For the Singapore case, we used the Singapore Art Gallery Guide (http://sagg.info/), and in Istanbul, the magazine Exhibist (http://www.exhibist.com/).

  4. 4.

    http://www.nycartspaces.com/

  5. 5.

    Quemin, A. (2006). Globalization and Mixing in the Visual Arts: An Empirical Survey of ‘High Culture’ and Globalization. International Sociology, 21(4), 522–550.

  6. 6.

    http://www.nycartspaces.com/gallery_history.php

  7. 7.

    This company provides both art handling and storage services, to clients such as art institutions, auction houses or art galleries. This initiative can therefore be viewed as a marketing strategy.

  8. 8.

    Interview held in February 2015 with an official from EDB.

  9. 9.

    Location patterns of art galleries in these cities were observed as part of the analysis of 20 cities mentioned above.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Via Boccaccio 121, 50133, Florence, Italy

    Jérémie Molho

  2. GRANEM, Angers University, 13 allée François Mitterrand, 49046, Angers, cedex 01, France

    Dominique Sagot-Duvauroux

Authors
  1. Jérémie Molho
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  2. Dominique Sagot-Duvauroux
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Correspondence to Jérémie Molho .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Caroline Chapain

  2. Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

    Tadeusz Stryjakiewicz

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Molho, J., Sagot-Duvauroux, D. (2017). From Global to Local Creative Dynamics: The Location Patterns of Art Galleries. In: Chapain, C., Stryjakiewicz, T. (eds) Creative Industries in Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56497-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56497-5_3

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