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Collecting: Motivations and Patterns of Consumption

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Abstract

Extending the analysis of the industry’s structure, this chapter specifically analyzes demand. How can we segment different collectors’ demands? What are the purchasing behaviors? What is the audience for contemporary art? Why were corporate collections created? How do art investment funds work? This final chapter attempts to answer these questions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Source: OECD (2010).

  2. 2.

    Source: Cobolli Gigli (2009).

  3. 3.

    Frank’s theory (1997) is based on the relational nature of many acts of consumption: group belonging, status, position relative to the social hierarchy, are crucial factors to understand the nature of consumption. This idea was already present in the Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren by J.M. Keynes (1930), in its distinction between ‘absolute’ needs (the basic needs) and ‘relative’ needs (those arising from social interactions), but above all is found in the category of ‘ostentatious consumption’ by T. Veblen (1899).

  4. 4.

    Source: https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/en/culture---society/art/partnerships.html.

  5. 5.

    Source: Santi (2009).

  6. 6.

    Source: www.akzonobel.com.

  7. 7.

    Source: http://artfoundation.akzonobel.com/.

  8. 8.

    Interview with Sabine Folie, Generali Foundation director, conducted on 28 August 2011.

  9. 9.

    Liquidity represents the relation between demand and supply and indicates the ease of purchase/sale due to the constant presence in the market of buyers and sellers. The liquidity of a market is closely correlated to the market’s ability to disseminate information and depends on the quality and quantity of information available on a particular artist.

  10. 10.

    The ‘Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’ measures the value trends of the top 500 stocks listed on the New York stock exchanges (New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (Amex) and Nasdaq). Indices’ values are available in the main national business newspapers as well as on Reuters and Bloomberg circuits.

  11. 11.

    Source: Mojana (2005).

  12. 12.

    Source: The Art Fund Association, www.artfundassociation.com.

  13. 13.

    Source: The Art Fund Association, www.artfundassociation.com.

  14. 14.

    Source: Pirrelli (2007).

  15. 15.

    Art funds of funds are generally privately-offered investment funds dedicated to generating returns through investment in other art funds. Art funds of funds neither acquire nor dispose of works of art but rather construct portfolios of underlying art funds that meet the investment criteria of investors in funds of funds.

  16. 16.

    Source: ArtTactic and Deloitte (2011).

  17. 17.

    Source: Gambillara (2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Arts, Cultures and Comparative Literature, IULM University, Milan, Italy

    Alessia Zorloni

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Zorloni, A. (2013). Collecting: Motivations and Patterns of Consumption. In: The Economics of Contemporary Art. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32405-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32405-5_5

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