Commodification and Appropriation of Artistic Labor

Abstract Contemporary discussions of art and labor by theorists, activists, artists and research collectives are increasingly departing from perspectives that emphasize the artist’s work model, her working conditions, her exceptional position in society and economy, and her incorporation into capitalist processes of production.My attempt is to more specifically position artistic activity and the art economy in the broader economic landscape. I intend to do so through empirical fieldwork research that focuses on one particular artwork, and the economic activity surrounding it, in order to clarify the relationship between art, labor and the economy more generally.My aim is to elaborate on questions such as: 1) What characterizes the economies in which artistic activity takes place? 2) Under what circumstances can the production process of art be taken as an alternative economic activity? 3) To what extent and in what ways can artistic practices be seen as part of the capitalist production process? These questions are all framed by the larger question of 4) how artistic labor becomes a commodity and how it is appropriated by the art market.