INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FAIRS IN A 'GLOBALIZED' ART MARKET

This article examines the participation of art galleries at international contemporary art fairs (ICAFs) to evaluate what theories of cultural globalisation best describe this type of practice. For that purpose, it draws upon recent and original statistical data in order to examine the geographical distribution of major ICAFs worldwide, that is, their concentration in selected geographical locations, as well as the country of origin of the galleries participating in these events. This is intended to map out the workings of any territorial forms of dominance affecting the art market, seen both in the capability of a given country to organise one or more ICAFs and in that of art galleries to participate in such high profile events. The article firstly reviews relevant literature on cultural globalisation to outline, and also problematise, those interpretative models that can be applied to the particular case of ICAFs. Secondly, it provides and analyses new statistical data on ICAFs and gallery participation mentioned earlier. Thirdly, it examines how this data can be interpreted with the help of current theories of cultural globalisation. It concludes by arguing that the model best explaining the territorial dynamics of ICAFs is one that incorporates a notion of both centre and semi-peripheral domination on a vast periphery of countries including both Western and non-Western countries.