Art World Ethnography or How to study VIPs when you are not one
Inequalities Seminar Series
Tuesday 1 April 2025, 12.45pm – 1.45pm. In-person and online event. Room 2.06, Cheng Kin Ku Building.
Speaker:
Dr Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi, LSE Fellow in Culture and Society, Department of Sociology
A multi-sited ethnography of the art world may include art world actors working across various professions, such as artist or dealer, and in different spaces, such as studios and galleries. The art world is informal but also very hierarchal, with power differences baked into various kinds of events such as private dinners and VIP tiers at art fairs. Art collectors occupy the top tier of this world. What methods can researchers employ to capture the lifeworld’s of art world VIPS, in the ethnographic tradition? In this talk I will discuss the various methods I have employed to “study up” in the art world and the implications and limitations for ethnography rooted in participant observation. I consider the complex researcher position in regards to wealth, the practical impact of limited research budgets and the potential strategies for occupying the spaces where art world interlocutors gather. I propose a “methodological wealth” and unpack the various ways I performed wealth in order to access elite spaces. Alongside this I will discuss the routes, through introductions and relationships with other art worlds interlocutors such as dealers and critics, that helped navigate my access to collectors.
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