Picking the Next Art Stars: Curators and their Social Ties in the Whitney Biennial

• In Event: 433 - Section on Sociology of Culture Paper Session. Art, Money, and Meaning

Abstract

The literature on labor markets offers two theories about how individuals reach prominence in their profession. One narrative focuses on the accumulation of credentials and other signals of quality or superior performance. According to this view, people signal their status by showing they went to selective schools and otherwise have a track record of high performance according to the standards of their field. A second narrative focuses on social networks. This rival view suggests that the creation of elites relies on social networks. The incumbent elites develop social ties with desirable individuals and then recruit from that network. We use data from the 2012 and 2014 Whitney Biennial to study these processes. We find evidence for both processes. When examining artists who had previous professional affiliations with the curators, we discover that the number of times that an artist was curated is a predictor of being selected for the Whitney Biennial. When we compare "out of network" Whitney participants with either "in network" participants, or the entire network of previously curated artists, we discover that "out of network" artists had more traditional signals of prestige - more solo shows and fewer group shows.

Authors

• Fabio Rojas, Indiana University

• Peter Lista, Indiana University