Indexical Judgment: The Construction of Valuation Devices for Art and Antiques

• In Event: E/valuative Actions: Exploring the Doings of E/valuation in Evaluative Systems 2

Abstract

The growth of rankings, metrics and indicators is a hallmark of the modern economy and lifeworld of contemporary markets, but we know relatively little about the processes through which indices come about. For this, we focus on the case of fine art, as the special features of artworks as unique, difficult-to-value and values based on social consensus (e.g. Coslor, 2016; Coslor & Spaenjers 2016; Karpik 2010; Velthuis 2005) make the art market an excellent context to study creation processes for complicated index measures. Using two pioneering art price indices, the Times-Sotheby and Sotheby Index, published by The Times of London and Barron’s, respectively, we develop a theoretical framework to examine index development. Through interviews with key figures and an ethnographic corpus of newspaper and journal articles, we find the resulting shape of art indices motivated by epistemic beliefs held by designers and implementers, and by the organizational settings in which the index is developed. This leads to three key findings that contribute to studies of organizations and valuation: (1) the reductive nature of indices requires trust in a representative method, (2) the potentially conflictual set of conditions that this nature imposes on designers leads to politics, and (3) it also engenders spaces of competition and challenge, from rivals and critics. Our research contributes to research on organizational and calculative infrastructures underpinning markets and to the expanding valuation literature, a topic of growing interest in STS given links to the longstanding interest in calculation, classification and processes of scientific knowledge construction.

Authors

• Erica Coslor, The University of Melbourne

• Yuval Millo, Warwick University