UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) White cubes in China A sociological study of China's emerging market for contemporary art Kharchenkova, S.S. Publication date 2017 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Kharchenkova, S. S. (2017). White cubes in China: A sociological study of China's emerging market for contemporary art. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:05 Oct 2021 WHITE CUBES IN CHINA A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHINA’S EMERGING MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY ART SVETLANA KHARCHENKOVA Copyright © 2017 Svetlana Kharchenkova ISBN 978-94-028-0773-8 All rights reserved. The book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of the author. This research was supported by a VIDI-grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientifc Research (NWO), project number 452-10-009. Design: Hannah Swift Printing: Ipskamp Printing WHITE CUBES IN CHINA A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHINA’S EMERGING MARKET FOR CONTEMPORARY ART Academisch proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnifcus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op vrijdag 15 december 2017, te 10:00 uur door Svetlana Sergejevna Kharchenkova geboren te Moskou, Sovjet-Unie Promotiecommissie: Promotor: prof. dr. G.M.M. Kuipers Universiteit van Amsterdam Copromotor: dr. O.J.M. Velthuis Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: dr. J. DeBevoise Asia Art Archive prof. dr. ir. B.J. de Kloet Universiteit van Amsterdam prof. dr. R.C. Kloosterman Universiteit van Amsterdam prof. dr. F.N. Pieke Universiteit Leiden dr. A.T. van Venrooij Universiteit van Amsterdam prof. dr. F.R.R. Vermeylen Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen 6 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 9 1. Introduction 13 2. An Evaluative Biography of Cynical Realism and Political Pop 38 3. Inside Isomorphism: How the Art Market Organisations First Arrived in China 58 4. Offcial Art Organisations in the Emerging Markets of China and Russia 77 5. The Art Market Upside Down: Valuation Practices and the Function of Auctions in the Emerging Chinese Market 98 6. The Market Metaphors: Making Sense of the Emerging Market for Contemporary Art in China 122 7. Conclusion 146 Appendix 168 References 169 Summary 188 Samenvatting 193 This dissertation is based on the following articles: Chapter 2. Kharchenkova, Svetlana, and Olav Velthuis. 2015. “An evaluative biography of Cyn- ical Realism and Political Pop.” In Ariane Berthoin Antal, Michael Hutter and David Stark (eds.), Moments of Valuation: Exploring Sites of Dissonance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 108–130. Data were collected, and the frst draft was written by S. Kharchenkova. Subsequent drafts were jointly written. Chapter 3. Kharchenkova, Svetlana. “Inside isomorphism: how the art market organisations frst arrived in China.” Under review in The China Quarterly. Chapter 4. Kharchenkova, Svetlana, Nataliya Komarova and Olav Velthuis. 2015. “Offcial Art Organizations in the emerging markets of China and Russia.” In Olav Velthuis and Stefano Baia Curioni (eds.), Cosmopolitan Canvases: The Globalization of Markets for Contemporary Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 78–101. Data were collected, and the frst draft was written by S. Kharchenkova and N. Koma- rova. Subsequent drafts were written by the three authors. Chapter 5. Kharchenkova, Svetlana. “The art market upside down: valuation practices and the function of auctions in the emerging Chinese market.” Under review in the So- cio-Economic Review. Chapter 6. Kharchenkova, Svetlana. “The market metaphors: making sense of the emerging market for contemporary art in China.” Under review in Poetics. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Art sociologist Howard Becker famously argued that art is result of collective action. So is this book. First of all, thanks to Olav Velthuis. I count myself incredibly lucky to have had you as my thesis supervisor. Even though we spent most of the frst two years of my PhD in different countries, you managed to always make me feel valued and safe, even at the most vulnerable moments. You were generous with your time, and with sharing ideas, tips and chocolate cakes. You were patient when I was stubborn, and kind, always. You taught me how to think sociologically, and how to make my writing convincing. I now know that the best articles are the ones you can bring up at a party. And I now gladly and mercilessly cut words, because I know this only makes a text better. This project started off with your ideas. Thank you for giving me lots of freedom to try different questions and directions, and for catching me when I fell. Thank you for believing in me, and for envisioning much more for me than I would have dared imagine. I am very happy you won that NWO VIDI grant, which made this project possible, and which sent my life in a new direction. My promotor Giselinde Kuipers – thank you for your sharp critique, and for being a role model. That you closely read and eventually approved this work means a lot to me. Thank you both for being the great, inspiring scholars that you are. Thank you both for helping shape this book, and even more so – for pushing me further, and for introducing me to so- ciology, a real gift. It was great to share the journey with Nataliya Komarova and Amanda Bran- dellero. While I was roaming galleries and artists’ studios in Beijing, I did not feel alone, as I knew you were doing the same in Brazil, India and Russia. Back in Am- sterdam, and somewhat similar to our respondents, together we were trying to make sense of our respective art worlds. I hope we never have to open a BRIC art gallery, but I can’t wait for you to be my paranymphs. All the artists, curators, collectors, art dealers, art journalists, auction house employees, and many other participants and observers of the Chinese contemporary art world – most of you will remain anonymous – thank you! I was so often touched by your willingness to help, to fnd time, often on the spur of the moment, in your vi- brant lives to share your views and stories, sometimes insisting on doing so for hours on end. You generously welcomed me to your art events and into your networks, and treated me to delicious Chinese delicacies. Thank you for not really believing your own jokes that I was a spy. Thank you for all the surprises and unexpected turns, and for challenging my assumptions every day. Where it comes to people I have met, I could not have wished for a better feld. Spending time with you was one of the most exciting parts of this project. Being part of the sociology department of the University of Amsterdam, and 9 of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, was a real privilege. Cul- tural Sociology seminars have especially been an invaluable source of learning, and a critical and exciting space to bounce ideas off colleagues. Outside the University of Amsterdam, Jeannette Colyvas, Mukti Khaire, Ashley Mears, Virág Molnár and others at conferences and during journal review processes, commented on the earlier drafts, which greatly beneftted my thinking and writing. Jeroen de Kloet, thank you for posting the job ad for my PhD position at the Ohio State University MCLC LIST, where I accidentally saw it, and which led to this project. I believe this is yuanfen. I would like to thank my colleagues at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, who I was lucky to know from my research MA, and who so kindly wel- comed me back as faculty member. I would like to thank Frank Pieke especially for the knowledge you gave me, for the optimism, humour, and for the opportunity to join the School of Asian Studies in Leiden. Special thanks also go to Florian Schnei- der for showing me how cool academia can be. Thanks also to my students with and from whom I continue to learn. Thanks to the AISSR secretariat for their support. Thanks to Pat Crowley for English editing, and Hannah Swift for the cover and layout design. My fellow PhDs – Basje Bender, Davide Beraldo, Myra Bosman, Thijs van Dooremalen, Bert de Graaff, Thomas Franssen, Marcel van den Haak, Sander van Haperen, Sylvia Holla, Jitse Schuurmans, Aysen Ustübici, Mandy de Wilde, Rens Wil- derom, Döske van der Wilk – our long lunches and loud chats made everything bet- ter. I think in the AISSR we have something to look back on with nostalgia. Thanks to my friends, especially Alyona Bass, Piet van den Broek, Waiman Cheung, Hungwah Lam, Fresco Sam-Sin, Nina Marisa von Scherenberg, Tabitha Speelman and Ahling Yeh, who distracted me when I needed a break and who knew when not to ask me how my PhD was going.