ABSTRACT
In a time when artists define themselves as entrepreneurs or aesthetic consultants, when museums, theatres and even artistic research have to stick to managerial standards, when art performances are bought as masterpieces by big institutions, it makes no sense to separate art and business. The art world and especially the specific market organizing actors around what is called contemporary art is closely linked to fashion, luxury and finance. It would surely be comfortable to think that business has to do with economical value and individual performance, while art has to do with aesthetic value and shared creativity, typically linking the first to numbers and rigor and the second to ideas, images and gift economy. Art is a great business, and business can be done in many ways, including artistic ways. Besides, as shown by Boltanski and Chiapello (1999), artistic critique is easily swallowed by capitalism’s never-ending hunger.
