Art Markets and Digital Histories

• Main Author: Rasterhoff, Claartje (auth)
• Other Authors: Van Ginhoven, Sandra (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020
• Subjects: History of art / art & design styles; artistic reputation; deep mapping; auction price; online art market; ART COLOGNE; photo object; digital art history; Flemish Baroque; art forgery; 20th century; museums; econometrics; academic system; Antwerp; big data; social bubble; spatial art history; Salon; Harrison and Cynthia White; dealer-critic system; behavioral analysis; prestige; art market; cryptocurrency; art indices; Internet galleries; blockchain; digital humanities; Verband von Museums-Beamten zur Abwehr von Fälschungen und unlauterem Geschäftsgebahren; photography; art fairs; associative theory; archives; museum exhibition; uncertainty; social network; online auctions; Amsterdam; copper painting; decision-making under risk; data visualization; mediation; associative status networks; editorial; digital mapping; Dutch Golden Age; digital object; informational asymmetry; art markets; data constraints; painting; artificial intelligence (AI); digital history; art market studies; intermediaries; Hans Rottenhammer; galleries; merchants; art fair; painting production; Jan Brueghel the Elder
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

This Special Issue of Arts investigates the use of digital methods in the study of art markets and their histories. As historical and contemporary data is rapidly becoming more available, and digital technologies are becoming integral to research in the humanities and social sciences, we sought to bring together contributions that reflect on the different strategies that art market scholars employ to navigate and negotiate digital techniques and resources. The essays in this issue cover a wide range of topics and research questions. Taken together, the essays offer a reflection on what takes to research art markets, which includes addressing difficult topics such as the nature of the research questions and the data available to us, and the conceptual aspects of art markets, in order to define and operationalize variables and to interpret visual and statistical patterns for scholarship. In our view, this discussion is enriched when also taking into account how to use shared or interoperable ontologies and vocabularies to define concepts and relationships that facilitate the use and exchange of linked (open) data for cultural heritage and historical research.