Part 10 (1/2)

Evidently, and in line hat has been written above, the Aovernment expects less froovernovernment of the us prefers to eh the indirect mechanism of tax deductions to address the public purpose46 This explains its stronger preference for tax deductions and for indirect subsidization through uni-versities On the other hand, the resistance against tax deductions in Europe, despite soes, can only be understood, if the aspect of display is taken into account European governments do not want to cut down on display

Chapter 11

Informal Barriers Structure the Arts

How Free or Monopolized Are the Arts?

Being Selected by the Govern frorant for visual artists Everybody does It would have been unprofessional not to He applied because of the rants1 Each of them offers the artist an amount of money, which is equal to a year's incorant of this sort represents an incoe incorants are attrac-tive When Alex applied he knew his chances were sradu-ates applied; there were four tirants So, he wasn't counting on getting one In this respect, he was not too disappointed when he was rejected In another and unexpected way, the rejection hit him hard It hit hiate He felt rejected as an artist Secretly he had hoped for recognition He had hoped that the overnht Alex, we know that nobody is lining up to buy your drawings, but we can tell that you're a real artist We want you to stay in the eld' So the grants are not only attractive because of the money In fact, Alex dis-covered that the syrants exceeded their irant, he con-tinued to doubt his right to be an artist Was he a fraud? He thought (and still thinks) that many unsuccessful artists make bad art Little would be lost if they just left the arts Was he one of them? The rejection lowered his self-esteem He could not hide the doubts he harbored about his own art and that allery Had he gotten the grant it would have given hirant is also important in an objective way; for instance, if he could add that to his curriculuallery owners and collectors of his worth After that rst attempt, Alex tried two more times, both unsuccessfully

Then he stopped He wanted to save himself all the existential doubts asso-ciated with a rejection This is how round; they often even stop trying to crack theart school, Alex felt self-assured enough to start a new round of applications He rst applied for the 'werkbeurs' subsidy, which is the ot it And everything else he has applied for since has also been accepted Looking back at this rst grant, Alex now realizes that it was actually an enorht to be in the eld Alex even suspects that since that initial sign of recognition his artwork has improved more than it ever did before He feltNot all of Alex's colleagues react as strongly to this kind of rejection But all of Alex's colleagues certainly recog-nize this scenario To alov-ernment acceptance is the rst andback at the rejections, Alex, now belonging to the group that receives governrants, wonders why his earlier as rejected The answer he can live with is that his work at that tih, but since then his work has improved In the back of his es in governrant, the Dutch governurative art It only developed a taste for gurative art again over the past two decades And Alex has been producing gurative art all along Still, he nds it difcult to adovernment is not just interested in quality, as it claims, but that it has a taste and that it rejects work that doesn't t in with its preferences This is how it puts up barriers Alex prefers not to question the governovernment as an institution that protects the autonomy of the artist, not as one that interferes with it That is why Alex wants to believe that his work has improved

Incorrect associations in the Arts can be Disastrous Alex has a studio in the saaret is quickly becoaret and Alex are working, they aret's studio at the end of the day In a corner of her studio hang four artworks by Margaret's colleagues Three are by successful friends about her age; the fourth is a s by Alfred who is aret's teacher Looking at this painting, it is clear that Alfred had a big inuence on Margaret She told Alex that this particular painting is precious to her The painting hangs there as an hoe to Alfred Gradually Alex noticed that every now and then during their tea-sessions this specic painting was s would still be there After a while he worked out that it was aret received ialleries, journalists and successful colleagues He asked her why she put the painting away Margaret was extreize ”You know the art world I must be so careful It is better not to be inuenced by an artist who is little known To be honest, it is worse when they know Alfred's work Then they suddenly see ht Because of its roots they can more easily dismiss it Just now I cannot afford to be associated with Alfred Maybe in twenty years, but not now But, yes, you are right: it is strange the way I handle this painting I suppose I should take it home” This is what she did When Alex told this story to his friend Alfred, it evidently hurt hiaret publicly deny her relationshi+p with an artist-friend whose work she admires? And why is it so iovernment? In order to answer these questions this chap-ter investigates the barriers that artists encounter in the arts Because overnment involvement, the treat-overnment's involvelance, it seems that, unlike other professions, there are few barriers in the arts The arts are unfettered Anybody can become an artist If people couldn't become artists it would violate the autonoy of the arts demands that success rests solely on one's commitment and talent Thus, the arts ht constrain artists

As an artist,I strongly believe in the importance of freedom and auton-omy in the arts So does the whole art world and therefore as an artist I do not believe that barriers exist in the arts If I end up being less successful than I had hoped, I don't blas on barriers and monopolization I'd rather blah to art Therefore, as an artist I don't readily acknowl-edge forms of monopolization As an econoanized barriers in the market that are deliberately con-structed to keep certain competitors out And because I don't believe these barriers exist in the arts, as an economist I nd the arts to be unusu-ally open and coree

In other Professions Barriers Inform Consumers, Restrain Producers and Limit Competition The barriers that mark other non-arts professions do not seem to exist in the arts To discover if this is really the case, I will rst examine barriers in other professions Anyone who is interested in pursuing a non-arts profession faces a number of barriers First, candidates pay the fees to their chosen institution of higher education This gives thee Then they have to pass cer-tain standard exams They are only allowed to practice their profession after they have received their certications or diplomas (In some profes-sions candidates are also required to pay fees to colleagues for the right to join an already established practice) Therefore, anyone who is unable or unwilling to pay or is unable to pass the examinations faces a de jure or de facto Berufsverbot: in practice he or she is not allowed to work in the profession

Professionals who have spent so their career face other barriers as well For instance, if they want to be successful at their chosen profession, they must seek admission to one or more select pro-fessional associations in one's eld or seek an extra qualication like a PhD These barriers are not situated at the front door of the profession; they ed inner sanctums If candidates want 'to move up' in their chosen professions, they must overcoh any of these barriers one needs a combination of monetary, cultural and social capital as well as some luck Authorities can li entrance fees or raising the qualications standards and so raise the a, there is a lih fees can be raised Modern democratic societies consider exorbitant entrance fees as unfair Requiring inordinate a that bears little relation to the demands of the profession is not unco the number of entrants into a particular profession and, as a result, the incoher than they would be without the barrier If the barrier is ed by members of the profession who prot from limited membershi+p, or if they can unduly inuence the authority chartered to handle the barrier, the profession is said to be more or less monopolized

Not all barriers lead to monopolization, however If producers who meet realistic requirements are allowed to pass and if there is no Berufsverbot, competition is not necessarily impaired Some barriers serve primarily as certicates and information outlets In this respect, it is useful to exanals that barriers enal to other producers who ally cross the barrier Secondly, they produce signals telling customers that the membershi+p has special qualications not available to those outside the profession Without signals it is often difcult for consumers to procure information on the quality the member produces Take, for instance, used car dealers It is difcult for consu sold are in satisfactory condition or not They have less information than the used car dealers themselves have and therefore a situation of asymmetric information exists To overcome this situation, certain used car dealers display certicates, indicating that they are rec-ognized by a certifying organization2 Signaling barriers can be found everywhere They exist in both monopolized and non-monopolized situations They can be related to products, like biological milk with a seal of approval or hotels rated by numbers of stars Or they are related to people, like scholars who have a PhD degree

I call the barriers in this section, formal barriers because their exis-tence depends on authorities who have the power to institute the barrier and regulate passage through it This authority is not anonymous; it is in the hands of known institutions or individuals The authority infor, lowering, or re a certain barrier, it often also controls ures Sometimes, and not too uncommonly in non-arts professions, formal barriers may, de jure or de facto, result in a formal control of member-shi+p

The Arts Resist a Fore supply of artworks and artists and their correspondingly low inco tendency in the arts to reduce membershi+p rolls via formal controls Or, if that's ianized attempts to certify artists and art products to better inform consumers This is, however, not the case The fornals, found in other professions, are either absent or rela-tively unimportant in the arts

Unlike in other professions in the arts, the separation between profes-sionals and a to do with forh , many don't have diplomas and, more importantly, they do not need a diploma to work as artists This implies that no formal barrier based on a diploma requirement characterizes the arts The entrance to the profes-sion is free Moreover art does not have shi+elded, certied bodies of knowledge3 In radu-ates have access to these certied bodies of knowledge In the arts, this body of knowledge, including knowledge of techniques, styles and his-tory, is de facto free; anybody can have access to it4 In general, artists encounter few for artist First, in overnrants and unemployment benets5 The sah certain modern artists associations represent formally closed inner circles, these circles have little impact and they are often counterproductive Success-ful artists, for the most part, do not take these associations seriously Artists associations are basically a thing of the past Third, although artists can get a ree or a PhD in some countries, they do not offer easier access to the art world6 They are basically irrelevant for the professional success of an artist Finally, on average artists with so or with assorted diplo in the arts than artists with no ofcial training7 The actual insignicance of professional education as a barrier is most evident in literature In other art foratory Nevertheless, although professionally educated artists seem to be no better off than artists with less education,And because there are so es Therefore it appears that academies have a numerus clauses and that the most important formal barrier in the arts is situated at the entrance to art schools

It is however questionable if a signicant formal barrier that keeps numbers of artists down really exists at the entrance to the schools It is true that candidates are selected Ofcially, admissions are based purely on talent (Other criteria remained taboo, as they would contradict arts autonomy) In practice however, the teachers' assessment of talent is nec-essarily relative and subjective Teachers have an interest in keeping enrollh Most art teachers are artists who earn little from their art and therefore, they cannot afford to lose an attractive teaching job (Moreover, they are usually eager to help artist friends get teaching jobs in their schools) As a result, admissions to particular schools tend to depend on the capacity of the schools rather than on the nu run, both teachers and arts ad enrollments and the nu number of art students Therefore what seeate of art colleges is primarily a normal price barrier

Where nue in other professions, not only infore potential students fro, also, especially at the technical and vocational training schools for those over 18-years old, a numerus clausus has been coe, the same applies to the us 8 After the Second World War in the arts however, art student enroll-ments only continued to rise Nevertheless, there was no pressure froovern art9 In most European countries, this situ-ation continues on into the present day For instance in Britain, where students currently pay a fee that largely covers costs, the enrollments in art departments continues to rise at least as fast as in other depart the 1981 elections, the socialists in France increased the subsidization of art education and ignited a spectacular rise in enroll-ments (In the year 2000 in the Netherlands, a new syste art schools was instituted to indirectly liures in the ne arts depart attitudes with respect to control or an inevitable correction of an earlier excessive growth rate, is at present difcult to tell There are signs how-ever, that current enrollone down in the Netherlands) So far, it is still basically true that barriers that lead to a formal control of numbers of artists are unaccept-able because creativity ulations

It is unthinkable that art 'intruders' could simply be scared off as is the case with other professions by telling them that, 'We will call the cops if you ever promote yourself as a tenor because you do not have the required qualications' Or enerally: 'We will call the cops if you atte coercion to prevent a col-league fro music would violate people's deepest belief with respect to art: that of the autonomy of the arts and artist The arts would lose its sacred status if the entrance to the arts was fore must remain as unrestricted as pos-sible The arts resist a formal control of numbers of artists Barriers that formally control numbersare taboo (thesis 100)

In the Past Numbers of Artists were Controlled Because formal barriers are not important in the arts, the arts appear to be relatively open The entrance fees are low and people with equal amounts of talent appear to have equal chances Thus far, the analysis conr back at the history of the arts, however, this conclusion could very well be preued that in the past, until the second half of the nineteenth century, a formal control of numbers or occupational control was common in the arts10 For instance, in France until the end of the seven-teenth century, painters' guilds regulated sales and the types of materials used, and they also issued licenses to individual painters Thereafter, the Academie Royale maintained a anization Moreover, it also dened the 'correct' style; this style was taught in school11 In the nineteenth century, the nu number of these newcomers were so-called boheeois mentality Their romantic alternative put autonomy and authenticity rst This idea countered the notions of control and regulation During the second half of the nineteenth century, a regulated supply came to an end under the pressures imposed by numerous newcomers, by the deviant mentality of these new bohemian artists as well as the success of new distribution channels The Acade with comparable institutions in other countries and in other art forulation of supply and the idea of enforcing a correct style are unthinkable because they are con-trary to the very essence of art13 It turns out that both the bohey of the autono numbers of artists forbid the formal control of nuulation would be futile If certain artists were excluded froinal' artists would continuously nd ways around ofcialdom and becoiven the eneral does not approve of a for-ulationsdiscovered) In this respect, the artist's status is aard themselves as professionals in a si professional history And as artists they have attained a high level of status On the other hand, the status of the arts as profession cannot compete with the status of comparable profes-sions14 It has experienced its ups and downs, but over the past one hun-dred years, art as a profession has never had roup one ultimately decreases the status of a profession In h level of profes-sional status, this kind of regulating is an important demonstration of the power of a particular profession It shoho is in charge and it keeps incoh

Granting Certicates to Coh the arts have changed and barriers that fornicant in the arts these days, this does not necessarily mean that barriers don't exist and that the arts are totally open On the contrary, the arts have many barriers, both formal and informal In order to explain how informal barriers work, it is useful to look at an exaalleries were expelled froraalleries was excluded froious commercial art fair in the Netherlands, the KunstRAI If this was a coincidence, it was an extraordinary coincidence If it wasn't, itAfter all, it was a public institution that issued the subsidies, while the fair was a private industry event It's difcult to see how the actions in these two sectors were attuned

Two formal barriers were involved in the expulsions Applicants had to meet certain objective criteria, but ultimately admission depended on the decisions of two selection committees16 Admission to both the sub-sidy plan and the trade fair were ies but eveneffect Participation in both subsidy plan and fair served as symbols of 'quality', which by association alleries Galleries without these two signs orse off

The signs were even nal quality If galleries had gotten together to create an institute to certify 'quality' galleries, it wouldn't have worked because it would run contrary to the liberal autonomous spirit in the arts The sa classications In this case, exist-ing signs serve as 'marks of quality by association', and thus serve as informal barriers

Both the subsidy plan and the fair had been under pressure to reduce the nualleries17 Therefore, the two parties had each created a coalleries Both coallery owners and independent experts There was no overlap between the two committees As noted, the fair was a private enterprise, while the subsidies were granted by the Dutch government Nevertheless, miraculously, the two coalleries to be included and excluded

Let's exaovern-h and the fair's directors illing to forsake soe that avant-garde art accorded Therefore, both committees invited inde-pendent experts as well as experts froarde galleries Although these experts all knew one another, they later denied that they had discussed a coalleries beforehand And this is probably true There was no need for a conspiracy because the committee-meuage In the discourse they used all the right words and 'correctly' applied their knowledge of representative galleries and artists to other galleries and artists Without any conspiratorial intent, they 'naturally' caalleries The atekeepers of the saalleries18 5 Characteristics of Informal Barriers In the exaood' and 'bad' galleries, and thus dened boundaries and barriers The 'good' gal-leries that are on the inside belong to a privileged circle; the 'bad' galleries remain on the outside In the saood' and 'bad' art or 'good' and 'bad' artists Below are soy offers an extensive literature on related subjects like gatekeepers, classications, reputa-tions, networks, and the transfer of capital19 It's not s I pris to explain informal barriers and monopolization in the arts from an eco-nomic point of view) a The control of an informal barrier does not rest with appointees or any ofcial institution Instead, the authority is an anonyatekeepers who nition, they produce an informal barrier b Anybody who takes part in the discourse on the recognition of art and artists and who is able to inuence the discourse is a gatekeeper

Artists and other experts like critics, gallery owners, dealers, iatekeepers c Inarticulate tere rapidly20 Gatekeepers know the ins and outs of these shi+fting terood' and 'bad' artistic styles, trends, attitudes, etc21 d As styles becoly difcult to describe, the names of a few key artists rather than of styles are used to denote a circle of recogni-tion22 On the basis of these na to a certain circle

eThe dened selections and circles of recognition are versatile They change as the process of dening the barrier changes directions This kind of versatility is possible through the use of container words, such as quality, original, authentic, cutting edge, or innovative, and of names of key artists who represent other related artists as well

fGatekeepers have an infore that allows them to monopolize the discourse, which in turn enables them to easily exclude both artists and experts who do not understand the discourse well enough

g For producers and consunal that artists inside the circle have qualities that artists outside the circle do not have

h In practice there are, within any art fornition that effectively signal quality

iA formal barrier often becomes temporarily attached to an informal barrier Its mark stands for the informal barrier It is a mark of quality by association

jCertain formal barriers are interconnected because they stand for the saoverniate-keepers take care of the government's interests

lInforh a particular barrier after fullling its requireed circle

m Informal barriers hinder competition Membershi+ps within a circle are limited, which means more monetary and non-monetary income for insiders and less for outsiders

The existence of informal barriers in the arts can usually only be ation of infornition can often be found in foret temporarily attached to infore and a clearly visible sign of quality as well as an organizational structure for gatekeepers Formal barriers in the arts are easily discerned Ad, diplomas, subsidies, prizes and awards, admission to an artist association,one's work perforious teaching job are all obvious signs of formal barriers Many of these barriers employ ballots or forms of cooptation They are effective however, because they rest on underlying The link is temporary, however, because fornals of quality in the arts in an ofcial and perma-nent manner This would be contrary to the autonomy of art and artists

An exae was presented in the rst illustra-tion The type of subsidy Alex received (a 'werkbeurs'), was extremely important because in the Netherlands it was very visible and functioned as a sign of passage into an in, it was conspicuous (It is currently less inal) In the arts these 'ned to certify artists, are less objectionable than perned to certify artists Therefore, when forin to limit artistic free-dom, the informal barrier becoovernanize, for instance, a music concourse or an art fair, they create fore to take place with one or more informal barriers Without their intervention, the inforovernanize a ood art' versus 'bad art' dichotomy produced by the informal barrier Never-theless, because an informal barrier connects different forure out exactly who is overnment subsidies was stressed At the same time however, the aforementioned fair could have been decisive (Alex's work had been exhibited at the fair and the government commit-tee members could have seen his work there The phenonition' will often rant subsidies to artists whose work they have already seen than to artists whose work they've never seen before) Therefore, government barriers in part depend on market barriers and vice versa Nevertheless, one type of barrier often doovernment barrier is usually the more important barrier, asin the rst illustration

Inforree to which a circle of recognition is atekeepers is in li income In this respect, it does not matter whether or not the atekeepers are coordinated

Informal barriers as opposed to formal controls of numbers exist in the arts They linition and raise theirartists, sharing a specic discourse function as gatekeepers (thesis 102)