Intersections We Have Played With: From Chris Burden to Street Takeovers

This thesis starts from a concrete scene: an ordinary junction that, for a few minutes, is reorganised by noise, smoke, bodies and cars into a circular event commonly known as a street takeover. The project does not seek to classify these events as art, nor to redeem them aesthetically. Instead, it asks a more precise question: what happens when a phenomenon like the street takeover is read with tools developed by performance to think about body, risk and presence? Methodologically, the thesis combines phenomenological description, formal analysis of the scene and a set of concepts drawn from performance studies and mobility studies. It revisits the genealogy of risk in performance from the 1960s and 1970s, with particular attention to Chris Burden’s actions, and places this alongside accounts of car culture, infrastructure and urban inequality in the United States. The sources include art-historical and theoretical texts, scholarship on automobility and the city, and audiovisual and journalistic material on street takeovers. The analysis proceeds in three movements. First, it reconstructs how performance turned risk, co-presence and disappearance into central materials, and how Burden’s work condenses these concerns in extreme form. Second, it situates the car as an everyday body–machine assemblage within a city shaped by speed, control and uneven exposure to the state. Third, it describes the street takeover in detail and reads its architecture; centre and edge, shared risk, crowd as operative element, circular time, double life as event and video, through the lens of performance. The thesis argues that this lens does not explain why takeovers occur, but makes them legible as a contemporary form of organising space, danger and attention. In doing so, it suggests that street takeovers crystallise a mode of presence characteristic of the present: brief, hybrid and tense, where intensity overrides narrative and the city can be rewritten, for a moment, around a circle of metal, bodies and risk

From Visibility to Value: How Can Digital Art Achieve Long-Term Legitimacy in the Contemporary Artworld?

This dissertation explores the evolving legitimacy of digital art within the contemporary artworld, addressing the central question: How can digital art achieve long-term legitimacy in a cultural landscape increasingly shaped by decentralised networks and technological innovation? Through a qualitative methodology involving interviews with digital artist, curator, collectors, and platform leader, this study aims to discover how value, legitimacy, and aesthetic quality are constructed in digital art markets. Within the art ecosystem, digital art often emerges from community based, peer-to-peer validation, which generates visibility and drives market activity such as high-profile sales. Yet, participants continue to place value on institutional endorsement from museums, galleries, and auction houses, as these institutions confer symbolic capital and provide career sustainability. While digital communities are powerful in expanding reach and credibility through social media and online engagement, visibility alone does not secure long-term legitimacy. For this reason, a hybrid model where institutional frameworks and decentralised networks operate in parallel, offers the most viable strategy for sustaining digital art’s longevity. Three major transformations are central to digital art’s long-term legitimacy: scarcity, visibility, and multiplicity. First, digital scarcity enabled by blockchain technologies, has created new forms of ownership and financial value. While this mechanism reinforces digital art’s market growth, it is also closely tied to cultural hype and technological innovation, fuelling volatility and speculative behaviour. To diminish risks, rational curatorial and critical standards are needed through the authority of artworld institutions. Second, visibility has been transformed by digital communities and social media platforms, which allow artists to flourish without institutional gatekeeping. While these platforms democratise access to art and value creation, they also tend to privilege trend-driven aesthetics over conceptual or critical depth. For this reason, collectors and consumers engaging online should consider artistic richness alongside investment potential. Their choices hold significant symbolic power in determining what is remembered as culturally valuable, beyond mere technological novelty. Finally, multiplicity defines digital art practices. By embracing diverse intents, tools, and forms of expression, digital art resists reductive definitions. This calls for curatorial frameworks that recognise its variety and secure its place within the broader contemporary art ecosystem, where it should be studied, exhibited, and preserved without marginalisation. The study concludes that digital legitimacy is not fixed but fluid, shaped by the proportional influence of technological innovation, community validation, and institutional support. For digital art to achieve long-term cultural value, it must move beyond speculative hype and be critically situated within broader artistic discourses. This requires a redefinition of stakeholder roles within the art ecosystem. Institutions should not act as gatekeepers, but as enablers of preservation, reflection, and cultural longevity. Collectors, likewise, must engage more consciously, supporting artistic and cultural value rather than pursuing short-term speculation. To sustain broader markets and communities, combination between physical and digital domains is also essential, enabling hybrid ecosystems that combine immediacy with durability. Ultimately, this research contributes to debates on artworld transformation by proposing a sustainable and inclusive framework through which digital art can secure legitimacy and claim its place in cultural history

The Marketability of the Muse: Understanding the Valuation of Muse-Artists on the Contemporary Market

The label ‘muse,’ and the attention that comes with it, has kept female artists\u27 names in the minds and institutions of the art world for the past 25 years. The word itself carries enough intrigue to make the women behind great male artists’s works interesting. However, in the past five or ten years, while other, formerly invisible, female artists have received a massive reevaluation in the market, and collectors have trended towards adding women to their collections, the art of female muses still trails that of their male counterparts by a large margin. The gendered value gap is not just about individual works, but market structure. Across three case studies, each featuring a different muse-artist, this dissertation will demonstrate how today’s art market still values its female artists through their personal histories, as well as the extent to which being attached to a male artist raises their position on the art market. The figures examined highlight how biography continues to shape the market trajectories of women artists, with public exposure—through media, biographies, or exhibitions—often translating into higher auction valuations

Gillian: All About Art

The contemporary art realm is experiencing considerable change. As globalization, digitalization, and evolving cultural expectations swiftly impact the scene, art galleries are progressively transforming from fixed display venues into vibrant cultural centers. Gillian. All About Art aims to adapt to this change by blending the traditional roles of a commercial gallery with the open, engaging, and educational atmosphere of a cultural organization. As proposed, the gallery seeks to go beyond the usual limits of art consumption, serving as a space where art is both experienced and learned — a space where visual, literary, musical, and intellectual expressions of art unite. This business model does not merely aim to display and sell art, but endeavors to foster a community where mentoring, education, and creative development flourish. The suggestion to integrate mentorship initiatives, thematic gallery exhibits, and practical art education intends to address a noticeable deficiency in how emerging artists receive support and how audiences interact with art.  Located in Manhattan,  GAAA strategically positions itself within a rapidly evolving landscape. The New York art market, representing nearly half of U.S. art sales, continues to demonstrate strong demand for hybridized cultural spaces that merge commercial, educational, and experiential functions. While traditional galleries remain tethered to commission-based revenue models, and nonprofit spaces often lack financial sustainability, GAAA bridges this divide through a diversified model that integrates art sales, educational programming, café operations, curated collection sales, and cultural events. This hybrid approach ensures both cultural relevance and economic resilience. The gallery’s concept is reinforced by a comprehensive and carefully structured financial model that demonstrates both stability and long-term growth potential. Projections show total revenues of approximately $1.2 million in Year 1, increasing to$1.57 million in Year 2, $2.04 million in Year 3,$2.65 million in Year 4, and $3.44 million in Year 5. On this basis, projected EBITDA is$186,000 in Year 1, $322,113 in Year 2,$533,409 in Year 3, $859,227 in Year 4, and$1,359,517 in Year 5, with EBITDA margins strengthening from roughly 15% in the first year to nearly 40% by the end of the fifth year. This trajectory reflects the scaling of core revenue streams — exhibition art sales, educational and creative learning programs, and café operations — as well as growing brand recognition and operational efficiencies within the hybrid model. To launch the space, a total investment of $866,000 is required. These funds will support the build-out of the gallery’s multi-level facility, including its exhibition halls, performance and workshop rooms, café, administrative offices, and storage areas. They will also cover essential startup costs such as equipment, staffing, marketing, and a six-month operating reserve to ensure stability during the gallery’s early growth phase. The financial model demonstrates responsible planning, with a clear pathway to break-even and long-term profitability driven by diversified revenue and strong operational efficiencies. Beyond financial viability, GAAA’s strategic importance lies in its commitment to redefining how art institutions serve artists and the public. The gallery provides emerging artists with structured mentorship — an increasingly rare resource in commercial art settings — offering practical guidance on portfolio development, professional positioning, market navigation, and exhibition opportunities. The integration of educational workshops, lectures, masterclasses, and community-based programs further strengthens the gallery’s mission of expanding access to art knowledge and fostering deeper audience engagement. Complemented by a thoughtfully designed café functioning as a social and creative gathering point, the gallery cultivates a dynamic environment that encourages conversation, experimentation, and collaboration among artists, students, collectors, and cultural enthusiasts. As a long-term vision, GAAA aspires to become a recognizable cultural landmark within New York’s art ecosystem, known for its interdisciplinary programming, its commitment to emerging talent, and its innovative approach to exhibition-making and collection-building. Through strong partnerships with educational institutions, cultural organizations, and communications agencies, the gallery intends to expand its audience reach while maintaining a distinctive identity rooted in creativity, community, and contemporary relevance. Ultimately, Gillian. All About Art offers a compelling and sustainable model for the future of gallery entrepreneurship — one that balances artistic excellence with financial strategy, and cultural purpose with operational rigor. By uniting exhibition, education, mentorship, and community engagement under one roof, the gallery positions itself as both a transformative cultural institution and a viable, growth-oriented business poised to thrive within the dynamic New York art market

AI Art Valuation Company: ArtMetric

ArtMetric is a technology company dedicated to revolutionizing the art market. We have developed an AI-driven valuation platform designed to address the inefficiencies, high costs, and subjectivity inherent in traditional art appraisal. Users upload images of artworks through our platform to quickly receive a data-driven, and affordable valuation report. This report integrates AI visual analysis, real-time market data comparison, and optional expert verification, ensuring both speed and accuracy in valuation. Our target clients include collectors, artists, galleries, and insurance companies. We monetize through subscription services, one-time appraisals, and premium B2B solutions. As the art market accelerates its digital transformation, ArtMetric is poised to become the new infrastructure of the sector, driving the market toward greater transparency and efficiency

Artstake: A new paradigm for mid-market auction success

This thesis explores the expanding role of third-party guarantees in the contemporary auction market and the uneven conditions under which they operate.  Over the past decade, guarantees have become central to how major sales are secured and priced, yet the system surrounding them remains highly selective and difficult to access. Mid-tier auction houses, in particular, face structural disadvantages, as guarantees are typically offered only to a narrow circle of wealthy collectors and long-established dealers. To understand these dynamics, the study draws on market data, case analyses, and relevant regulatory frameworks, highlighting the frictions that prevent guarantees from functioning as transparent or widely investable instruments.  In response to these limitations, the thesis proposes Artstake, a fractional model designed to broaden participation and distribute risk more evenly. By treating guarantees as financial products rather than privileges tied to personal networks, Artstake offers a potential path toward greater liquidity, competition, and institutional resilience within the mid-market segment

RM Sotheby’s Construction of Value in the High-end Car Market

The purpose of my thesis is to tell and enlighten any readers how the most prestigious and iconic auction house in the world, RM Sotheby’s sells more than just cars from the high-end car market and how the auction house adds value to through storytelling and provenance from each vehicle.  In today’s luxury market economics, we see somewhat of a radical shift. The high-end car market has moved into a very refined area where these beautiful machines are no longer seen and appraised just for their aesthetic design and mechanical engineering, now we see new value drivers for these works of art, such as their narrative, symbolic and emotional dimensions, I always tell people, cars are much more than just transport. These cars that at first were only utilitarian have been moving to a position where they are now seen as cultural artifacts that needless to say, sometimes are auctioned at prices that rival the blue-chip works of art, like old master’s paintings. We have seen this evolution at the highest level of auction houses like RM Sotheby’s where the cars are not only presented and curated as objects of desire but they are well taken care of and sometimes even restored. I maintain that these cars are not only auctioned or sold, they are celebrated, historied and put into context through unique narratives and stories that combine social prestige, unique design history, identity and of course heritage. The objective of my thesis is to investigate how the most famous auction house RM Sotheby´s develops and increases value not only by the car’s aesthetics and other attributes like the condition or the rarity or 0-60 times, but through a very planned deployment of storytelling, from a more sentimental value stance. These stories go deep in rich provenance, cultural association and historical relevance, each car consigned with RM Sotheby’s, tells a unique story, all this plays a fundamental role in building buyer awareness and that is how the prices surge. Every component in the puzzle becomes a narrative of symbolic meaning. Once the buyer acquires the car, the first thing that they tell with great enthusiasm and pride, is the story behind that car, just like in fine art, needless to say, it probably took them years to track down. Each car consigned with RM Sotheby’s is already a story of great depth and significance

Evolving Motives: How Art Collecting Has Changed Across Generations

This thesis elucidates the changing reasons for collection in recent years and focuses on three generations of collectors: those born before 1950; those born between 1951-1980; and those born after 1981. It commences with a literature review of the initial collecting motivations and challenges, motives based on socio-cultural, economic and technological advancements which foster the importance and reasons for collections. To make this investigation tangible, a quantitative survey was adopted. Forty-five participants, each ranking their levels of agreement from one to five based on an assessment of eight statements based on five motives: economic, normative, uniqueness, hedonic and intellectual. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA tests were used to assess responses and determine how reasons change from generation to generation. Results conclude that there is a substantial difference to how people perceive collection. The most generationally disparate results received the highest and lowest response ratings were for economic, normative and unique drives. Younger collectors seem to prioritise financial economic incentive, seek non-collectors\u27 socio recognition instead of social boasting for money purposes. Yet hedonic and intellectual drives remain high across the three generations of collectors meaning that the collector, regardless of age, must still be interested and enjoy the process and the object. Ultimately these findings support that collection, for the time being, is no longer for cultural stewardship or expertise as it\u27s expanded to an enjoyably broader practice that uses effective motives for self-discovery and exhibition value. This research supplements current understanding of how nuances of collections transcend figurative arts and mirror socio-cultural developments, economic standings and identity factors, especially in terms of generational differences and opens the avenue for subsequent studies in 21st century collections in modern art

Towards a Sustainable Art World: The Essential Role of Sustainability Leads in the Arts and Cultural Sector

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the role of sustainability leads within art institutions and how their implementation benefits a company’s development towards being a sustainable business. Due to the increasing pressure that the art world faces considering the environmental crisis which we are experiencing in the 21st century, it is integral to understand what is being done and what can be further instigated to create a sustainable future of the art world. Although this study uses research that already exists within the discourse of environmental sustainability and the cultural sector, the main sources used to come to a conclusion and defend my argument are the interviews that I conducted. These interviews provided invaluable insights into the perspectives held by those working in the field and allowed for a perspective that expressed the importance of sustainable leadership within both private galleries and public art institutions

The Cultural Adaptation of Abstract Expressionism in the Middle East

Abstract Expressionism emerged in post-WWII New York as both an artistic revolution and a tool of cultural diplomacy. This thesis examines how that ostensibly “American” art movement was adapted and transformed in the Middle East from the 1950s through the  1980s. Chapter 1 outlines the rise of Abstract Expressionism amid Cold War politics, highlighting how the style was promoted globally as a symbol of freedom. It discusses the role of U.S. institutions in exporting avant-garde art – famously described by Eva Cockcroft as a “weapon of the Cold War” – through touring exhibitions and covert sponsorship. Chapter 2 then traces the reception of abstraction in Middle Eastern art circles, showing how local artists reframed modernism in light of their own heritage and decolonization. Far from mere imitators, painters and sculptors in Beirut, Baghdad, Khartoum, and Tehran forged discrepant abstractions that blended Islamic aesthetics, calligraphy, and political consciousness . Chapter 3 presents case studies of four influential artists – Etel Adnan, Dia al-Azzawi, Saloua Raouda Choucair, and Parviz Tanavoli – each of whom “translated” Abstract Expressionist idioms into a distinct visual language grounded in their cultural context. Finally, Chapter 4 proposes a business plan for “Third Space Gallery,” a hypothetical gallery in the Middle East dedicated to abstract art. This plan outlines a curatorial vision that bridges Eastern and Western art discourses, a market strategy targeting regional collectors, and spatial considerations for exhibiting large-scale abstraction. Through historical analysis and practical proposal, the thesis argues that abstraction in the Middle East became a dynamic third space – a hybrid realm of creativity where modernism was indigenized rather than imposed. In doing so, it reaffirms that the global story of Abstract Expressionism is not one of one-way influence, but of continual adaptation and dialogue across cultures