Three Modes of Valuation Practices in Art Games

Abstract

Several suggestions on distinguishing between “modes” of valuation practices are found in the literature. In this contribution, valuation practices are moves in a kind of social play that generates its own kind of value. Valuation in the Arts is chosen as an empirical example. Following the model, the Arts are interpreted as a set of games with the same kind of value code, in which artists and producers create performances for engaged and curious spectators. The four kinds of players engage in valuations of objects and other players in their respective games. The broad range of observations in art games demonstrates that valuation is practiced in three modes: attribution, assessment and payment. While practices of attribution and assessment generate and stabilize art-specific value accumulation, paying practices link the attributed and assessed values to the monetary valuation in games of commercial play. The distinctions of valuation practices employed by three recent authors are set into relation to the suggested modes.

Cultural entrepreneurship in times of change and crisis

“…Our findings provide important insights into the importance of a wider understanding of value regimes relative to artistic work (Boltanski and Thevenot 2006;Heinich 2021;Hutter 2021). They do so by clearly exemplifying how the dichotomy between commerce and art can ultimately lead to a situation where the monetary valuation of artistic practices is lacking, despite general praise of the importance of creative practices in a time of crisis.…”

“…The attribution of value also happened on a national scale, with the arts praised for bringing joy and consolation during the lockdowns. However, despite receiving valuation through the modes of attribution and assessment (Hutter 2021), many of our participants did not feel that the efforts of the creative sector were valued properly by the government because valuation through payment was still insufficient. One of our younger participants, Linde, is an example of this.…”

“…It has further given rise to more specific analyses of the cultural and creative industries (Heinich 2021). For example, the economist and sociologist of art Michael Hutter (2021) suggests that the art world should be seen as a game with players and spectators. In these games, valuations are practised in three modes: attribution, assessment and payment -that is, when ascribing value to objects and performances and communicating that value to others, when condensing judgments and thus stabilising aesthetic worth and when translating this into monetary value.…”

Valuating Words: Semantic Practices in Web Search Advertising

“…Building on approaches from several disciplines, including economic sociology, STS, and history, valuation studies are “concerned with how value is produced, diffused, assessed, and institutionalized across a range of settings” (Lamont, 2012, p. 203). Within valuation studies, there exist different—and sometimes competing—definitions of evaluation and valuation (see Hutter, 2021). For my analysis, I follow the sociologist Lamont, who suggests distinguishing between evaluation as the assessment of value on the one hand, valuation as the ascription of worth or value on the other, and the umbrella term (e)valuation for cases where they are indiscernible (Lamont, 2012, p. 205).…”