Priceless calculations: reappraising the sociotechnical appendages of art

In this article, I forward an analysis of the art market that seeks to emphasize the oftenunexamined yet central economizing practices that fuel the circulation of objects andthus contribute to the distinct patterns of consumption, ownership and mobilization of the art world. in stressing these economizing practices, I attempt to maintain visiblethe underlying sociality and symbolic practices that provide aesthetic and culturalmeaning to artistic objects and institutions. The analysis presented here derives fromthe so-called performativity program and that has been extended in recent yearsthroughout economic sociology. Specifically, this article draws on the performativityprogram to highlight the mechanisms through which artistic objects are taken-into-account prior to their circulation in the market. As is argued below, such forms of accountancy are not restricted to orienting action within networks of marketexchange; rather, they are partly constitutive of aesthetic and cultural values attachedto art in the contemporary capitalism.