Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted Access (SIA Only)

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Brendan Burns

Second Advisor

Lawrence Motz

Abstract

This thesis examines the increasing financialization of the art market and the structural conflicts that result from treating artworks as financial assets. Art's value is still largely determined by institutional, cultural, and symbolic dimensions rather than only financial ones, even though it is increasingly included in alternative investment frameworks and portfolio diversification methods. The research focuses on sociological and financial theory to illustrate a fundamental paradox: financial value in the art market arises from cultural recognition rather than emerging from it. Symbolic capital, curatorial discourse, and institutional validation are not outside variables that affect price; rather, they are the circumstances that create market value. The Art Impact Fund for Cultural Sustainability (AIFCS), a conceptual investment model intended to match financial returns with the processes that produce cultural value, is proposed in the thesis. The approach integrates methods to encourage institutional visibility and long-term artistic development with a dual portfolio structure that strikes a balance between blue-chip stability and developing cultural promise. However, the study also points out important drawbacks, such as the restricted scalability of art investment funds, ongoing information asymmetries, operating expenses, and the unpredictability of artistic paths. These limitations imply that the intricacy of the art market cannot be adequately captured by simply financial methods. In the end, this thesis believes that the development of hybrid frameworks that combine financial discipline with the cultural and symbolic processes that underlie value creation is more important for the future of art investment than deeper financialization.

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