The emergence of the Romanian art market - An exploratory study

Over the past decade Romania has been characterized by the emergence of institutions aimed at the consecration and commercialization of contemporary art such as galleries, art fairs, biennales, contemporary art museums and auction houses which publish yearly reports on the development of the Romanian art market. All these developments are indicators of an increasing professionalization of the Romanian art market as well as indicators of the current globalization of the art market which has been interesting regions all over the world since the 1980s. As research on emerging art markets within the globalization framework underlines how the development of new markets occurs as a combination of adoption and adaptation of the Western art market model, this thesis aims to explore how is the Romanian context influencing the current development of the contemporary art market. The research draws on 12 in-depth semi structured interviews with relevant actors in the current Romanian art market and participant observation in important artistic events. Lastly, as most research on emerging art markets has focused on the BRICS countries, this thesis contributes to the literature on emerging art markets by offering insights on the current developments in a smaller country as Romania.