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Arts & Communication Contemporary Portuguese art market tools

contexts of economic challenges, social inequalities, and the dynamics within the art market and how actors can
low incomes. Like other regions, Portugal may be perceived stimulate activation to evaluate art market pertinence
to have similarities with regions traditionally categorized and impact. Using a theoretical framework grounded in
as part of the Global South. More than a metaphor, this two key ideas, the first step was to map the structures of
concept seems useful when one seeks to examine certain acquisition, art galleries, and art fairs that boost the primary
contexts in detail, particularly when examining indicators art market. The second step was to map structures of
such as global power dynamics, art market size, institutional legitimation, museums, and collectors who help publicize
support, and the role of private initiatives. artists and boost recognition. These two key ideas were
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Furthermore, as a robust field of research, the Global borrowed from French sociologist Raymonde Moulin, a
South serves as an intersection between local and global pioneer in the study of European art markets, and partly
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perspectives, with the capacity to refresh art market analysis. developed in a previous study. Moulin specifically
It can also serve as a framework for critical thinking within advocates articulation between contemporary art trade
art markets as well as a tool for investigating their unique and the cultural promotion of museums and institutions,
characteristics and heterogeneity. underlining the need for an international network among
galleries and cultural institutions.
In this article, we frame the concept of the Global South
as applied to research in art markets. We emphasize the Using a methodology rooted in the social sciences,
sources and methods used to analyze a semi-peripheral particularly in terms of combining archival and documental
contemporary art market – the Portuguese art ecosystem research from the art history and museology disciplines
with tools from sociology (e.g., questionnaires, field
in Southwest Europe. Using relevant literature, reports, research, and informal conversations), we systematized
field research, and interviews, we systematize the the data used to study the Portuguese contemporary art
Portuguese art market. We observe the mechanism that market. The literature review, scientific articles, press
activates the primary market, the launch of art fairs (e.g., articles, catalogs, and academic publications provide
the ARCOlisboa international contemporary art fair), the theoretical insights into the topic. In addition, primary
emergence of contemporary art galleries, and the discourse sources from galleries and private collectors’ archives,
regarding the recognition of actors from semi-peripheral which have already been investigated as part of the
regions.
Women Art Dealers project and the Bloomsbury Art
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2. Tools for analyzing the Portuguese art Market Dictionary, were constructive in contextualizing
market information about the achievements of Portuguese art
galleries and collectors’ strategies.
Portugal is located at the westernmost point of Europe, Pordata, a database of statistics about contemporary
on the Iberian Peninsula, surrounded by a long Atlantic Portugal, has proven to provide information about
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coastline. A small country with a rich cultural heritage, the growing number of exhibitions at art galleries,
Portugal’s cities have retained their historical character, museums, and art centers; the number of active artists;
enriched by influences from Africa (Angola and and visitor statistics in recent decades. These data were
Mozambique), South America (Brazil), and Asia (Macau compared with those of the first anonymous survey for
and Timor) due to trading relationships and the country’s the sector we initiated in 2021 and 2022 through Google
colonial past. Given its history as a leader in cultural Forms. The survey was sent out through email to 74
trade yet its currently limited status in terms of market commercial art galleries . The sample brought together
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infrastructure, Portugal is usually seen as performing at data from the Exhibitio association of art galleries the
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a semi-peripheral level or – by more critical voices – as Luso association of art galleries (established in 2019),
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essentially absent from the art market sector, especially the and the former Portuguese association of art galleries
primary sector.
(Associação Portuguesa de Galerias de Arte). These data
Thus, it is worth questioning the extent to which a semi- were supplemented by a map of contemporary art in
peripheral art market can contribute to the transformation Lisbon, namely the Mapa das Artes, created by Isto não
of such markets globally. A combination of methods is
employed to investigate this research question. Using the 1 As the intention was to compare the primary and secondary
Global South concept as a tool to investigate the unique markets, the survey was also sent to 31 antiquarians from
characteristics and heterogeneity of markets outside of the Portuguese Antiquarian Association (Associação
the main axis, the study aims to identify the emergence Portuguesa de Antiquários). For the purposes of this
of infrastructure in Portugal’s contemporary art market, study, however, only data from the primary art market are
thereby providing a comprehensive understanding of considered.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 3 doi: 10.36922/ac.3317