The speculative social role of art and finance

With a notable shift in the nature of contemporary finance, art and finance are increasingly characterized by their semi-autonomous and abstracted natures. By demonstrating how speculation can intersect with the notion of belief and extending Maurizio Lazzarato’s work on the conditions necessary for belief, the article argues that art and finance’s properties of semi-autonomy and abstraction make them ideal sites for speculation. Drawing from work in economics, critical finance studies and art theory, it is argued that people speculate for reasons that go beyond rational capital accumulation, and the article concludes with the suggestion that the non-monetary benefits of speculation, in particular, are causing art and finance to increasingly become substitute and competing platforms.

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