Perspectives of art buyers on art evaluation: The case of Turkey

In the contemporary arts practice, there are vital institutions serving the production, distrubution and consumption of the artefacts which directly affects the value of art. This study is structured on investigating art collectors' positions and perspectives in the Artworld, their process of decision-making and following theoretical work, the example of Turkish contemporary art market. Placing the collectors at the center of the Artworld, the process of creating a compromised value of art is questioned by examining the structure and layers of the complex, personal and political relations surrounding them. The purpose of the study is to understand the stance and power of the collectors in the art market and to reveal the role of the art institutions by analyzing the rational and irrational causes and processes behind the decisions of the Turkish art collectors to buy contemporary art. In this frame, Turkish collectors' attitudes and perspectives in the Artworld are taken and the details about the mechanism of the contemporary art market in Turkey are obtained. The study is a qualitative research in which the findings of the in-depth interviews with collectors, artists and art professionals are compiled and analyzed. As a result, the functioning of the Turkish art scene is determined, problems related to the duties and responsibilities of the art institutions are emerged. As the intellectual capital, information and trust are prerequisites for a sound relationship network, this research challenged their existence in Turkish Artworld. Solutions, priorities and preferences are discussed how to establish a sound art practice.