Why do artists not get compensated for images that train artificial intelligence (AI) programmes, such
as DALL-E, Dream Studio and Lensa? Are eco-activists’ smear campaigns of famous art works such
as Monet’s Haystacks or Van Gogh’s The Sower effective forms of political protest, or pseudo-
provocative PR stunts in an attention-grabbing economy instead? What does Christie’s and
Highsnobiety’s cancelled apparel line Art Handler say about the value of work in the contemporary
art industries?

In this course, we will explore art work(s), technological innovation and political protest from the
vantage points of their creative, cultural and socio-economic production. Not only artists themselves,
but other actors, such as audiences, curators, art entrepreneurs and critics are involved in these
processes of value creation. Diving into real world examples of creative practice, we will explore
organisational and relational power dynamics through which aesthetic taste is set, changed and sold.
We will also engage with larger societal trends and transformations, and speculate on the
implications of such developments for the future of the creative professions.
By the end of the course, we will have a clearer understanding of the relationship between the arts
and the economy, relevant actors and institutions and the processes through which an art work is
turned into an economic product. We will have engaged with contemporary political debates and the
role of the art worlds in provoking and facilitating them. Last, we will have arrived at alternative
understandings of what an art work may mean beyond its creative intention, within the contexts of
society, cultures and economic markets. 

The course will be taught in English, offering English language reading materials, course exercises
and assignments.

Students are expected to actively engage with all materials in English.
Course materials are subject to change and are communicated at least one week in advance via the
course Moodle and e-mail.