Research
My research asks how artistic value is produced, and who gets to produce it, when the infrastructures of art change. I pursue this through two strands. The first is capital: the consolidation of fairs, auction houses and institutions under private ownership, and what it does to judgement, access and the canon. The second is computation: how digital art has been valued, collected and historicised since the 1960s, particularly the work of women and gender-marginalised artists. Both build on my doctorate at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, a training in philosophy at Cambridge, and eight years leading editorial at Art Basel, including the Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report.
Current projects
Value and Evaluation, revisited. A book developing my doctoral thesis, with new chapters on fairification and private capital, and on computation, from NFTs to AI. In preparation.
The Kunstkompass and the price of fame. A journal article on the Kunstkompass artist ranking and the changing relationship between reputation and price, drawing on original data from my doctoral research. In preparation.
Correcting the Code: Women, Gender, Technology and the Transformation of Digital Art. Researcher and moderator of the 2026-27 programme by HEK Basel and IfCAR, Zurich University of the Arts, supported by Pro Helvetia.
Rebecca Allen. A biography of the pioneering digital artist. In progress.
Conference papers
“Symbolic Capital and the Art Market: Supervenience in the Mechanisms of Valuation in Contemporary Art.” 7th Annual Conference of The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA), University of Melbourne, 11 July 2024. Working paper, revised 2026. Read on Academia.edu
Theses
Value and Evaluation in Contemporary Art: From Criticism to the Art Market. PhD thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2016 (magna cum laude). Read on Academia.edu
Is Art Criticism in a Crisis? MA thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2011.
Catalogue essays and other publications
“Simultaneous Spaces.” In Michelle Jezierski: Simultaneous Spaces, edited by Kimberly Bradley. Berlin: DCV, 2022.
“Recuperation of Art and Activism: An E-mail Correspondence,” with Alistair Hudson, Paul Stewart and Sam Thorne. OnCurating 31, 2016.
“Landscape as Performance: Stefano Cagol’s Activist Aesthetics.” In Stefano Cagol: Works 1995|2015. Rovereto: Mart, 2016.
“Please Stop, You’re Boring Me to Death: Art and Commentary.” In Christian Jankowski: Heavy Weight History. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2014.
Teaching
University of Zurich, Executive Master in Art Market Studies, and Zurich University of the Arts, BA Fine Arts. Subjects include the art market, corporate collecting, critical writing and the art field.
Memberships and profiles
Member of the Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI) and The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA).