Cultural Mediators in the Communicative Space of the Art-market

The social phenomenon investigated in this study is mediating production and consumption. This study outlines the role of what Bourdieu termed ‘cultural intermediaries’ and described as a ‘knowledge class’ involved with ‘presentation and representation providing symbolic goods and services’. The art market is a complex mechanism to study, however after a long period of relative exclusion from serious consideration by social sciences, the study of the arts and art market has become a lively sociological arena. It should be admitted that the main difficulty of the study of the modern art market is almost insurmountable confusion of meanings. Cultural and social codes and symbols play a huge role in the art market, so they should be available to the consumer. So cultural workers, so-called ‘gatekeepers’ or ‘support workers’, play a huge role in art reproduction, they 'make meanings'. This study focuses on two distinct issues: the first one is the role of cultural mediators within process of cultural production; the second is specific strategies that they use to interest society. I hope that this study will provide some clarification, critique and suggestions that will assist in the elaboration of this idea and offer possible lines of enquiry for further research.