On Pricing in the Art Market and the Hierarchy of Materials

A student essay for the Special Student Issue of the Journal of Extreme Anthropology accompanying the art exhibition 'Artist's Waste, Wasted Artists', which opened in Vienna on the 19th of September 2017 and was curated by the students of social anthropology at the University of Vienna. This essay discusses the multiple influences on the formation of price in the art market, while focusing in particular on the role of material used in the artwork when determing its price. This essay is inspired by discussions with the Viennese artist Anna Stangl