Sarah Thornton & Seven Days in the Art World

Is this the most important book on art of our time?

R.J. Preece (ADP)
artdesigncafé | Creative Business & Entrepreneurship | Published 15 June 2009

Now and again, there are writings about the art world that shake things up a bit. Seven days in the art world (2008) by Sarah Thornton may be that kind of book. Former Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry says, "[This book] is a great page-turner… I worry that the book demystifies things so much that the next generation of artists will be over-informed." I fully agree with the cross-dressing artist who definitely knows a thing or two about appearance versus reality.

Seven days in the art world is divided into seven chapters showing seven kinds of sub-cultures in today’s art world: at a New York auction; in a marathon crit at CalArts led by Michael Asher, at the Basel Art Fair, around Britain’s Turner Prize, on Artforum, describing a visit to the operations of Takashi Murakami, and observing the Venice Biennial.

Drawn from over 250 interviews over five years, reading the book at times is eye-popping. It’s certainly an interesting take mapping out the complex dynamics, power structures, squabbles and struggles in the power-end of the art world.

Using what she described as a participant-observation approach from sociology, Sarah Thornton presents an easy-to-read social history of the recent past, and her access is highly impressive and appears unique. In fact, it’s her approach—and situational distance from the art world—that arguably delivers more authentic information about our specialism.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is from a high-powered California gallerist, "The art world isn’t about power but control. Power can be vulgar. Control is smarter, more pinpointed. It starts with the artists, because their work determines how things get played out, but they need an honest dialogue with a conspirator. Quiet control—mediated by trust—is what the art world is really about."

Now onto excerpts from my interview with Sarah Thornton.

R.J. Preece: Are you a spy in the art world, or a renegade, or a networked insider?

Photo of Sarah Thornton.

Sarah Thornton: When I started researching Seven Days in the Art World, I was a complete outsider. Over the course of five years of interviewing and participant observation, I slowly built up a network of informants.

Some people confuse good access with being an insider. Any good ethnographer has to flirt with “going native,” but they can’t forget their original spy-like mission. As a writer, the obvious way for me to have become an insider was to adopt the role of the critic. But, despite many tempting offers, I have not written catalogue essays or reviews.

Moreover, I resist the label “critic.” I try to refrain from overt public judgment even if I have my preferences and they occasionally slip out.

Sarah Thornton interview: 1 | 2

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