When Art Meets Economics: The Fragile Balance Between Market, Protection, and Value — An Interview with Giosuè Prezioso

The intersection between culture and economy is as fragile as it is decisive. The dynamics that govern this relationship often remain hidden behind layers of intuition, fragmented systems, and a lack of concrete economic education. In a conversation with Giosuè Prezioso, Director of Unicollege in Turin, these tensions emerge with particular clarity. Prezioso begins with an almost disarming example: when he asks his students, who come from different parts of the globe, to estimate the value of various artworks, the responses rarely reflect the real market. This gap, he argues, reveals an international ineptitude in managing art from an economic standpoint, a structural flaw that is not a matter of guilt but rather of systemic deficiency. The art market, after all, is heterogeneous, fragmented, and governed more by historical, curatorial, and artistic expertise than by economic rigor. Unlike other productive sectors, it resists transparent governance and continues to cultivate an aura of mystery around pricing mechanisms, often relying on instinct, branding, and context more than on measurable criteria.

Prezioso highlights how even advanced training in cultural management frequently overlooks practical foundations: few programs truly explain how to price a work, negotiate a contract, or identify the proper platforms for transactions. This omission perpetuates the narrative that art is not a productive sector, despite the fact that it generates value—cultural, social, symbolic, and yes, economic. In this sense, the artist is not only a creator but often an entrepreneur. Italy itself, he notes, has taken steps to encourage such a perspective, as seen in policies favoring self-entrepreneurship. By opening a Partita IVA, an artist can sell directly to collectors, and this form of transaction proves more advantageous for both sides, reducing tax burdens and bypassing certain intermediaries. The recent reduction of VAT on art sales and imports from 22% to 5%, effective from July 2025, signals a strategic attempt by Italy to strengthen its art market, attract more investment, and encourage direct engagement between creators and collectors.

Yet reforms alone are insufficient. The core issue lies in the opacity of value. How does one arrive at a price for an artwork? What balance should exist between its cultural resonance and its economic worth? These are questions without simple formulas. Even advanced valuation models—like hedonic pricing, which accounts for variables such as provenance, reputation, medium, and size—cannot capture the emotional and symbolic charge that defines art’s unique status. Prezioso insists that this tension is not to be resolved but rather to be navigated. On one side, the necessity of treating art as an economic good, subject to taxation, regulation, and contracts; on the other, the recognition that its essence cannot be reduced to numbers, because it speaks of identity, memory, and collective imagination.

Looking ahead, the challenge is not only to legislate but to educate. If artists, curators, and students are equipped with greater literacy in economics and law, they will be better positioned to operate within a market that is both competitive and disorienting. Transparency in transactions, clarity in provenance, stronger protection of artists’ rights, and more accessible data on pricing could help reduce distortions and strengthen trust. Ultimately, Prezioso’s perspective invites us to rethink the art world as a field that is simultaneously cultural and economic, symbolic and financial. To ignore either dimension would mean perpetuating a fragile imbalance; to embrace both is perhaps the only way to ensure that art continues to thrive without being either suffocated by bureaucracy or reduced to mere commodity.

© Charlotte Madeleine Castelli | All rights reserved