title: Seven Days in the Art World
author:  Sarah Thornton 
description: Starred Review. The hot, hip contemporary art world, argues sociologist Thornton, is a cluster of intermingling subcultures unified by the belief, whether genuine or feigned, that nothing is more important than the art itself. It is a conviction, she asserts, that has transformed contemporary art into a kind of alternative religion for atheists. Thornton, a contributor to Artforum.com and the <i>New Yorker</i>, presents an astute and often entertaining ethnography of this status-driven world. Each of the seven chapters is a keenly observed profile of that world's highest echelons: a Christie's auction, a crit session at the California Institute of the Arts and the Art Basel art fair. The chapter on auctions (where one auction-goer explains, [I]t's dangerous to wear Prada.... You might get caught in the same outfit as three members of Christie's staff) is one of the book's strongest; the author's conversations about the role of the art critic with <i>Artforum</i> editor-in-chief Tim Griffin and the <i>New Yorker</i>'s Peter Schjeldahl are edifying. Thornton offers an elegant, evocative, sardonic view into some of the art world's most prestigious institutions. 8 illus. <i>(Nov.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  ## SEVEN DAYS IN THE  
  Art World
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## ALSO BY SARAH THORNTON
  
  
  Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## SEVEN DAYS IN THE Art World
  
  
  ## SARAH THORNTON
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.jpeg)
  
  
  W. W. NORTON & COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2008 by Sarah Thorton
  
  
  All rights reserved
  
  
  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write
  to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
  10110
  
  
  Production manager: Devon Zahn
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  
  Thornton, Sarah.  
  Seven days in the art world / Sarah Thornton.—1st ed.  
  p. cm.  
  Includes bibliographical references.  
  
  
  ISBN: 978-0-393-07105-4  
  
  
  1\. Art—Marketing. 2. Art—Exhibitions.  
  3\. Art—Competitions. 4. Art criticism. I. Title.  
  N8600.T485 2008  
  709.05—dc22  
  2008035056
  
  
  W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.  
  500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110  
  [www.wwnorton.com](http:/