Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 2 - Cost

  • Amy Whitaker, New York University
  • Book:
    Economics of Visual Art
    Published online:
    23 July 2021
    Print publication:
    12 August 2021, pp 43-76

  • Summary

    Cost structure is the engineering of economics. Rather than approach economics as a study of the motivation toward maximum utility or profit, we approach it as a structural design problem for which cost structure is the starting point. The main distinction is between fixed and variable costs, a distinction first devised by ceramicist Josiah Wedgwood after a financial crash in the 1770s. We consider Mine Kafon, the wind-powered landmine removal device designed by Massoud Hassani (collected by the Museum of Modern Art), the willfully inefficient production of Lenka Clayton, who makes drawings on a typewriter, the intentionally market-allergic manufacture of Charlotte Posenenske, the advances of technology that change cost structure and artistic production (tube paints and machine learning), and the costs of the Impressionist painters, especially Camille Pissarro. We use the breakeven calculation and the income statement to organize costs and to diagnose the sustainability of operations.