The winner-take-all economy is ruining art, tooI was on the whole disappointed by this year's Whitney Biennial -- it was hard for me to tell if one video installation was art or an HR training video -- but as an economist, I have to admit the exhibition was successful in at least one respect: It did what art is supposed to do, which is to hold up a mirror to our society and economy. This is the problem with the winner-take-all economy. Becoming the Taylor Swift of the art world requires jumping through a series of hoops arranged by elite institutions. This is true in many fields, but it is especially true for art in part because it is often hard to judge what makes art valuable. Which brings me back to the Whitney Biennial.
