Archive 2007-08
Hans Abbing
- Venue: Fine Art Lecture Theatre
- Start: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:30:00 GMT
- End: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:00:00 GMT
Hans Abbing is an artist, economist and sociologist based in Holland. In 2005, he was appointed as professor of art sociology (the Boekman Chair) at the University of Amsterdam.
He has presented extensive papers on the relationship between art and economics and in 2002 his book, WHY ARE ARTISTS POOR? The Exceptional Economy of the Artswas published. Hans Abbing is also an artist.
“Is it possible that society paints a too rosy picture of the arts? If this were true, then the average art student must be ill-informed, at least more so than other professionals are. In that case, poverty among artists is real. Their endeavours are not or only somewhat compensated by non-monetary incomes. If however, the artist is well informed, then there must be other types of rewards that compensate for the lack of monetary reward. Given the myths that surround the arts, I find it highly likely that artists are indeed ill-informed and that their poverty is, for the most part, real.”
Excerpt from the Summary of Hans Abbing’s Why are Artists Poor: The Exceptional Economy of the Arts. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, June 2002, ISBN 90 5356 5655
The personal website of Dutch academic and artist Hans Abbing contains free chapters from his book 'Why Are Artists Poor? : The Exceptional Economy of the Arts' (Amsterdam University Press, 2004). The chapters are in full-text form, are in English, and comprise: the preface, conclusion and epilogue of the book. His website also contains some of Abbing's other texts and papers on art, in full-text form, along with a full listing of his publications and projects.
The website also contains galleries of photographs, paintings and drawings by Abbing.
http://www.hansabbing.nl/