Journalist Bianca Bosker took on a multi-faceted task: she went to work under a false identity in New York's elite contemporary art scene.
The goal: to understand how it is possible that the industry attracts astronomical sums of money but the circle involved in it remains so small.
She posed as a gallery assistant and studio apprentice, and eventually published a book called "Taking the Image", in which she reveals the subtle cues and unwritten rules that perpetuate privilege in the art world.
She discovers that money in itself is not enough to grant its holders access to the scene.
The effect is reserved for "old money" and cultural attribution - that is, descendants of famous white people from previous generations.
The prices of works are actively hidden from anyone deemed unworthy to own them - including the very rich, if they are not from the right background.
Family lineage, inherited wealth and connections dictate to the galleries who they welcome - and who they don't.
Talent is less important than access to the right social circles.
Busker exposes the pretension of the industry - from galleries that forbid assistants from sounding "happy" on the phone to indecipherable 'artistic' speech, which she defines as "chewing through a dictionary", which alienates those who do not know it inside out and know how to speak it.
Racial diversity in positions of power does not exist.
Junior jobs in the field come with such low salaries that it goes without saying that only young people with wealthy parents who finance them can afford to work in the field, which ensures that the same families remain in control of the galleries.
The book also investigates how institutions exploit radical ideas while excluding the radicals themselves - on the one hand, they glorify the names of artists who are not part of the culture, but on the other hand, prevent those artists' access to profits and prestige from selling their works as high art.
Busker removes the lot from the layers of subtle snobbish barriers built around the artistic establishment, and calls for the opening of the ranks and full transparency, which will allow anyone with true artistic talent to be part of the niche but very prestigious world.
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