Prologue

In the previous essay, “The Age of Role Reversal,” we examined how essence is obscured by the non-essential. This chapter turns to the loss of value—a deeper layer of that same inversion.
 
Here, “value” does not refer to market price. It signifies the belief in authenticity, autonomy, and inner necessity that once made art possible as art—a shared yet invisible agreement that sustained the meaning of artistic creation.

When this consensus collapses, artworks lose their intrinsic foundation and begin to justify their existence through external indicators such as price, followers, or brand visibility. Art then ceases to be a pursuit of truth and instead becomes a system of signs and images circulating as exchange values.
 


The Invisible Agreement That Sustained Artistic Value

Since modernity, art has existed upon a tacit agreement: “Every artwork possesses its own inner truth.” Artists believed they were pursuing that truth; audiences believed they could participate in that pursuit; critics and institutions translated the process into a public language.
 
Today, however, value is no longer generated from within the artwork but replaced by external sign systems. This is the defining symptom of what we may call “the age of lost value.”
 


The Era of Reproduction and the Disintegration of Authenticity

From early photography and cinema in the 20th century to today’s blockchain and AI, each wave of technology has unsettled the notion of originality.
 
Blockchain now offers the certification system itself as a new source of authenticity, while AI confuses the question of who—or what—is the creator.

If this trajectory continues unchecked, the value system of art will be subsumed under technological systems of trust, and the direct relationship among artist, artwork, and audience will inevitably be replaced by the detour of platform–token–brand.
 
This is not a mere shift in tools but a systemic transformation in which artistic authenticity is dismantled.

Art is no longer the product of human thought and perception but a self-referential circuit of managed signs, endlessly exchanged and reproduced.

The Collapse of the Three Pillars — Artist, Artwork, Institution

The authenticity of the artist, the autonomy of the artwork, and the credibility of the institution—these three pillars have long upheld the value of art. Today, all three are showing visible cracks.
 

First: the collapse of the artist.

The artist as ‘creator’ is increasingly replaced by the artist as ‘operator.’ Depth of inquiry gives way to branding; reflection to visibility. Social media strategy now outweighs studio time. The interiority of creation becomes captured by exchange value, and authenticity is replaced by curatorial rhetoric.
 

Second: the collapse of the artwork.

Artworks are no longer autonomous or self-contained. Their logic is determined by auction prices, transaction histories, and follower counts. Invisible forms of thought and aesthetic truth are flattened into data-driven market language.
 

Third: the collapse of the institution.

Criticism loses ground to market discourse, and museums turn into instruments of entertainment. Awards and juries are governed less by fairness than by networks; a “good” institution becomes merely a “famous” one.
 

A corrupt institution can be dismantled, but when institutions built on genuine trust collapse, the very foundation of art—its integrity—crumbles like a castle made of sand.

The Disappearance of Authentic Value and the Normalization of Distrust

In an age without value, art is constantly asked to prove itself through alternative means. Provenance, data, certification, and transaction records become the new standards of trust—displacing meaning itself.
 
Authenticity no longer emerges from the creative process; instead, it is repackaged as content and redistributed to meet the market’s and institutions’ demands.
Genuine contemplation disappears. The inner logic of artworks fails to deepen. Art becomes decoration—background, experience, photograph.
 
As a result, the language of art grows shallow: profound criticism gives way to short slogans and images. This is the collapse of artistic authenticity—and the very symptom of the inversion between subject and object.
 
 

After ‘Dansaekhwa’: The Drift of Value

In Korea, ‘Dansaekhwa’ (Monochrome Painting) was once regarded as both artistic achievement and spiritual inquiry.
 
Yet in the global market, it was reified as a tradable brand of “Korean art.” The artist’s intention and historical context were absorbed under this symbolic label, transforming Dansaekhwa from an experiment in essence into an investable narrative.

Yet many of today’s younger artists, propelled by fairs and auction lists, rise too quickly to become “brand artists” or “popular artists.”
 
Their early success, driven by visibility rather than accumulation, converts “the artist’s path” (of depth) into “the product’s path” (of turnover). Authenticity dissolves into circulation.
 


Epilogue — Lost Value, Reclaiming the Question

Art in an age of lost value dazzles on the surface but feels hollow within. Only hollow art glitters in today’s world. Under sign capitalism and the endless commodification of everything, when humanity loses its own authenticity, the essence of art disappears with it.
 
Therefore, we must return to a fundamental question: “What is this work, and why was this form and process chosen?”
 
Only by sincerely pursuing this question can we recover the spirit and value of art—restoring it beyond visual spectacle or material form, to a space of genuine thought and reflection.

Jay Jongho Kim graduated from the Department of Art Theory at Hongik University and earned his master's degree in Art Planning from the same university. From 1996 to 2006, he worked as a curator at Gallery Seomi, planning director at CAIS Gallery, head of the curatorial research team at Art Center Nabi, director at Gallery Hyundai, and curator at Gana New York. From 2008 to 2017, he served as the executive director of Doosan Gallery Seoul & New York and Doosan Residency New York, introducing Korean contemporary artists to the local scene in New York. After returning to Korea in 2017, he worked as an art consultant, conducting art education, collection consulting, and various art projects. In 2021, he founded A Project Company and is currently running the platforms K-ARTNOW.COM and K-ARTIST.COM, which aim to promote Korean contemporary art on the global stage.