Graw, a founding editor of the influential German magazine Texte zur Kunst, analyzes the dynamics of the art market and its influence on the production, reception, and valuation of contemporary art. Graw argues that the art economy has morphed from a basic retail operation to a meaning and image-producing machine. Written during and in the wake of the art boom and subsequent collapse in 2008, the book explores the strange linkages between symbolic and monetary value.