Provoking the Freeport Magic: Art Assemblage in Late Capitalism

What is magic? And what can it do? In this book, Jessica Backsell interrogates the magic of the art world and culture’s stubborn habit of foregrounding art as representative of an alternative value system. Through the empirical example of the freeport—luxury warehouses where valuable art is stored for preservation and taxation purposes—Backsell explores the implications of understanding the art world through contingent entanglements and practices. Examining the contested site of the freeport, Backsell addresses the dichotomous “culture v. capitalism” debate by showing how magic is not an innate and mysterious quality. Rather, it is a practice, a central yet unexplored element of curatorial toolboxes, that unfolds through what Backsell denotes as the enactment of “conspicuous withdrawal.” This insight, she argues, sheds new light and understanding on broader political issues in contemporary market society.