
BUILDING
the next
BASQUIAT
THE NETWORK
HARTÏ measures the relative power of actors, such as art galleries or major collectors and registers these actors in a database for easy retrieval. HARTÏ uses four indicators to mathematically determine centrality and density. The first is galleries’ location, specifically, whether a gallery is headquartered in the US (value = 1) or elsewhere (value = 0). Second, a gallery must have conducted deals with Haitian artists in the last 12 months. Here, for quality control, HARTI uses a feedback and rating system already developed. Third, HARTI codes whether a gallery has partnered with other galleries within the last 12 months. Fourth, the level of occurrence of the single gallery in the press must be above the mean regarding the other 124 galleries. HARTI relies on LexisNexis to provide up-to-date information regarding worldwide art deals. While up to 125 galleries will be registered in HARTI’s system, it will be rare that any gallery has positive values for all four indicators of centrality and density. Therefore, galleries that do share the highest common denominator among the relevant factors, thus increasing chances of helping artists emerge, will be particularly attractive to hartists.

“The network perspective suggests that the power of individual actors is not an individual attribute, but arises from their relations with others.” -Hanneman and Riddle (2005)
