The Work of Incompleteness: Intermediate Objects and the Making of Value

Abstract Extending Howard Becker’s concept of “intermediate objects,” first introduced in Art from Start to Finish (2006), we theorize the material incompleteness of cultural works not as an objective, transitional stage in the artistic process, but as an ambiguous, negotiated social category that extends beyond production. We draw upon ethnographic studies of two lowbrow, stigmatized cultural fields—digital pornography and counterfeit goods. In the porn industry, promotional intermediates such as trailers, stills, and behind-the-scenes clips organize production around circulation, reversing the conventional hierarchy between the work itself and its derivatives. In the counterfeit goods market, sellers materially and symbolically manipulate the completeness of goods during transactions by displaying unbranded goods or by removing and adding tags to avoid legal sanction and upsell consumers. Taken together, we reveal how cultural producers, intermediaries, and consumers use intermediate objects as key resources to strategically enable the valuation and exchange of the work itself.