I have graduated arts school. I have never understood why people would park their money into art (being it contemporary or classical). Why would someone put money in art as investment?
I cannot see why a Rembrant is more valuable than a good copy or how can you measure the price of a painting. For someone it might worth 10,000 for someone it wouldn't worth 100.
It's the same as anything else. Value is an human concept, if a lot of humans are willing to pay 10K for a painting, then it has that value. It's all about cache of the artist and whatnot. Why is Justin Bieber a multimillon making machine? because of his cache and big demand for him.
The art scene is populated with lots of individuals that (ab)use possession of art as means to impress others and to portray themselves as intellectuals. So conversing about art is a great way to distinguish oneself from the "primitive masses" that don't have the capital and knowlegde to take part in this exquisite hobby. The vast majority of contemporary artwork does neither exhibit special technical nor creative ability. There are a few exceptions though.
So an investment in contemporary art is extremely speculative, because you bet on trends among the wealthy.
ya.ya.yo!