Creativity in Collective

2007

This is the introduction to Better Together, a collection of essays about collective art practice, which I edited for the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. The full collection should be available soon.

The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry was founded in 1989 with the mission of supporting interdisciplinary projects, bringing together the arts, science, technology and humanities. From the beginning, this mission allowed the STUDIO to engage with collectives involving a diverse range of artists, scientists and technologists. These interactions shed light on the critically engaged and collaborative approach of collectives. Looking back over nearly two decades, one can see the significant contribution that collectives have made, and continue to make in the art world and beyond. The work of STUDIO fellows such as Critical Art Ensemble, subRosa and Institute for Applied Autonomy represent an important trend in art making.

Collective organizing has a long history in social, political and economic realms. In the essay “Periodising Collectivism,” Gregory Sholette and Blake Stimson claim it is “the desire to speak as a collective voice that has long fuelled the social imagination of modernism.” Collective practice in art can also be traced back through the modernist canon, to avant-garde movements such as Futurism, Dada and Situationism. Continuing on this trajectory, the1980s saw artists coming together to merge art and political organizing with groups such as Gran Fury, Political Art Documentation/Distribution and Group Material, among others. In contemporary art practice, artists continue to collaborate in diverse and innovative ways. With a recently released book on collectivism from Sholette and Stimson, and a new book on group work from the artist collective Temporary Services, the sustained impulse of artists to work together is finally being articulated and documented.

The STUDIO is committed to supporting and advocating collective art practice. Artist collectives often work outside of gallery and museum spaces, choose media and tactics based on the specific needs of each project and create alliances with non-artists and non-arts organizations such as activist groups, community associations, and trade unions. As artists experiment with organizational structures and collaborative approaches to idea generation and problem solving, the methods they employ are applicable beyond the art world itself. Artist collectives have the potential to significantly impact the larger culture in dynamic and exciting ways. The STUDIO has hosted collectives with diverse membership, areas of investigation and tactical approaches. What these groups share is an interest in addressing important social and political issues, in a manor that models a cooperative philosophy and counters the competitive nature of capitalist culture.

In 2004 – 2005, The STUDIO hosted two artists who work in collectives: Nathan Martin and Grisha Coleman. They received administrative and technical support, along with a salaried fellowship for one year. The fellowships also included travel and relocation funding, as well as a project budget. Funding for the Collective Artist Residency Project was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Heinz Endowments, PA Council on the Arts. The Multicultural Arts Initiative, and the Center for Arts in Society at Carnegie Mellon, provided additional funding for the artists’ projects.

This report documents the collective residencies, as well as a symposium titled Creativity in Collective, which took place in November 2006 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The fellowships, together with the symposium, generated considerable enthusiasm among participating artists and brought awareness to the need for increased support, documentation and critical writing about collectively produced artwork. Through this report, the STUDIO aims to catalyze further inquiry and to provide jumping off points for artists, scholars and students interested in exploring contemporary collective art practice.