The current economic situation and society’s low confidence in its institutions demands that artists become more imaginative in the way that they organise themselves. If labels such as ‘alternative’, ‘non-profit’ and ‘artist-run’ dominated the self-organised art scene of the late nineties, the separatist position implied by the use of these terms has been moderated during the intervening years.
This new anthology of accounts from the frontline includes contributions by artist practitioners as well as their institutional counterparts that provide a fascinating account of the art world as a matrix of positions where the balance of power and productivity constantly shifts. Artists, curators and critics discuss empirical and theoretical approaches from Europe, Africa and South and North America on how self-organisation today oscillates between the self and the group, self-imposed bureaucratisation and flexibility, aestheticisation and activism.
“Exploring one of the most influential methods of contemporary cultural production, Self-Organisedtakes a broad view on the matter. Artists, curators and critics discuss empirical and theoretical approaches from Europe, Africa and South and North America to how self-organisation today oscillates between the self and the group, self-imposed bureaucratisation and flexibilism, aestheticisation and activism. The contributors identify now as a crucial moment to propose ways forward for parallel initiatives and institutions alike: from de-organisation and waiting, to rupture and coexistence of aesthetics and politics. However, what they all seem to share is a refreshing search for critical platforms of citizenship, harnessing self-determination in the wake of neo-liberal mainstreaming and right-wing populism alike.”
— Maria Lind
Text contributions by: Julie Ault, Maibritt Borgen, Céline Condorelli & Johan Frederik Hartle, Anthony Davies, Stephan Dillemuth & Jakob Jakobsen, Ekaterina Degot, Charles Esche & David Riff, Barnaby Drabble, Jonas Ekeberg, Linus Elmes, Juan A Gaitán, Abdellah Karroum, Livia Pancu, Jan Verwoert, What, How & For Whom/WHW
Self-Organised
Stine Hebert and Anne Szefer Karlsen (eds.)
Open Editions
£17.00 GBP
ISBN: 978-0-949004-17-8