Artist collective
Encyclopedia
An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artist
s working together, usually under their own management
, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs of the artist
, this can range from purchasing bulk materials, sharing equipment, space or materials, through to following shared ideologies, aesthetic and political
views or even living and working together as an extended family
. Sharing of ownership, risk, benefits, and status is implied, as opposed to other, more common business structures with an explicit hierarchy of ownership such as an association
or a company
.
Artist collectives have occurred throughout history, often gathered around central resources, for instance the ancient sculpture workshops at the marble quarries on Milos
in Greece and Carrara
in Italy. Collectives featured during both the Russian revolution
when they were set up by the state in all major communities, and the French Revolution
when the Louvre
in Paris was occupied as an artist collective.
More traditional artist collectives tend to be smallish groups of two to eight artists who produce work, either collaboratively or as individuals toward exhibiting together in gallery
shows or public spaces. Often an artists collective will maintain a collective space, for exhibiting or as workshop or studio facilities. Some newer, more experimental kinds of groups include intentional networks, anonymous, connector, hidden or nested groups, and groups with unconventional time-scales. Artist collectives may be formed: For economic reasons, to give members volume purchasing power and allow costs of publicity and shows to be shared. For political reasons, to increase local lobbying power for arts infrastructure, to gather behind a cause or belief. For professional reasons, to develop a higher group profile that benefits the individuals by association, to create a hub for curators and commissioners to more easily locate potential talent.
Artist collectives are significant to the artist's practice in part because of the increased collective intelligence
made possible by the cross-combination of multiple creative minds and disciplines, the cross-fertilization of ideas and approaches and also due to the social
richness and networking
capacities involved.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s working together, usually under their own management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs of the artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, this can range from purchasing bulk materials, sharing equipment, space or materials, through to following shared ideologies, aesthetic and political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
views or even living and working together as an extended family
Extended family
The term extended family has several distinct meanings. In modern Western cultures dominated by nuclear family constructs, it has come to be used generically to refer to grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, whether they live together within the same household or not. However, it may also refer...
. Sharing of ownership, risk, benefits, and status is implied, as opposed to other, more common business structures with an explicit hierarchy of ownership such as an association
Voluntary association
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...
or a company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
.
Artist collectives have occurred throughout history, often gathered around central resources, for instance the ancient sculpture workshops at the marble quarries on Milos
Milos
Milos , is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete...
in Greece and Carrara
Carrara
Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....
in Italy. Collectives featured during both the Russian revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
when they were set up by the state in all major communities, and the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
when the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris was occupied as an artist collective.
More traditional artist collectives tend to be smallish groups of two to eight artists who produce work, either collaboratively or as individuals toward exhibiting together in gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
shows or public spaces. Often an artists collective will maintain a collective space, for exhibiting or as workshop or studio facilities. Some newer, more experimental kinds of groups include intentional networks, anonymous, connector, hidden or nested groups, and groups with unconventional time-scales. Artist collectives may be formed: For economic reasons, to give members volume purchasing power and allow costs of publicity and shows to be shared. For political reasons, to increase local lobbying power for arts infrastructure, to gather behind a cause or belief. For professional reasons, to develop a higher group profile that benefits the individuals by association, to create a hub for curators and commissioners to more easily locate potential talent.
Artist collectives are significant to the artist's practice in part because of the increased collective intelligence
Collective intelligence
Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
made possible by the cross-combination of multiple creative minds and disciplines, the cross-fertilization of ideas and approaches and also due to the social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
richness and networking
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
capacities involved.
Selected art collectives
- A.a.s (art group)A.a.s (art group)a.a.s is a British group whose work parodies performance, installation, video, and participatory art.-Biography:Founded in 2001, a.a.s has been described as an 'imaginary' art group that makes use of real, practicing artists to meet its ends. The current administrative team are Ana Benlloch, Alex...
- Allied Arts GuildAllied Arts GuildAllied Arts Guild, located in Menlo Park, California, stands on part of what was once a vast 35,250 acre land grant dating back to the late 18th century. A king of Spain, probably Charles IV, ceded the property to Don Jose Arguello, commander of the Presidio of San Francisco...
(Menlo Park, CA) (US) - American Abstract ArtistsAmerican Abstract ArtistsAmerican Abstract Artists was formed in 1936 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major forum for the exchange and discussion of ideas, and for...
- Ant FarmAnt Farm (group)Ant Farm was an avant-garde architecture, graphic arts, and environmental design practice, founded in San Francisco in 1968 by Chip Lord and Doug Michels.-The group:...
- Aggroculture
- the ARC group
- ArchigramArchigramArchigram was an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s - based at the Architectural Association, London - that was futurist, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist, drawing inspiration from technology in order to create a new reality that was solely expressed through hypothetical projects...
- Artel of ArtistsArtel of ArtistsArtel of Artists was a cooperative association and a commune of democratically-minded artists headed by Ivan Kramskoi. It was established in 1863 after some of its future organisers had been expelled from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts because of the "revolt of fourteen"...
- Art.NetArt.NetArt.Net is a non-profit web-based artist collective of more than 450 artists, poets, musicians, painters, sculptors, animators, hacker artists, and other creative people from around the world, aimed at helping artists share their works on the World Wide Web...
- Artworklondon (London, Highgate) (UK)
- Brew House Association (Pittsburgh, PA, USA)
- Brixton Artists CollectiveBrixton Artists CollectiveThe Brixton Artists Collective took a short lease on an empty carpet shop in Atlantic Road, Brixton, London, in June 1983. The three arches were spacious if a little damp. They allowed huge shows to take place which were decided by an open collective of 20 to 50 people. The only membership...
- Cacophony SocietyCacophony SocietyThe Cacophony Society is “a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society.” It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco....
- Chicago Artists' CoalitionChicago Artists' CoalitionChicago Artists' Coalition is a non-profit arts advocacy and career organization based in Chicago and open to artists and non-artists alike. Its stated mission is to educate the public as to the value of the visual arts, be an advocate for arts issues, provide professional and educational...
- CoBrACobraCobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
- ColabColabColab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. Colab came together as a collective in 1977, and initially received an NEA Workshop Grant through Center for...
- Critical Art EnsembleCritical Art EnsembleCritical Art Ensemble is an award-winning collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. For CAE, tactical media is situational, ephemeral, and self-terminating...
- Disorient
- etoyEtoyEtoy is a European digital art group. Etoy won several international awards including the Prix Ars Electronica in 1996. Their main slogan is: "leaving reality behind."...
- Experimental SkeletonExperimental SkeletonThe Experimental Skeleton is a non-profit artistic organization in Tampa, Florida that promotes visual arts throughout the area.-History:During the last 15 years in Tampa there have been several attempts to revitalize downtown Tampa. Many attempts have focused on areas where local artists and...
- Fashion Architecture TasteFashion Architecture TasteFashion Architecture Taste or FAT is an art and architecture collaborative that first established itself in the 1990s in London, England. Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob are the main members of the group. Emma Somerset Davis has been a previous member and a director of the group and...
- FluxusFluxusFluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
- Fora do Eixo
- GelitinGelitingelitin is a group of four artists from Vienna, Austria. The group was formerly known as gelatin and changed their name in 2005. They are known for creating sensational art events in the tradition of Relational Aesthetics, often with a lively sense of humor.Among their projects are a gigantic plush...
- General IdeaGeneral IdeaGeneral Idea was a collective of three Canadian artists, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson, who were active from 1967 to 1994.As pioneers of early conceptual and media-based art, their collaboration became a model for artist-initiated activities and continues to be a prominent influence on...
(Canada) - Guerrilla GirlsGuerrilla GirlsGuerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of feminists devoted to fighting against sexism within the visual fine art world internationally. Started in New York City in 1985 to protest gender and racial inequality in the art world, members are known for the gorilla masks they wear to keep their...
- Guma guarGuma guarGuma guar is a politically-active artist's collective in Prague, Czech Republic. They are known for their deconstruction of mass media functions or works on the topics of the "War on Terror"...
(Czech) - Hopscotch Academics (Vancouver, BC)
- House of YESHouse of Yes (Brooklyn)The House of YES is an artist collective with a performance venue and art space in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in May 2007 in Ridgewood, Queens, as a work and play space, as well as home to some of its founders and participants. It had hosted numerous underground art and music shows, fashion...
(Brooklyn, NY) - Independents (Oporto artist group)Independents (Oporto artist group)The abstract art is historically linked to the Portuguese Independents exhibitions, its main organizer and coordinator, Fernando Lanhas, coincidentally is the central figure of abstractionism....
- IRWINIRWINIRWIN is a collective of Slovenian artists, primarily painters, and an original founding member of Neue Slowenische Kunst .- History :In 1983, the artists Dušan Mandič, Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Roman Uranjek, and Borut Vogelnik, coming from the punk and graffiti scene in Ljubljana, formed an...
- island6Island6is a not-for-profit, artist-run space in Shanghai, P.R.C. founded in 2006 by French curator/artist Thomas Charvériat.island6's mission is to provide a forum for contemporary artists whose works explore social, aesthetic,...
(China) - Kroesos FoundationKroesos FoundationThe Kroesos Foundation is an artistic collective set up by Swiss Artist, Mark Divo. Between January and March 2002 they occupied the building in the centre of Zurich where the original European Dada movement began, as a response to the horrors of the first World War, which came to be known as the...
- Liu DaoLiu DaoLiu Dao Liu Dao Liu Dao (a Pinyin phrase meaning "island number 6" - , is an international multidisciplinary art collective based in Shanghai, China. Liu Dao was founded in 2006 by island6 Arts Center under the direction of French curator Thomas Charvériat. Liu Dao is an electronic art group...
(Shanghai) - Luna NeraLuna NeraLuna Nera is a collaborative group of international artists who make site-specific artworks. Members of Luna Nera have exhibited in a number of venues ranging from disused buildings to Tate Britain....
- The Mischief MakersThe Mischief MakersThe Mischief Makers are a group of activists and artists based in Nottingham who formed early 2005 as a creative response to the G8 Summit, held at Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland in July that year. The collective uses creativity to support community, environmental and social justice campaign and...
(Nottingham, UK) - My BarbarianMy BarbarianMy Barbarian is a Los Angeles based collaborative group consisting of Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon and Alexandro Segade. The trio makes site-responsive performances and video installations that use theatrical play to draw allegorical narratives out of historical dilemmas, mythical conflicts, and...
- Negativeland
- Neue Slowenische KunstNeue Slowenische KunstNeue Slowenische Kunst , aka NSK, is a controversial political art collective that announced itself in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans...
- NewVillager
- NMP (art collective)NMP (art collective)NMP is a multimedia art collective from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. The collective was first conceived as a movement rooted in applied philosophy in February 2002, but it did not have a specific form until 8 April 2005 when Version 1.0 of its official website was launched...
- NsumiNsumiNsumi or Nsumi Collective, is a contemporary art collective based in New York City.Members of Nsumi claim that the group spawns art collectives and experimental groups through a gift economy consulting project, workshops, art exhibitions and performances, zines, academic research, and public...
- Paper RadPaper RadPaper Rad is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania/Providence, Rhode Island art collective that makes comics, zines, video art, net art, MIDI files, paintings, installations, and are in a variety of bands...
- PFFRPFFRPFFR Forever Ltd., PFFFR or traditionally known as PFFR is a Brooklyn based production company/art collective/electro-rock band consisting of Alyson Levy, Vernon Chatman, Jim Tozzi, and John Lee...
- Phylum (San Francisco, CA, US)
- Pulled Resources
- Reclaim the StreetsReclaim the StreetsReclaim The Streets is a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterize the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalization, and to the car as the dominant mode of transport.-Protests:Reclaim The...
- Red Herring ArtistsRed Herring ArtistsRed Herring is an artist's collective based in Brighton England. Founded as a non-profit making company in 1984 the group was set up to provide affordable Studio space for artists with the common stated aim of increasing public awareness of the visual arts, both locally, nationally and further afield...
(UK) - Royal Chicano Air ForceRoyal Chicano Air ForceThe Royal Chicano Air Force is a Sacramento, California-based art collective. It was one of the main centers of the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and 80s and continues to be influential into the 21st Century....
- RTMarkRTMarkRTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....
- San Francisco Mime TroupeSan Francisco Mime TroupeThe San Francisco Mime Troupe is a theatre of political satire which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California. The Troupe does not, however, perform silent mime, but each year creates an original musical comedy that combines aspects of Commedia...
- SITOSITOSITO is an online artist collective which began in January 1993, making it one of the oldest Internet-based art organizations. It was started by Ed Stastny and has been maintained by Stastny and a group of volunteers and supporters...
(US) - Sindicato Anti Normalidad (Buenos Aires)
- Space 1026Space 1026Space 1026 is a gallery and art collective located on the 2nd & 3rd floor of 1026 Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The space serves as a gallery, venue, printing studio and art space shared by individuals, small businesses and non-profit organizations...
(US) - Temporary ServicesTemporary ServicesTemporary Services is an artist collective of three people based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. They have been collaborating on art projects, public events, publications, and exhibitions since 1998....
(US) - TorolabTorolabTorolab is an artist collective, founded in Tijuana in 1995 by Raúl Cardenas Osuna . The themes they have developed range from research on the identity of the border region, to housing and security to community building and survival...
(Mexico) - Traffic Zone Center for Visual ArtTraffic Zone Center for Visual ArtThe Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art is an artist cooperative located in the historic Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1993, TZCVA was established to create an artist-owned and managed building that provides stable, safe, and affordable studio, teaching and...
(Minneapolis) - United CongressUnited CongressThe United Congress is a long-standing artist collective active in Calgary, Alberta. The group has combined conceptual art, silkscreen, music, constructed language, abstraction, propaganda and anti-art in its activities....
- Uranian PhalansteryUranian PhalansteryThe Uranian Phalanstery and the associated First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple are artist collectives in New York City.-History:They were started in East Village, Manhattan in the late 1950s by Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler....
(New York City, New York) - Village of the ArtsVillage of the ArtsThe Village of the Arts is Florida's largest art colony and the center of fine arts in the Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan area. The Village covers and contains over 200 homes. Many people reside in the area alongside the artists...
- Volatile WorksVolatile WorksVolatile Works is a five member film and new media art collective in Montreal, Quebec established in 2003.-Activities:The Volatile Works collective has produced works in diverse mediums, genres, and styles, with an emphasis on do-it-yourself forms of production. Their works have appeared in over...
(Montreal) - Vox PopuliVox populiVox populi , a Latin phrase that literally means voice of the people, is a term often used in broadcasting for interviews with members of the "general public".-Vox pop, the man on the street:...
(Philadelphia) - Workingman CollectiveWorkingman CollectiveWorkingman Collective is a collaborative group of artists and other professionals whose membership, goals and missions change with each project...
(Washington D.C.) - !WOWOW!!WOWOW!!WOWOW! is a collective in Peckham, London. Otherwise known as The Children of Pizza Mat, they are a group of artists, fashion designers, writers and musicians, who have promoted numerous art events and parties in London and Berlin.-History:...
- xurban collectiveXurban collectiveXurban collective is an independent international art collective founded in 2000. xurban_collective has members located in İzmir, Istanbul and New York City. Core members of the group are Guven Incirlioglu and Hakan Topal, whose transatlantic collaborations take the form of media projects and...
- Yellow House Artist CollectiveYellow House Artist CollectiveThe Yellow House was an artists' collective in Sydney, Australia started by artist Martin Sharp. Between 1970 and 1973, The Yellow House, in Macleay Street near Kings Cross, was a piece of living art and a mecca to pop art. The canvas was the house itself and almost every wall, floor and ceiling...
- ZtohovenZtohovenZtohoven is an award-winning Czech guerrilla artist collective known for its pranks. The best known of these pranks – and the one which led to six of its members being prosecuted – was the June 17, 2007 "Media Reality" incident, in which they hacked into a weather forecast being broadcast on Česká...