Current enthusiasm towards collectivity within the artworld, including within prize-giving culture, harbours a certain romanticising of collectives, a simplification of collective practice suggesting that collective work—be it artistic, curatorial, or within an arts organisation—is somehow automatically emancipatory and egalitarian, that collectivity by its very nature preserves the promise of equality and inclusivity. But the reality of working collectively is filled with challenges and those working collectively are no less vulnerable to exploitation than individual cultural workers.  

Building on two months of asynchronous collective writing, involving seventeen participants, the panellists consider how we might write, think, read and practice together through other means.

Panel One: Labour, Value and Social Reproduction

Monday 31 October, 7pm GMT

Discussants: Fabiola Fiocco, Katja Praznik, Karolina Majewska-Güde, Kirsten Lloyd, Jelena Vesić, Moderator: Lina Džuverović.

Panel Two: Why collaborate? Network Formation, Reproduction, Access

Thursday 10 November, 6pm GMT

Discussants: Carla Cruz, Lily Hall, Abhijan Toto, Felicity Allen, Manual Labours, Moderator: Lina Džuverović

Panel Three: Is Ephemerality Freedom?

Friday 18 November, 6pm GMT

Discussants: Ximena Alarcón-Díaz, Kuda.org/Zoran Pantelic, Irene Revell, Marina Rosenfeld. Moderator: Lina Džuverović

Panel Four: ‘The Third Hand’—Claire, Bernadette and Friends

Thursday 1 December, 7pm GMT

Discussants: Helena Reckitt, Chris McCormack, Gerrie van Noord, Moderator: Lina Džuverović

Further information about the project can be found here.

Funded by Open Society University Network, Centre for Arts and Human Rights at Bard College.