ARTISTS TALKING

From whichever angle you look at it, artists' initiatives have made their mark and are now firmly rooted into the arts environment. Although commercial galleries and collectors rule the art market, it can be argued that it is the practice-driven activities generated by artists individually and collaboratively that are perceived to be at the 'cutting edge' of contemporary visual arts practice and that seem to hold such a fascination for art world professionals.

The structures generated by artists are capable of responding quickly to changes and developments within practice, adept at identifying ways to side-step the sensibilities of art institutions, where exhibition programmes are arranged months if not years in advance.

Definitions

The term artist-led activity encompasses a diverse and complex range of activities and philosophical stances. It includes the collective actions of studio groups such as Yorkshire Artspace Society and Stroud Valley Artspace, artist-run galleries Transmission and Fabrica, curatorial projects Vane and ProtoAcademy, networks Loadstar and Newworknetwork, and social action organisations Welfare State and Littoral.

The exhibiting and production structures set up by artists may be here today and gone tomorrow, their legacy being less to do with gaining curatorial reputation than with having enabled the artists involved with them to gain profile and increased opportunity.

Transit Space in London, was an intentionally short-lived but equally successful project, housed in a disused textile factory in Hackney, it ran for three years ending permanently in 2002.

Its exhibitions strategy was to present and profile unknown international artists by interleaving them into a programme including better-known London artists more likely to attract media coverage, the attention of curators and dealers and, equally importantly, the funding to carry the rest of the programme.

Networking

The growing acknowledgement of the practical value of and critical dialogue provided by professional networking means that artists nowadays are not only familiar with interchanging with artists nearby, but also with generating and distributing their collaborative projects across geographical and artform boundaries.

In a world where 'portfolio working' is the norm, artists have become adept at finding ways to keep sight of their artistic objectives whilst locating the money to pay the bills. Thus, they identify and devise personal strategies that deal not only with where they are, but will keep them in touch where they want to be and with the people who can help them to get there.

Over the last ten years Blast Theory's reputation has been defined through the ability of the artists involved to move adeptly into new areas, and successfully merge the worlds of art, popular culture and new technologies. Artistic achievements have been matched by a keen ability to network across sectors, develop new skills and reach out to new audiences.

In early projects they often produced the events as well, running the bar and box office and so on. The group's fundraising strategies included a thirteen-legged sponsored walk (raising £400 for their first show) and raffling themselves for eight hours (winning ticket holders could do what they wanted with company members).

Taking control

Tanya Axford, who graduated in 1997, confirms that: "In the beginning things seemed to just happen really quickly". But support through a mentoring scheme has meant that she has now started to take control, realising the value of being more strategic about what she does.

Her method of developing her artistic reputation has included proactive involvement with artist-led projects and collaborations with other artists. Her installation Sods Lawn in Vane 99 raised her profile not only with leading regional gallery NCGA but also with international commissioning organisation Locus+.

Subsequently, because she realised she didn't feel part of the established local art scene, she and Cath Campbell got together to found Chew + Show. Their first project was the notable Engaged, an exhibition of site-specific installations and interventions in toilets in Newcastle city centre. This collaboration served to increase Axford's visibility without the pressure being focused entirely on her own work.

Such an approach underpins the majority of artist-led ventures taking place nowadays, that range from open studios spanning several weekends to one-day performances in places of architectural significance.

Gallery representation has never seemed relevant to Hayley Newman whose practice is performative, producing live events, film, video and photography. The financial needs of her work suit commissioned projects and as her reputation has grown, she tends to be approached by organisations to develop and realise new projects. Such a relationship requires ideas to have a distinct end point and timing tends to be quite rigid.

This generally means self-initiation of a vague half-idea - many artists' idea of studio practice - is less possible. Newman finds incorporating proposal writing into her practice is useful, as it is often the point when she sharpens up an idea.

International connections

Artists often find that generating projects beyond the UK can contribute to recognition factors at home.

In the early 1990s Nils Norman's involvement with artist-run spaces started with a converted squat in Bloomsbury that he and artist Sarah Staton set up as an exhibition space and Poster–Studio, a collaboration with Merlin Carpenter and Dan Mitchell.

After graduation he was involved with organisations in Germany. And in New York he curated projects with gallerist Colin Deland and co-organised Parasites, a series of interventions in public spaces. Through such independent initiatives he established a network of friends and colleagues, a mutually supportive group that has been invaluable in his solo career.

Impact

The trend over the last decade for artists to take control of the production and presentation of their work has been significant. It has become the norm for artists to proactively place their work in the public domain where it can attract the attention of the art world. Both the commercial and the publicly-funded art sectors have taken advantage of this new resource bank.

The arts funding system has reshaped grants schemes to more readily accommodate the fast ideas and presentation opportunities developed by artists. It could be argued that the UK's new, flexible schemes are in part due to recognition of the cultural benefits derived from artist-led activity.

Such activity – whether by artists individually or collectively - empowers those who seek an alternative to handing over control of promotion and presentation of their work. These entrepreneurial types take responsibility for creating platforms for presenting work, and with that the freedom to control how their work is seen and by whom.

These artists' projects not only contribute to arts policies and the overall vitality of the arts, but are also generators of 'cultural capital'. This is the product that arises when a strong sense of artistic vision, ambitious approaches to the creation and presentation of work and the willingness to be experimental are combined with a passion for self-development and creative success.

Join in

If you’ve found this brief introduction interesting and relevant, why not sign up to get access to the subscriber resources following?

As a subscriber, you’ll be able to explore at your leisure a stimulating range of features and profiles of key artists, projects and organisations and associated articles from a-n Magazine, providing insights into artist-led initiatives and strategies.

For more information about subscribing: