THE SPECTRUM

“Artists work in groups. This is a primary fact.” – Alan Moore

“Collectives… are engaged in a more or less conscious effort to renegotiate the conditions of art’s autonomy.” – Grant Kester

Modes of collaboration exist on a spectrum between these two poles.

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COLLOBORATION ≠ COLLECTIVE

A network is not a community

That is, a group of individuals who are connected by forms of communication do not necessarily share mutual obligations

A collaboration is not a collective

That is, a group of people working together are not necessarily challenging the conditions of art’s autonomy (Kester) or challenging individual authorship.

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Modes of Collectives

MODE	EXAMPLES	CHALLENGE
COUPLE	Madeline Gins & Arakawa	Mutual Translation to create a 3rd subjectivity
COUPLE	Christo & Jeanne Claude [Site]	?
PARTISAN BAND: BRIGADE	GAAG	?
PARTISAN BAND: COMMITTEE	AMCC and AMCC CATALOG COMMITTEE	Socialized
ROCK BAND	Good/Bad	?
ARCHITECTURE/DESIGN FIRM	ANT FARM	Partnership
ARCHITECTURE/PLANNING FIRM	Ala Plastica	?
RESEARCH COLLABORATION	Ultra-Red	?
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION	Every Bluechip Artist, also Disney Inc.	Authorship transfer: Workers surrender, artist siezes.
POST-WORK	Furtherfield	?
GANG (No Don)	Early New York School, Colab, 47 Canal?	?
GANG (Has Don and Bosses)	Late New York School, Cal Arts Mafia?, 47 Canal?	?

I need help to fill in the 3rd column… Or maybe you would like to join me in collectively turning this into an essay?