Collaboration, intellectual property , ownership and all of that kind of stuff

There was some conversation the other night about  ownership when it comes to art made by more than one person. Working on a purposefully collaborative project is different than the way a lot of artists work.

Most artists are solo productionists, they conceive, design and construct their art all by themselves. Some artists are large scale project makers and, even then, the project is almost always their conception and design,  and they are the executive director of it. The final piece is considered to belong to them.
 
This project is very different.

We came together through the efforts of a foundation whose mandate for this project was to select, "artistic practices that happen outside of cultural institutions to be the priority for our programs. Instead of the tangible object resulting from practice, we are interested in artistic intent as manifest in process. Participatory elements are at the core of an artistic practice—participation that leads to greater civic and empathic engagement." 
(Shawn Van Sluys, Executive Director, Musagetes)

So, right from the start we found ourselves in somewhat uncharted waters, at least as artists. I liken it to working on a committee where, as a group, you work towards creating something that may not directly benefit you, but the participation, process and outcome are the goal.

For example, in my other work life I help create community based groups for parents. These are created by ad hoc groups; are fluid in their process and the result is not owned by anyone person or agency;  yet, any committee member could list on their CV that they helped develop the group. 

The  structure  we are creating for Mobile Architecture was designed and made in a joint decision making process by 7 people. The materials were paid for by Musagetes and some were  donated by the people working on the project. The labour was supplied by everyone in varying amounts of time, dependent  on availability.

Participants took sections with them to continue to invest their time and effort into making what is essentially a  flat, fabric sculpture that can morph into its own 3-D sculptural shape or be  joined to a group of them  to create a whole new structure.

They are a prototype of an idea that, in itself, may be more easily executed by just buying tents and velcroing  them together, but that is not the point of the project.

This group, working together in a process based, interactive manner may, or may not, succeed in creating a working prototype of their design. The purpose of the workshop was to initiate a process, an exposure to new ideas  from within and  outside of the group. 

I am interested to see how the people who are working on this project will continue to evolve their own piece of the structure.


Rebecca Erickson