A feature essay on the challenges posed by non-art collectives and performance group-working models to the roles that collaboration and intention are expected to take in contemporary art, focussing on Blast Theory, Forced Entertainment and Slavs & Tartars.
From the essay: "It is becoming increasingly common for contemporary art collectives to either ditch the traditional mystique and adopt non-art organizational structures, or to remain within the art world and positively identify wiht their non-art identity. Dutch design studio Metahaven operate as a visual communications agency, US collective Critical Art Ensemble as a tactical media lab, and London-based Assemble as an architecture firm, while – from Åbäke to DIS – there are a number of design collectives gaining visibility in exhibition and biennial programmes. For each of these groups, the organizational model and commitment to an industry beyond fine art is not simply a background structure: it is something they positively identify with and directly affects how they address their work to their audiences, as art or as non-art in the context of art. Like Blast Theory, they all have different product lines for a mixed economy of potential audiences and markets."
