Artist Collectives and Collaboration

Art-making (and art-showing) can be hard work, especially for an individual artist. Considering all the needs for studio and exhibition space, promotion and networking, tools, materials, skills, and finding creative opportunities, being a working artist can be a tall order for anyone. Many hands can make heavy work lighter, however, while still allowing for individual expression and personal creative and professional development. Through a strength-in-numbers approach, forming and/or joining an artist collective is a natural and rewarding solution to satisfying many of these needs. Definitions vary, but the Tate Museum loosely defines an art collective as "a group of artists working together to achieve a common objective…united by shared ideologies, aesthetics, and/or political beliefs."

What constitutes a typical artist collective? Is formal membership, hierarchy, or organization necessary? What isn’t an artist collective?

Oftentimes proximity is the key factor (or at least starting ingredient) in the formation of artist collectives. Some groups are born out of educational institutions such as Denver’s Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. In such settings, students learn, collaborate, and share space and resources over the course of their respective degree programs. Communal studio spaces as well can provide a close working environment where the fluid exchange of ideas can occur easily and frequently. While many of these spaces are temporary (such as Zuni49 in North Denver), the seeds for collective organization can be organically sown. Other groups blossom from gallery-based relationships, particularly galleries that specialize in a particular artistic genre or medium. Helikon Gallery (now closed), for instance, offered a haven for digital illustrators that was unique and much needed in Denver. The digital installation group Bearwarp developed from that particular breeding ground. Still others spring up out of geographical associations. Graffiti writing crews often form based on the writers’ neighborhood where they reside. Going beyond territorial origins, however, more refined crews often coalesce from a closeness of styles and ability that include national and international members. Or consider the Denver Digital Land Grab collective that organizes and operates in both physical and virtual spaces via augmented reality technology.

How important is physical proximity to forming and maintaining an artist collective? What other kinds of closeness matter?

While artist collectives offer a practical fix for obtaining physical resources (e.g. volume/bulk purchasing, split rent, tool sharing, etc.), perhaps the most exciting benefit is the possibility of collaboration. The extent to which members combine forces varies greatly. For instance, collaborations might include one-offs with distinct contributions, or group shows that might be thematically linked, or an entire body of work where the lines of authorship are blurred and individual contributions unrecognizable. Aside from growing an artist’s audience base, collaboration can open up new avenues of creative expression while expanding one’s already well-worn paths. As much as artist collectives can enlist individual members to produce collaborative works, collaboration can extend well beyond the collective. On the more informal side, collective-to-collective collaborations might involve a visual arts group linking up with an experimental music collective for a one-night event. On the other side of the spectrum, a collective might be commissioned by the city to create murals to beautify neighborhood dumpsters.

What kinds of projects benefit most from collaborating? How do members achieve a balance between individual and collective goals? Beyond project completion, what kinds of new relationships might intra- and inter-collective collaborating foster?