The Collective

Online art collectives offer artists the opportunity to have their artworks exhibited amongst peers, and give them the opportunity to receive critique and feedback on their works-in-progress, as well as locate other artists who they might want to collaborate with. An example of this kind of online art collective is slashTHREE, an art collective and platform for artists to ‘network, collaborate, give and receive feedback as well as increase exposure to their work on a global scale’ (slashTHREE).

Saad Moosajee, a freelance artist and creative director of slashTHREE, finds that online artist collectives act as both a place to collaborate and fuse styles, but also as a community for a dispersed group (see Moosajee’s article on online art collectives here). Collectives like slashTHREE hold their exhibitions online, and artworks are selected from across the globe – submitted, critiqued, and reworked online.

Work by Saad Moosajee and Chris Haines, produced by collaboration through the slashTHREE art collective

Collectives like these take advantage of new media and participatory cultures, as described by Flew (2008). Peer-to-peer communication is seen in peer critiques, the collective is not governed by an authoritarian body as large government-run physical galleries often are, and communication is not filtered by an organisation, although it may be filtered by the creative director as is the case with slashTHREE. Perhaps the most important characteristic of the online collective for artists is the ability to overcome geography.

Despite the number of advantages of participating in an online art collective, displaying one’s artwork online raises a number of questions. Is having a ‘creative director’ necessarily the best way to maintain and police the collective? If not, who will manage the collective and ensure that everyone is playing by the rules? Does exhibiting online restrict the kind of mediums which can be used to create the artwork? What are the dangers of displaying online?

Check out some other collectives here:

Depthcore

Intrinsic Nature

Evoke One

Democratic art

One of my favourite art galleries in Sydney is the tiny Gallery8 in Millers Point. It showcases unique contemporary art from around Australia, and is run entirely by artists, for artists. Although the standard white walls of Gallery8 make it no different to any other gallery in layout, the sense that the showcased art is done so with the artists’ best interests at heart (implied in ‘artist-run’) makes viewing the artwork seem almost an act of democracy – in the same way reading articles of citizen journalism feels.

Artists do not always have the opportunity to exhibit their work, whether due to cost, curation or lack of space. The online space, which is often spoken of as a liberating technology, gives artists the same opportunities as citizen journalists. Although some galleries, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Modern Art display some of their showcased collections online, our feature will seek to explore how artists whose work is not featured in a physical gallery use the online space, in terms of showcasing their work and connecting with other artists.

The web feature would act as a case study on how artists are using the online space. The web feature might also act as a hub for the artists and our target audience mimics Gallery8’s audience – of the artists, by the artists, for the artists.

Image source: Gallery Eight