As a collaborative partnership project, EARights are currently looking for artist led initiatives in Europe that are investigating artist economies at a grass roots level.
A good example of this investigative work is the ‘In Kind’ research project by visual artists Janie Nicoll and Ailie Rutherford. In April/May 2018 the two artists explored the hidden economies of Glasgow International and the “below the water-line” economy of the arts – debating artist precarity and issues of unpaid labour. Glasgow International is Scotland’s largest festival for contemporary art, taking place over three weeks every two years across the city of Glasgow.
Using visual mapping techniques developed by Rutherford through her work on The People’s Bank of Govanhill (Glasgow), as well as Nicoll’s experience of participatory and large-scale curatorial projects, they collated data from artists from a peripatetic information kiosk situated at 3 venues across the city. ‘In Kind’ challenged the apparently successful arts festival model rolled out across major cities, looking at whether this is actually a sustainable model for artists and the sector in general.
The information gathered over the three weeks is currently being collated and assessed for future dissemination. We will report on findings.
The EARights project would welcome contact by any other individual artists or artist groups who are developing future projects that explore specific artist economy models in Europe. Please contact us via our contact page to share information or write directly to ear (at) earights.org.
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