»On a deeper level, the fact that artists are increasingly turning towards collaborative practice and identity is a manifestation of a shift in their own perceived cultural role. The role of the artist in society is finally accelerating away from the musty, modernist, anti-social art star phenomenon (á la Francis Bacon) and towards one of artist as soaked in the streaming undercurrents of information networks and systems consciousness« (Raaf and Youngs 2000: 1). Looking from this point of view, artists do no not collaborate in order to become famous or well-known, but to establish and improve their cultural consciousness, and to be a part of something that is above themselves. The point about artistic collaboration, what Charles Green claims, is that it is “a test in which individual identity is subordinated to a so-called higher good - the work of art”. He compares this with working on a magazine, and claims that not everyone is suited to cooperation. His point is that “the self-presentation is constructed, usually self-consciously, and that the resulting figure is sometimes central within the work of art” (Green in Lovik 2006).
Either this is relevant or not when talking about random people taking parts in art collaboration also, »there has been a rapid increase of late in interest around consumer participation in media culture« (Burgess 2006: 201). Moreover, Jean Burgess also claims that the increased availability and power of digital technologies, combined with the Internet, allow ‘everyone’ to be a media participant (or what Lessig calls “creative consumer”).
References:
Burgess, Jean (2006): Hearing Ordinary Voices: Cultural Studies, Vernacular Creativity and Digital Storytelling. Continuum, Volume 20, Issue 2, June 2006. Downloaded 15.10.2009 from: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a747652264~db=all
Lovink, Geert (2006): The Art of Collaboration. An Interview with Charles Green. Downloaded 15.10.2009 from: http://molodiez.org/ocs/mailinglist/archive/123.html
Raaf, Sabrina and Amy Youngs (2000): Contemporary Collaboratives. Artists using science and technology. Ylem Newsletter, Number 12, Volume 20, Nov/Dec 2000. Downloaded 15.10.2009 from: http://www.ylem.org/Journal/2000NovDec.pdf
