Kirsten Forkert
My project will examine working conditions for artists and the unique perspective they can provide on the contemporary nature of work in post-industrial society (societies characterized by the increased flexibility of technologies, labour and capital). My starting hypothesis is that there is an intimate relationship between working conditions experienced by artists (such as the blurring of work and leisure and the underlying belief in creative work as its own reward) and both the greater self-direction and insecurity of the post-industrial workplace.
The project is based on a comparative analysis of three different cities: London, Berlin and a third city to be determined. I will be examining the role of employment, cultural policy (such as arts funding) and social policy (such as access to education or child care). I will also document and evaluate recent and present initiatives by artists to organize around their own working conditions. This includes organizations which operate on a guild or trade union model, as information or activist networks.
A key consideration will be how these external factors might affect forms, media and genres of artistic production. For example, is there a relationship between the cost of living and the imperative to make sellable work? Does socio-economic privilege affect one’s ability to survive as an artist? How does one organise collectively in the face of pervasive ideologies of meritocracy and competition? In discussions of artists’ working conditions, why does the key choice appear to be between financial stability and meaningful work?
In my research, I will be drawing on my experience as a practicing artist, independent critic and activist. This included two years spent as a trade unionist, where I gained first hand experience of the challenges organizing the cultural sector.
Recent publications
'Tactical Media, Institutions, Audiences and Neoliberalism: some questions', Third Text, (forthcoming 2008).
'The Anxiety of the Reality Based Community', FUSE 30: 3, 2007.
'Can Post Studio Art School Function as a Place of Resistance in an Immaterial Economy?' in Marina Grzinic, Günther Heeg and Veronika Darian (eds), Mind the Map: History is Not Given, Frankfurt am Main: University of Leipzig/Revolver, 2006.
'Transgression, Marketing and National Identity', FUSE, 29: 1, 2006.