Art P2P: Commoning Artistic Expression

About

The exhibition brings together practitioners of Into the Wild 2019 in an exploration of peer to peer (P2P) as a mode of art production, governance and property.

P2P is a type of social relations, where members have maximum freedom to connect, as well as a technological infrastructure, which makes possible scaling up of such relations. Thus, enabling a new mode of production, where shared cultural value is produced through open contributory systems (e.g. Wikipedia).

In the context of this art exhibition, all participants of Into the Wild 2019 formed a context specific cooperative, in which all members have equal governing authority in how the works are produced, exhibited, owned, and distributed.

Geared towards a commoning of artistic expression, the productive knowledge of each participant is pooled, in order to create artworks that function as shared resources. Artworks are considered open-ended entities, that can be added to and used in new iterations, always mutating in a constant state of becoming. Thus, creating a new process-oriented art ecosystem.

In the face of increasing precariousness, the exhibition considers P2P as a model for a diversity and pluralism of ownership, that could transform the relations and conditions of property reproduced by the field of art. Ultimately, creating potential for a transition to a commons-oriented art economy.

Into the Wild is Chisenhale Studios’ yearly development program for recent BA graduates. It aims to offer support and foster a peer to peer artist network.