Becoming Multiple (final complete)

Becoming Multiple. Page 1

Becoming Multiple

Collaboration in Contemporary Art Practice Stuart Tait

A thesis submitted to Birmingham City University in part fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

November 2009

Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all of my collaborators on projects that have been directly and indirectly part of this study. I especially want to thank my partner and long time collaborator Ana Benlloch. I am hugely grateful to my Director of Studies, David Burrows, and my Supervisor Professor Nick Stanley for all of the excellent advice and support. It has been a privilege. Thanks are also due to Birmingham Institute of Art and Design at Birmingham City University for awarding me the three years full time studentship, without which I could not have carried out this study.

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Abstract

This thesis begins with the question of whether a collaborative art practice inspired by, or drawing upon, Gilles Deleuze and F?lix Guattari's concept of `the rhizome', and the notions of movement and change it implies, is possible within the structure required of doctoral study. The study is a vital contribution to the knowledge and understanding of contemporary collaborative art practice, with reference to more than half a dozen contemporary collaborative art groups, as well as The Situationist International, Zurich Dada and Fluxus, the thesis explores the composition and maintenance of collaborative practices. The study's art-practice-as-research has focused on the production of unexpected events or `glitches' and the problems of hierarchy and control where roles such as `collaborator' and `participant' come into contact. The relations in and between collaborative groups are considered in terms of what Deleuze and Guattari call `molarising' and `molecularising' forces, and the research included the discovery of new forms of what I have termed `Molecular collaboration'.

The study seeks to address perceived weaknesses in certain (dominant) Marxist forms of critical/dialectical practice in relation to art by exploring alternative, more anarchist approaches to relations, roles and types of group organisation. The work of Manuel DeLanda on `assemblage theory' and Erving Goffman's concept of `role adjustments' are combined with Deleuze and Guattari's `diagrammatics' to develop the new concept of `Molecular collaboration'.

Molecular collaboration is an important concept because it frees collaborative working from the burden of individual and group identity by allowing creativity to be expressed immanently within a network of relations rather than in relation to any specific ideal or structure.

Table of Contents

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ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................................ 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................................................... 4

LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................ 8

The Rhizome ....................................................................................................................................................................9 Views of Collaboration ..................................................................................................................................................10 Methodological Approach .............................................................................................................................................11 My Practice-as-Research ................................................................................................................................ 12 a.a.s..................................................................................................................................................................................13 The `budding off' of Insectoid ......................................................................................................................................15 Zero Point attempts to evade hierarchy ........................................................................................................................17 What is the red line?.......................................................................................................................................................18 Central Problematics....................................................................................................................................... 19 A Hybrid Research Methodology.................................................................................................................... 20 Existing research on collaboration ................................................................................................................ 23

CHAPTER 2. CONCEPTUAL TOOLS .............................................................................................................. 28

2.1 THE RHIZOME.................................................................................................................................................. 28 2.2 SEVERAL PROBLEMATICS OF COLLABORATION ............................................................................................ 34

Collaborations as Assemblages ...................................................................................................................... 34 Participation .................................................................................................................................................... 35

Actor-network Theory ...................................................................................................................................................38 Role Malleability............................................................................................................................................................40 Becoming Co-participants .............................................................................................................................................42 Unexpected Events and Glitches..................................................................................................................... 45 Diagrams.......................................................................................................................................................... 48 Summary - A New Synthesis............................................................................................................................ 49

CHAPTER 3. A SELECTED HISTORY OF COLLABORATIVE ART PRACTICE ............................... 52

Zurich Dada ..................................................................................................................................................... 52 Nomadism and Glitching Language............................................................................................................... 53

Anti-community .............................................................................................................................................................55 Fluxus ............................................................................................................................................................... 57

Performance Scores........................................................................................................................................................60 Aesthetic/Political Split .................................................................................................................................................60 The Situationist International ......................................................................................................................... 61 Situations ........................................................................................................................................................................62 D?rive as Rhizome and the Production of Paranoia ....................................................................................................62 Ludic/Analytic Split.......................................................................................................................................................63 Summary ? Two Poles ..................................................................................................................................... 65

CHAPTER 4. FOUR CONTEMPORARY COLLABORATIVE ART GROUPS ....................................... 67

4.1 METHODOLOGY............................................................................................................................................... 67 The initial themes of the interviews ................................................................................................................ 68

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i] Structure and Hierarchy .............................................................................................................................................68 ii] Unexpected events.....................................................................................................................................................69 iii] Theoretical interests .................................................................................................................................................69 iv] Other factors .............................................................................................................................................................69 Assumptions about collaboration ................................................................................................................... 69 Identity and Naming ........................................................................................................................................ 71 4.2 THE FOUR GROUPS INTERVIEWED ................................................................................................................. 73 Freee art collective .......................................................................................................................................... 73 The Bughouse................................................................................................................................................... 77 Reactor ............................................................................................................................................................. 78 Parfyme ............................................................................................................................................................ 81 4.3 INTERVIEW REFLECTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 84 Where is the rhizome? ..................................................................................................................................... 84 Paranoiac-Critical........................................................................................................................................... 84 Conversation .................................................................................................................................................... 85 Relations........................................................................................................................................................... 87 Audience Relations ........................................................................................................................................................87 `Forcing' participation ...................................................................................................................................................88 Collaborative groups and the break down of discursive/power relations...................................................................89 Thematic Influence........................................................................................................................................... 91 Unexpected Events........................................................................................................................................... 94 Summary: One dialectical movement and three rhizomatic, `spiroid' movements..................................... 96

CHAPTER 5. MOLECULAR COLLABORATION .......................................................................................100

Analysis ..........................................................................................................................................................102 Secret Societies and Nomadic War machines ............................................................................................................102 Assemblages .................................................................................................................................................................104 Three Types of Line.....................................................................................................................................................105

Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 108

CHAPTER 6. CASE STUDIES FROM MY PRACTICE-AS-RESEARCH ............................................... 111

How the case studies were selected ............................................................................................................................111 6.1 INSECTOID ? `WE.ASSIMILATE'.....................................................................................................................111

Performers...................................................................................................................................................... 111 Project Development ..................................................................................................................................... 112 The Plan .........................................................................................................................................................112 Protocols, Props and Resources...................................................................................................................113 Performance ................................................................................................................................................... 114 Expectations and Problems...........................................................................................................................116 Reflection on project: relation to rhizome and other concepts................................................................... 117 6.2 A.A.S. ? `KR-36' - A RHIZOMATIC COLLABORATION................................................................................. 121 Collaborating Artists ..................................................................................................................................... 121 Project Development ..................................................................................................................................... 121 Rules and protocols ....................................................................................................................................... 122 Site .................................................................................................................................................................. 123 Props and resources ...................................................................................................................................... 123 Induction and Aims ........................................................................................................................................ 125 Expectations and problems ...........................................................................................................................126 Reflection on project: relation to rhizome and other concepts................................................................... 128

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