AR(c)T MBA

Art schools don't always offer the skills needed to sustain a professional art practice, and a lot of the regular advice for artists is not really applicable to artists  based in the 'periphery'. Living in the north makes it hard to network with art world gatekeepers in the conventional way- seminars at museums, gallery openings and so on. On the other hand, there are resources and possibilities here - such as cheap production space and supportive communities. We decided to put together a programme of talks and conversations around our particular needs, and to come up with new strategies that could be tested.

We had regular online meetings where sometimes we would share our current challenges and offer each other advice, and other times we had an invited guest who we interviewed on topics we were facing or that we wanted their view on. We decided to invite people and institutions both in, and in the vicinity of, the art field. Listening in on experiences that might give us insight, knowledge and courage to go about things in our own way. This exploration came with a strong feeling of agency and direction. Together we wanted to look outside the norm of how things are done and to investigate shortcuts and hacks available to us as artists on the geographical periphery.

Some examples of our encounters:

Jan Weidmark is an arts philanthropist and successful real estate entrepreneur in Sweden. He encouraged us to find entrepreneurs to connect and work with, and to look outside our own field and go off the trodden paths.

"I have always worked in partnerships. It's much easier to do things together then all by your self, so that is one of my basic experiences, really worked together with other people who are not maybe the same as I, they have other qualifications or other interests, together we can develop things that no one has done before. I always try to do something which no one has done because that's much more fun and it's also much more a challenge and gives an interest to me.(...) I always learn the most if I work together with people who don't know the same things as I do. I have really been surprised that most people, they tend to spend most of their time with people who do the same thing as themselves."'

Weidmark also gave us his perspective on pricing. As artists we tend to set our prices too low, and not value our work. If we don't do it, who will? We also don't have the best negotiation position, as we tend to do the work whether we get paid or not. It is important to acknowledge this. 

"If you think of a price then always raise it by at least 10 percent. Always do that! Because it's probably too low. After that I have come to the conclusion, I think of a price and I raise it with 50 %. That is probably more to the point. Especially if you have unique products or services."

An online interview with curator Mariangela Méndez Prencke who has moved to Boden and who works at the art space Havremagasinet gave us a chance to discuss our peripheral position, and how 'leveraging' identity can be problematic.  She gave a poetic take on the marginal position:

"The margins offer us a reward: The possibility of observing the center. Our invisibility has offered us the unique opportunity to peek steady and shamelessly scrutinize, but not without a healthy skepticism, the dreams and illusions of the center. Once at the center, they see us different but we are not different. Yes, we come from far away like a meteorite, but we are shaped by the same materials and yield similar dreams. Often we even express ourselves through this "difference" which, in itself, paradoxically legitimizes our inclusion and equal acceptance in the center."

Jenny Danielsson, gallerist, writer and maker of the Art Word Podcast dialled in from LA to give the group  a perspective on the Scandinavian vis a vi American art scene, and to share her journey working in auctions, publishing and the private gallery space. She confirmed our view of how small Scandinavia is in the wider picture and we talked about positioning and strategies to gauge interest from institutions.  

Professor and curator Ele Carpenter, head of UmArts, spoke at our IRL seminar at Umeå Arts Campus. The seminar, sponsored by eXpression Umeå was open to local creatives and artists. Carpenter comes from a background teaching the influential MA course in curating at Goldsmiths London. After artist talks and presentations, including her work on nuclear culture, we had the opportunity to talk about some topics that we were curious about. These were the opportunities and risks of the 'academisation' of art, and the curator's role. An interesting perspective that came up was the power of the curator, where the artist's works are sometimes positioned to speak to the curator's message. One of the artists in the audience, who used to be represented by a major gallery, said he is no longer interested in participating in group shows, because his work will just be there to illustrate something that the curator wants to say- and his intentions will inevitably be distorted.