The word “Autonomy” sounds outdated. In an artistic field, this term finds itself wedged between a number of possibilities: the romantic notion of the isolated Artist developing works in a studio; or the reality that to operate within given socio-political arenas those who play creative roles are only there to facilitate a public agendas or to smooth social process. These two positions are not mutually exclusive.
The current reformation of artistic practices as globalised and professionalised; and the ways in which these practices are implemented and permeated by the social, political and economic realm pose new questions and challenges to the entire field of artistic production, mediation and education. The Autonomy Project is an international collaboration between art spaces and research/education institutes that seeks to address these multi-faceted geographic and cultural cont exts, facilitating a number of events over the coming years in various locations, bringing the notion and practice of Autonomy back into debate.
The Autonomy project is coordinated by Steven ten Thije and Clare Butcher and supported by various institutions, University’s and school’s, collaborating on a project basis to share the urgency of the matter.
