The phenomenon of collectivity

This year, documenta fifteen dared it for the first time: it left the helm to a collective, ruangrupa. At the same time, it also got out of hand. But it was certainly not the work form that was to blame. Because it harbors a lot of good ideas: Group work fixates not only on bringing in lots of ideas and perspectives, but also on unleashing utopian-seeming, deliberately daring alternative ways of living and working. Competition and profit maximization tend to push collectives to the sidelines. The elementary components from which a collective is formed are: a productive exchange of ideas and an emotional bond. According to Künstlerhaus Wien, it is true that artists often come together after their first training at an age between 25 and 30 and soon dissolve again, but the diversity of team formation is as great as the artistic form of expression itself.

From October 13, the Vienna Museum will be taking this currently resurgent phenomenon into account: the exhibition Loving Others will present models of collaboration. It also deliberately includes the part of »constructive failure«. The Künstlerhaus focuses on recent works that reveal a lot about the approach of artistic collaboration and specific forms of work and relationships. Two collectives, Bar du Bois and the ZIP Group collective, have each conceived an in-situ contribution specifically for Loving Others. And the documenta-experienced ruangrupa is also represented at the exhibition. The Künstlerhaus is also enticing visitors to the exhibition with the short film On the Art of Loving or a Film with 14441 Frames from 1972. It is said to be a particularly pointed kind of collaborative work. The film was commissioned by the Yugoslavian army, and was made by Karpo Godinas, who himself was doing his military service at the time. Anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the experiment of group work has until January 15 to do so.