«SThe belief is gaining ground that individual experience can be formidable for the individual, but if it does not also have a value for the community, nothing remains of this experience. Einstein said: a man is worth what he gives, not what he takes. The life of the community, understood as a group of individuals, is logically longer than a single individual life” wrote Bruno Munari in 1975 in the sheet From individualism to collectivism.
After the war, groups emerged that responded to the need to re-establish the artistic language on new assumptions: but it was the 60s and 70s that marked the full affirmation of the collective as a laboratory of shared practices. These experiences laid the foundations for an idea no longer linked to the single author, but generated by dialogue, by common planning and, often, by a similar ideological commitment.
But what does working together mean today?
Multifaceted artists, curatorial groups, multimedia talents, community spaces… the possibilities are multiplying. «The creative person must be generous, without closing himself off, but remaining available. There is the desire to give, to be with people, to create works that generate knowledge. When you share you grow as an artist: what you have given comes back to you in a more complex way” explains the artist PatrickTuttofuoco, part of the collective Specific based in BiM Milanan urban regeneration project that transformed a building in the Bicocca district into a cutting-edge business district, with a free cultural program open to the public. In Specific everyone dedicates themselves to their own work, and then collaborates on exhibitions and projects with the aim of creating “square”.
Engaging people on the basis of a shared art is a noble goal: if new homes and an important university building have made this area of the city evolve, however, a concept of exchange is missing. «This is not the classic gentrification that I saw living in New York and, later, in Berlin. In those cases, artists are often called to live in lesser-known neighborhoods, where empty spaces are made available to them… and then they are sent away once prices have skyrocketed. For us, Specific means working with “specificity”: with this space BiM has given us the possibility of generating a community reaction by putting our work “on display”, on the ground floor where everyone can see us work” continues the artist.
Neon “Surrender” by Patrick Tuttofuoco, exhibited in the spaces of BiM Milano.
The eclectic charm of shared contemporary art
Among the first collectives it stands out the Fluxus movement. Founded in 1961 thanks to the Lithuanian artist George Maciunas as a constellation of autonomous personalities, who recognized themselves in a common idea, without giving up their own identity. In this balance each artist interpreted Fluxus according to their own sensitivity, redefining its meaning based on place, time and the single voice of artists, designers, poets and musicians: the influence of John Cage was important, according to which everything was music or could become music. And then Yoko Ono, known for her relationship with John Lennonbut already an independent protagonist of an intense artistic activity: he organized events in his studio which brought together artists, dancers, musicians and composers. But also Nam June Paik, a Korean artist among the fathers of video art, who transformed televisions and video cameras into tools of artistic creation.
At a Fluxus event in New York in 1965, musician La Monte Young directs two men who wrap a musician with tape (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/The New York Historical via Getty Images).
Working under the banner of paradox, since 1993 a surreal touch has pervaded the work of the Austrian collective Gelitin/Gelatin: from performance to installation, between sculpture and new media, their works question the traditional relationship between artwork and public, and often encourage contact with people. The work was memorable twenty years ago Hase/Rabbit/Rabbita giant stuffed rabbit located in the Maritime Alps that invited the public to interact with its slowly decaying body, ruined by the elements.
The Austrian collective Gelitin/Gelatin (Gelitin).
The cult brand Acne Studios was also born in 1996 as a collective creative who produced furniture, music, exhibitions, films and publications. The brand became fashionable after the success of its denim: and so the acronym of Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises changed to Ambition to Create Novel Expressionswhile maintaining a focus on the artistic and editorial world.
The many faces of artistic expression
In 1982, in Milanto explore the expressive possibilities of new technological languages, is born Studio Azzurro. Through video environments, sensitive installations, museum tours, theater and film, he developed a language transversal to traditional disciplines, as a working group open to different contributions and collaborations. In his famous video environments, the electronic image merges with the physical space to restore centrality to the viewer and his perceptive paths.
Studio Azzurro’s intermedial museum for the Fellini Museum Rimini in Castel Sismondo in 2021 (Studio Azzurro).
A collective project can have many faces todayand find its most vital and autonomous expression in independent spaces (the artist-run spaces). Not just exhibition places, but real critical and productive ecosystems, essential for the visibility of relational practices. Giving voice to these realities is important: the Curatorial Collective Cripta747 in Turin supports emerging creativity by offering spaces, resources, training programs and artistic residencies, to create an environment where art and community interact in synergy.
The Punch space in Venice halfway between institutional practice and underground culturedevelops new forms and languages and offers the public a new vision of art. The Kublaiklan curatorial collective, again, aims to investigate different forms of interaction with photography. In addition to exhibition, editorial and educational projects, Kublaiklan pursues research on contemporary images, to make photography a shared language beyond the classic dimensions of the book, the screen and the exhibition.
Environments between dream and reality
In design, Italian “myths” follow one another. In 1965, Studio65 was born in Turina heterogeneous collective of architects, designers and artists founded by Franco Audrito who laid the foundations of Italian pop design between sofas with mouth lines and capital seats, still produced as iconic furnishings of elegant irony. Collected by Karl Lagerfeld (who decorated his apartment in Monte Carlo with their geometric works) the Memphis Group was born in 1981 Then as a colorful cultural movement led by Ettore Sottsass: this laboratory for new design ideas will become a true cultural phenomenon, animated by young designers destined to make history.
The Memphis group in the domestic boxing ring “Tawaraya Ring” (Aldo Ballo).
An original creativity that also inspired Uchronia: between architecture, decoration and visual identity, this French multidisciplinary collective it creates spaces that seem to have come out of another dimension. This is symbolized by its very name, inspired by the Greek term ucronìa: literally “time that does not exist”. «We are a close-knit and expanded team thanks to the involvement of many craftsmen» explains founder Julien Sebban. «We create installations in an ephemeral way to convey the idea of daydreaming, like the statuesque “day” bed now installed in the courtyard of the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris».
One last monumental project: 15-meter inflatable flowers “blossomed” in the California desert during the Coachella festivaldeveloped over two years of work. «Working in a collective allows us to set no limits to our imagination, integrating the savoirfaire of people and manufacturing into projects that they would not realize alone. This is why I love design: a bit like the Memphis Group did, I can bring utopia into real spaces.”