Abstract

"Suppose an artist were to release the [art]work directly into a system that depends on reproduction and distribution for its sustenance, a model that encourages contamination, borrowing, stealing, and horizontal blur. The art system usually corrals errant works, but how could it recoup thousands of freely circulating paperbacks?" (Seth Price, 2012). If institutional interests operate such an enclosing grip on the representation of cultural production is the prospect of a "place for art" simply a utopian pipe dream ? Could it be that institutions themselves, such as the "market-driven establishment" are on the brink of ruin or at least shoring up against the spread of ruination and therefore in a constant nascent state – never a completed ideal – and opening up new places for art all the time? (Michael Phillipson, 1995). This paper will focus on nomadic and fragmented contemporary artistic practices, speculating on a potential "flooding of the system" with discursive activity which occupies a zone between art and society, between cultures of art practice and cultures of bureaucracy. A model that "encourages contamination, borrowing, stealing, and horizontal blur" through engagement with invited groups and individuals, visitors and other parties, will reveal alternative (and more inclusive) art practices that reclaim the places where culture has overlooked.