else would kent hansen make employees imagine

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A RGANISATIONALRTMartin FM r Ferrerr o ThomsenT

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN |2005 ( P U B L I C A T I O N

A Study of Art at Work in Organisations

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O R G A N I S A T I O N A L A R T- A Study of Art at Work in Organisations -

BY MARTIN FERRO- THOMSEN ([email protected]) // APRIL 2005 // SUPERVISOR: ANNE RING PEDANSK KANDIDATAFHANDLING // INSTITUT FOR NORDISKE STUDIER OG SPROGVID

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES // UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

W e b s t e r s E n c y c l o p e d i c U n a b r i d g e d

D i c t i o n a r y

,

R a n

d o m

H o u s e 1 9 9 6

, m a n

i p u

l a t i o n

It is legal to copy and distribute this paper in its current form. A digital version is availablefrom www.ferro.dk. Pictures are reproduced with permission from the artists. Use of anycontent outside this context requires special permission. Used fonts are ID:00 and ID:03by E- Types and Learning Lab Denmark. A special thanks to The Creative Alliance atLearning Lab Denmark for accommodating this project and believing in it from the very

beginning. This thesis is also published in print by Videnskabsbutikken (The Science Shop)and is available from www.videnskabsbutikken.dk - ISBN: 87- 91337- 43-7.

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0 0_CONTENT1 INTRODUCTION 3

Composition and Intention 4 Two Examples of Organisational Art7 Institutional Theory of Art 11 Arts- and- Business 13

2 JOHN LATHAM & ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP 16 Time, Event and Knowledge18 Cosmology, Industry and Policy 19 The Incidental Person 23 Big Breather and Scottish Office Placement 26

3 INDUSTRIES OF VISION BY DEMOCRATIC INNOVATION 33 People and Partners 35 Phases 37

3.2 Process and Exchange 45 3.3 The Scope of Art 50

Rules, Authority and Games 53 Heterotopia 55

3.4 Organisational Culture and Learning 58 Building the Helping Relationship58 Art as a Helping Hand60 Sustainable Change? 62

4 TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANISATIONAL ART 67 Social Engagement 67 Concept and Discourse 73 Site- Specificity and Context75

5 CONCLUSION 81

6 REMARKS ON METHOD83

7 ABSTRACT 89

8 BIBLIOGRAPHY91

9 APPENDIX96 Academic evaluation of this thesis

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSAI: Appreciative Inquiry APG: Artist Placement Group di: democratic innovation IOV:Industry of Vision LK: Lauritz Knudsen Inc. OA: Organisational Art PC: ProcessConsultation

* indicates that the citation is translated from Danish. Citations without page numberssometimes indicate an online text.

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1 1_INTRODUCTION

Organisational Art (OA) is a tentative title that designatesart projects by contemporary artists, who work togetherwith non- artistic organisations (such as companies,institutions, communities, governments and NGOs) toproduce art that in one way or another evolves aroundorganisational issues. OA can tentatively be described associally engaged, conceptual, discursive, site- specific andcontextual.

This investigation is a journey into combined forms of art and organisation. In recentyears we have witnessed a higher degree of direct interaction and exchange between artand organisation, two fields that both have undergone drastic changes, socially andstructurally. The artist is no longer only a producer of aesthetic objects and organisations

are not only interacting with the art world by patronage, sponsorship and acquiring artworks for the office.In recent years there has been a general decrease in government arts funding. At thesame time the upsurge of people who enter the art world and neighbouring creativeindustries makes competition for funding increasingly harder and looking for fundingfrom the private sector and endowments has become an obvious response.Globalisation has forced organisations to think along unconventional lines to survive. Toaccommodate societal trends and attract an able workforce, organisations have grown agreater awareness of cultural and social issues. Branding is important to compete in aglobal economy and association with anything that is considered cutting-edge or sexy isof interest to organisations. This has furthered dialogue between art and organisation,also for companies and artists that are more interested in partnership than success fromscandal. In general, the call for creative people is growing, whether this might mean avisionary leader or an artist guised as a manager.The work of art has become increasingly difficult to separate from other cultural

products. Innovation, above all, is at centre stage. This is not just due to growing

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commoditisation of art but also that innovation is no longer just an artistic prerogative.Light speed technological advances and a general understanding of the importance of innovation have led to widespread appreciation of heterogeneity and pushingboundaries, both on individual and societal levels (stergaard 1999). Today the work of art is comparable to a cultural- aesthetic service, which takes the form of organising,negotiating, coordinating, researching and promoting. The artist has become a criticalprovider of such services; performing as a facilitator, educator, coordinator and even abureaucrat (Kwon 2002).

To some, this may sound as the realisation of the historical art avant- gardes project,where art has finally been integrated in the praxis of life rather than being confined to a

subsystem in society. However, any avant- garde would dissolve its project by achievingit, which means that if art was finally integrated fully in society it would becometransparent (cf. Brger 1984). Given the strong reactions that novel social art formshave caused, this is hardly the case. The oldest question in the art discourse, Is it art?, isbeing posed more frequently than ever and this is also happening in the emerging crossfield of art and organisation. However, as we shall see when we arrive at our finaldestination, there is in OA a connection to the historical avant- garde in relation namely to

their ambition to advance society. But OAs methods are far more mundane than theiravant- garde predecessors: Ultimately OA is about cooperation and exchange , rather than just change .

Composition and IntentionI first became aware that something was going on in the crossfield of art and

organisation when I in the spring of 2003 met Kent Hansen and his (at the time) one-person artist organisation democratic innovation (always written with lower caseletters). I was attending a course at University of Copenhagen about organisationaltheory and communication that included a three month internship. I wanted to workdirectly with art and culture and I came across this, to me, rather strange artist who hadreplaced his paint brushes with a laptop, and his studio with an office located vis- - vis adesign agency. He worked primarily interdisciplinary, that is, with other artists andtogether with companies, consultants, researchers and other non- artist partners in artprojects, which often focused on social issues.

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Namely his project Industries of Vision was strongly centred on collaborative processeswith a strange mix of other artists and people that, at least traditionally, had noappreciation of contemporary art such as managers and employees in twomanufacturing companies in the province. The tangible art work in the traditional sensewas suspended in favour of an artefact that seemed secondary to the art process itself.To me this was all refreshing, although it seemed to short- circuit many of the traditionalconcepts of art as I knew it, mainly concerning the art object and its context, the artistsubject and the traditional circulation of art.When I took my exam in the mentioned course, I learned that organisational theory alonecould not describe this art form which perhaps wasnt so surprising but I also foundthat I actually still didnt fully understand what was going on and that there wasnt much

knowledge to be found on this phenomenon. This, I thought, was a good starting pointfor any thesis, so why not make it mine?

This investigation does not aim just to discuss whether or not the projects in question areart, but is in favour of a more pragmatic approach, that goes one step further and asksWhat happens when they call it art?. Embedded in the question is the assumption thatcalling something art generates effects that also go beyond the artwork. An important

word is they. By this I refer to what happens when the artists call their work art andwhen the hosting organisations call it art. I believe that the interpretive intersections andsplits between these two theys form an important part of the artworks effects, thiswork either being an idea, process or artefact. In some of the projects we shall see thatnot calling it art also is among the adopted strategies.Although there exists no art police, dealing with art addresses the issue of coherencewith centuries of described art practice. Thus, another aim is to examine how OAarticulates and possibly furthers trajectories from the history of art.This investigation is not an authoritative account of something called OA. OA is rather tobe considered a discursive vector that, hopefully, will achieve its significance along theway. To capture the essence of OA, I have had to get involved face- to- face with severalof these artists since there often was only little documentation to rely on. Thus, thisthesis can be viewed as a permutation of fundamental research and various existingmaterial, sometimes hard to come by.As always with contemporary art, there are no chromium- plated methods or readymade

bodies of theory that I can easily adopt. This is even more pronounced with OA that

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stands with one foot in the art institution and the other in a given organisational field.This means that I will abandon a singular mode of inquiry in favour of a more dialogicaland attentive approach, which is better able to comply with the ambiguous nature of thisartistic form. Furthermore, as I believe that one cannot fully understand the impact of these art projects solely from an art historical or - theoretical perspective, I will includesupplementary perspectives when possible, such as from social science andorganisational theory.

This investigation has its main emphasis on contemporary art but will go as far back asthe sixties, as crucial parts of todays framework for OA was laid out then. In thisintroductory chapter, after mentioning two examples of OA, outlining a useable

definition of art in relation to our journey and differentiating OA from Arts- and-Business, I will make an in- depth account of the British Artist Placement Group (founded1966) and the artist John Latham (chapter 2). He coined the concept of the artist as anIncidental Person, which describes an unprecedented way of interacting withorganisations. To my knowledge, neither the group nor Latham have been thoroughlyintroduced in a Danish context and are still widely and unjustly unappreciated, especiallyoutside the UK.

Next follows a large case study (chapter 3) of before mentioned Industries of Vision (2001), where I make use of both art- and organisational theory. In this art project, agroup of artists collaborated with staff in two manufacturing companies to explore thepotentials of the interplay between art and organisation. I find it to be one of the mostinteresting projects in recent time, which is why I have chosen to emphasise it in thisinvestigation. This is the first time this project has been treated thoroughly in academia,both in Denmark and abroad.

Finally I will outline a theoretical framework for OA (chapter 4) by sampling relevanttheory from the art historical discourse and attune it to the treated OA projects. I willthen arrive at my final conclusion (chapter 5), which is followed by a few reflections onthis thesis method (chapter 6),

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Two Examples of Organisational ArtHenrik Schrat: The Appearance of Fantasy

Henrik Schrat is a German artist who often works interdisciplinary and is concerned with

the exchange of economic- and cultural value, which he at times stands on its head. Forinstance in the project Feeding Back (2002) where he deployed a manager- in- residenceat Slade School of Fine Art in London as a reversal of the concept of artist- in- residence;this project he also described in one of his intermittent comic book productions ( The Pink Suit, 2003).In his project The Appearance of Fantasy (completed 2000) he worked together withDresdner Bank in Germany to make an installation in the large trading room of FrankfurtStock Exchange. Through Kulturstiftung Dresden of Dresdner Bank (an art/culturedepartment), he presented the idea to the influential Chairman of the bank who liked itand recommended it to the Chairman of the stock exchange that agreed to the project,presumably because they needed some decoration in the trading room (Schrat2000:218).

The Appearance of Fantasy , Henrik Schrat, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, 2000 (courtesy of the artist).

Schrats idea was to cover 160 sq. m. of empty wall with 68 panels covered with usedcandy wrappers; he would need some 50,000 pieces to do the job. The bank coordinatedthe collecting with their 1,200 branches all over Germany, which made it a nation-wideproject. The artist had agreed to donate part of the installation to an auction as a way of

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word fantasy (Phantasie) is used to describe speculative hopes and room forimaginative dealing (Resche 2001). Schrat points towards the curious fact that there stillexists such a place as a trading room when all trade happens virtually though phones andcomputers: Here, a shape is found to materialize the flow of virtual money and he alsocalls that shape an altar (Schrat 2000:216). Following these thoughts, the trade roombecomes similar to a church and consumerism would be the constituted religion.

Local Access: Simulation

Local Access (French: Accs Local) is a French artist group founded in 1998 that developscollaborative art projects in non- artistic contexts. They are devoted to adding existentialvalue2 to the average work life by applying artistic methods to non- artistic purposes,

and non- artistic methods to artistic purposes. For this purpose, they have since 2001been working with various partners on a tool they call Simulation (see illustration).

Simulation , Local Access, one- day seminar, prototype #2,drawing after real situation, 2004 (Mathias Delfau for Local Access).

Simulation is a system that allows for a homogenous group of people to discuss aspecific issue around a table where everyone is plugged into a console with headphones.It enables them via a dial to choose who they listen to but not who they talk to. Thismeans that they cant interrupt a conversation (but it is possible to eavesdrop), theycant listen to everything and they cant impose a specific point of view onto anyone. A

2 All quotes and information about Local Access and Simulation is found at www.acces- local.com and in aleaflet Simulation exclusive listening system printed by Local Access.

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member of the group selects conversations that are transcribed directly and videoprojected on the wall for everyone to see.In the course of a day a group of people, e.g. a department from a company, meetaround the system and go through a five-step protocol where a facilitator asks them toimagine various scenarios that are designed specifically for that group relating to tasksthey are presently facing. By signalling across the table, people link up and talk/listenthrough the system, allowing multiple simultaneous conversations around the sametable without interference, as the sound in the headphones drown the otherconversations in the room.The system challenge and subvert normal group hierarchies in a safe and agreed uponenvironment with so-called productive disturbance, such as disorientation and blurring

of roles. As such it simulates turbulent situations in a group or companys existence,especially when threatened by new or complex situations. It is often when threatenedthat the core values and identity of a group surface. In Simulation however, what wouldnormally be considered dangerous in a company becomes a mutual experience for thegroup, often positive and rewarding, where the groups identity is strengthened.They wont leave without problems, theyll leave with problems of higher quality, LocalAccess states about the experience. This experience is described by participants as

comparable to a great art experience, although Simulation normally is not articulated asart, which is done to avoid disturbance from outdated or false appreciations of contemporary art.This strategy is common to OA artists. Often art makes unbiased people think of something that has to do with painting or sculpture, crazy ideas and fun. To avoid theseexpectations, an artist can choose to not call his work art or to call it something else, aswe shall see soon with the Artist Placement Group and John Latham, who used IncidentalPerson to describe their new artist role. Another strategy is to utilise the possibilities thatsuch expectations enable, which is done successfully in Industries of Vision .

Simulation is constantly being developed; each new prototype is more advanced than itspredecessor. Every time it is put to use in a workshop, the developers learn more of itspotential and at the same time it opens up for a more in- depth understanding of groupdynamics and values, similarities and differences between art and organisation. It hasbeen exhibited in artistic spaces and used with several groups from companies, such as

Orange and the Fischer Brewery.

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In the latter a sales division was through Simulation quickly made aware of a mistakenstrategy. Further collaboration with several workshops has led to a change in directionand ultimately the companys sales have gone up by 4% in a period where the market hasgone down by 11%3. Simulation is based on a seemingly simple idea that surfaces and articulates complexissues. This was also the case with Schats project, and as it will be demonstratedthroughout this investigation, it is a frequent trait of OA.

Institutional Theory of ArtAs we go along, we have to have a clear idea of what is meant by saying art to establisha common frame of mind where misunderstandings are less apt to occur. Therefore, I willshortly outline a useable definition of this somewhat troublesome term. One of thereasons why it causes problems is that it is simply not clearly defined or, perhaps rather,over - defined. This is also the impression one gets from studying various encyclopaedias,where it soon becomes clear that the efforts to define art are happening on acontinuing basis 4.However, there is one important definition of the term that suits our project, known as

The Institutional Theory of Art, a theory that defines art by relational property ratherthan material property. In an article under the same title, Robert J. Yanal (1998) gives agood overview of the main attempts to define the theory. Historically it stems fromefforts to explain the paradox of how two physically and aesthetically identical objectsbecome different, when one of them is labelled art. Two obvious examples are MarcelDuchampsFountain and Andy WarholsBrillo Boxes.The first response is from the founder of the theory, Arthur Danto, who in 1964 wrote:

To see something as art requires something the eye cannot descryan atmosphere of artistictheory, a knowledge of the history of art: an artworld (all citations from Yanal 1998).

By mentioning artistic theory, Danto refers to artrelevant predicates, whichunfortunately raises another problem, namely of who is capable of predicating. Dantoreplies that only an artist is able to determine if a certain predicate is artrelevant which

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According to a private e- mail from Patrick Mathieu (11.2.2005), who is a consultant working with LocalAccess.4 Cf. Barnes 1998.

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in turn offers the problem of what artist means. And why would one bother withpredicates if a simple annunciation is all it takes to make something art?The theory was adopted and perfected by George Dickie. He drew into detail the fact thatit is the decisions of persons, mostly but not only artists, that turn objects into art. Thisled to the following definition by Dickie (1974):

A work of art in the classificatory sense is (1) an artifact (2) a set of the aspects of which has hadconferred upon it the status of candidate for appreciation by some person or persons acting onbehalf of a certain social institution (the artworld).

There are two important issues to note in this definition: (1) It is value-neutral and (2) itaddresses the conferral of status by someone on behalf of the art world (actually, as we

shall see soon, (2) annuls (1), since there in the word someone is presented a non-objective perspective that ultimately cannot be value- neutral).Dickie acknowledges, that there exists no formal authority that decides who is a memberof the institution, the art world. He does however say, that there are core personnel(mainly artists, curators and critics) who are the ones most capable of making theconferral (similar to a university that bestows a title on a person), but he continues:every person who sees himself as a member of the artworld is thereby a member.It should now be clear that we have arrived at a circular definition of art, especially sincedealing with the family of art concepts (art, artist, artwork etc.) must be defined inrelation to each other.

So, are we back to square one then? I think not. Although circular and open to severalattacks 5, I find the theory very useful for our project. Mainly because there by art worldis implied the existence of a body of expertise in matters of art and at the same time itis not a static concept, but defined as convention 6. Anyone can call anything art at any

time, but it only enters the art institution if someone capable confers it to a gallery orapproves it by some other action.It is noteworthy that conferral today often is dependent on a works innovative character(or use of context), which is why convention becomes a practice that in the case of artalso embeds the ambition to renew itself. Apart from the often maintained examples of artists that for years unjustly have been left out in the cold, that is, unappreciated bythe art institution in their time, the Institutional Theory of Art works in practice because it

5 Yanal mentions the five most influential attacks, but concludes that the theory has not been refuted.6 See Sartwell 1998, where he defines art world similarly to Danto/Dickie.

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facilitates a professional treatment of the use of art. Anyone with a serious ambition tobecome an artist are dependent on some form of conferral at all times, which is why theywill only call their work art if they truly believe it qualifies as art.This in turn addresses the nature of the institution itself, whose judgement above waslabelled value- neutral in essence. This, however, is hardly the case, which history hasshown us time and again, one example being the unappreciated artist, who shortlybefore or after his death, is restored to glory. Another example is in extreme politicalenvironments, such as The Nazi Regime where now famous artists were labelleddegenerates.This is why artists have engaged in what formally is called Institutional Critique, whichaddresses the fact that the institution of art represents the central locus of power in the

cultural field, historically in the form of the museum but later as a cultural- socialabstraction or network. The critique serves both to advance the institution but also todemonstrate its shortcomings 7. I will return to discussions on OAs relation to the artinstitution throughout the thesis.

Arts- and- Business

Let us now consider a neighbouring field to OA where interdisciplinary projects make useof artful approaches that are applied to organisational environments but withoutentering the art institution. In the so-called Arts- and- Business field, possibly namedafter the agency Arts & Business in the UK (also known as simply A&B), business havegone beyond mere patronage. Unlike most governments that have cut back on artsfunding8, the private sector often considers sponsoring the arts a good investment withlots of return both in terms of money, benefits and spin- off.

A current example is the food and soap company Unilevers sponsorship of the UnileverSeries at Tate Modern, a continuing programme of commissions worth 1.25 m. over fiveyears. Apart from their name in the title, Unilever gets free access for staff and clientparties, the right to advertise their sponsorship and run spin-off educational and socialprogrammes. They even conducted an exhaustive audit to make sure they got propervalue for their money, which concluded that they got 1.5 in value for 1 spent 9.

7 See Cravagna 2001 for more reading on this subject.8

See for example: Douglas McLennan: The End of Arts Funding?, Newsweek Web Exclusive, 29 May 2003.9 Farah Nayeri: Europe's Corporate Art Sponsors Seek More Bang for Their Bucks, Bloomberg, 4 March,Bloomberg.com.

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It is important to notice the plural form of arts in this field, which indicates a wide rangeof disciplines, such as music, theatre, film and photography and not just what is normallyreferred to as fine or contemporary art.

For more than twenty years A&B have helped business people support the arts & thearts inspire business people 10. This happens via some of the following models:

1. One model is what is called the arts- based consultant where an artist (such as amusician, film director, actor, storyteller, painter etc.) enters a company or institution andengages the employees in various types of inspirational or even transformationalprocesses, using his artistic methods and capabilities. The solo violinist Miha Pogacnic is

an example of an arts-based business consultant; more than twenty years ago he startedplaying classical masterpieces in offices around the world. Through decomposition heinspires mainly business people to better understand the musical piece he plays and, atbest, their work/life (cf. Dars 2004:93- 94).

2. Another model is corporate arts and development programmes where employees aretaught by an artist to access the arts, as it is often called, by painting, photographing,

sculpting etc. themselves. Project Catalyst at Unilever is a good example of such aprogramme where many artists (actors, poets, clowns, comedians, cooks, painters etc.)are employed in the company for various tasks. For more than four years employeeshave been offered to take salsa- classes, writing- and photography courses, etc. and theidea is that by doing so the employees discover their creative potential which in turnmakes them more engaged and inspired employees. So far the programme has been asuccess for both management and employees (Dars 2004:109- 111).

3. A third model is the so- called artist- in- residence model, where various types of artistsare paid to stay for a longer period of time in an organisation and work in or with theorganisation on certain tasks, such as decorating the environment, designing a sculptureon- site or simply working on their own. The most thorough account of an artist- in-residence programme can be found in Art and innovation: The Xerox PARC Artist- in-Residence Program , (ed. Craig Harris 1999). Here Xerox paired various visual artists within- house researchers to do joint projects. Another example is the agency NyX in

10 www.aandb.org.uk .

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Copenhagen that ran the InnovationsAlliancer2004 programme, where 20 artists (filmdirectors, actors, sculptors etc.) were paired with 20 companies for 20 days theprogramme was recently evaluated as successful by Learning Lab Denmark 11. As we shallsee with chapter 2, the concept of artist- in- residence is a diluted version of ArtistPlacement Group's placement.

These are some of the most prevalent models but the list is in no way conclusive. Just aswell as Salvador Dali did window decorations for a fee, I believe that the Arts-and-Business models of exchange are legitimate in their own right and that most times bothbusinesses and artists benefit from it; which also could help explain why this field seemsto be growing steadily 12.

However, Arts- and- Business projects are rarely conferred to the institution of art and aretherefore not of interest to our investigation. Especially the instrumental idea of use orapplication of art (methods) is counter to the emergent nature of OA and the nature of art itself. Naturally there are several overlaps between the two fields and an artist couldeasily be part of both; I even believe that some OA artists benefit from this generalinterest in the art(s). But it should now be clear that this in an investigation in art andorganisation and not in Arts- and-Business.

We now move on to explore one of the first examples in modern time where art issuccessfully integrated in organisational practice: John Latham and Artist PlacementGroup.

11 The evaluation is accessible online at www.lld.dk/consortia/thecreativealliance/files/nyxpdf .12 For a thorough mapping of the Arts-and- Business field, please refer to Dars 2004.

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2 2_JOHN LATHAM & ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP

In the history of human thinking the most fruitfuldevelopments frequently take place at those points wheretwo different lines of thought meet.

W. Heisenberg (Physics and Philosophy: The Revolutions in Modern Science ,London: Allen & Unwin, 1959, p. 161; cited from Walker 1995:19)

Artist Placement Group (today called O+I) were in the 60s some of the first artists inmodern time to leave their studios to work in organisational environments. Theydeveloped a comprehensive framework for artist placements in organisations, whichtoday is echoed in many contemporary OA projects. In the following I will give a richaccount of this framework with specific emphasis on the artist John Latham, who workedwith the group to develop the framework.Artist Placement Group (often referred to as simply APG) was founded in 1966 in Britainby artists John Latham, Barbara Steveni, Jeffrey Shaw and Barry Flanagan and was soon joined by Stuart Brisley, David Hall, and Ian MacDonald Munro. As artists they were quitedifferent but they were united by their common goal: Placing art in non- art contexts,such as government departments and industry. Over the years the number of artistsassociated with APG grew and some left. The placements count numerous artists withdiverse backgrounds and organisations in several countries, such as British Airways,British Rail, British Steel, Esso Petroleum, The Department of Health, The Department of the Environment and The Scottish Office in England; and NRW Germany and Institutes of

Design in Norway, Holland and Spain.

APG believed that the contemporary artist had become isolated in his studio and, moregenerally, in the art institution, which was accessible mainly to biased spectators,counting perhaps only a few percent of society. Why was art not a legitimate and equalmatch to other conventional disciplines and professions? Part of the answer was thatthe potential audience of any artists was only reachable though the private gallery and

the public museum, but being exhibited here happened only for few successful artists.This led to ghetto- tendencies that made it almost impossible for an outsider to

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various internet articles it has been possible for me to gather the knowledge to write thischapter.In the following I will try not to repeat the mistake by making a thin account of Lathamsart and ideas, since without the latter the former cannot be comprehended fully.However, as I am mainly concerned with his work in and with organisations, my emphasiswill be on Lathams concepts of event- structure and time- base, his cosmology andfinally his contribution to APG and their placement framework. This means that I willleave out central parts of his work, such as his figurative paintings, book reliefs,happenings, installations and practically all of his writing15.

Time, Event and KnowledgeTo Latham, art production is a matter of ordering events in time, rather than orderingmaterial in space 16. He had begun his artistic career as a talented expressive and partlyfigurative oil painter influenced mainly by the Greek painter El Greco (1541- 1614). In 1954several defining events occurred that changed Lathams work and his view on art andsociety. This year he had bought a spray paint gun for domestic purposes but as a favourto two close scientist friends, he agreed to paint a Halloween mural in their house using

the paint gun. It became a revelation to him. Unlike his normal tools of the trade, thespray gun was capable of making paint marks that was almost infinitely small. Theresultant image was a direct outcome of the time that the trigger was pressed. It had apurely abstract nature without any temporality, other than that of the signified trigger-time.Latham had discovered a simple way that a fundamental unit of time, which he called aleast event 17, could be represented visually as one dot (a quantum-of- mark) that at

the same time signified a minimum of creative activity. A white canvas with black spraypaint easily resembled an inverted star cloud, symbolising the cosmos. Thus, Lathamviewed the canvas as ground zero, the equivalent of the completely empty void incosmos before all events, a state similar to that before the Big Bang 18. This state Lathamhad seen mirrored in Robert Rauschenbergs white monochromes, which he saw as arts

15 I refer to Walker 1995 for a full, chronological account on Lathams oeuvre. Here, a very central text byLatham, Time-Base and Determination in Events, is reprinted as an appendix.16 I will use past tense in much of the writing on Latham to mark the historical distance, even though he inthe time of writing fortunately is very much alive.17

Times equivalent of a fundamental particle (Walker 1995:20).18 A theory stemming from 1927 but highly relevant at the time of the Cold War as the theory hypothesisesthat Universe at a certain point will return to the state before the Big Bang.

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reduction to an absolute nothing. To him, art and science had converged and thispromised opportunities of a new departure, where the two fields would walk hand inhand (cf. Walker 1995:20- 22).Latham believed that we cannot rely on history and science alone to advance humanity,simply because these fields alone are not able to describe reality: Science too is fallible(shown by the fact that established propositions have been overruled by competingtheories or empirical discoveries throughout history) and the future is never exactly thesame as the past. From this follows that humanity always will have to act in a state of incomplete knowledge and uncertainty where we also have to rely on feelings, instinctsand intuition (ibid.:24).This is why Latham targeted mostly encyclopaedias and dictionaries when creating his

famous book reliefs and later his controversial Skoob Towers (Skoob is books spelledbackwards), which were towers build from books that were burned in public spaces.Books are knowledge in congested form, but in contrast life is fluent and changing which for instance is revealed by the fact that reference books constantly has to beupdated due to the mutability of language and knowledge (ibid.:103).Latham has continued to develop his theory in his art and writing. It would be toocomprehensive to go into detail with everything here. What is important for our

investigation is the way Lathams 1954- discovery reveals the potentiality in the artistrole. In a paper from 1975 he cites the philosopher Bertrand Russel for saying What weneed is a language which shall copy nature (cited from Walker 1995:24). To Latham,spray gun painting was such a language because it simulated the natural process of evolution in cosmos, where layers of spray paint represent the different stages of awareness and knowledge. As we shall see, the discovery was evidence of the powerfulartistic position that he and APG would develop under the name The Incidental Person:

It was the artists intuition and insight that was responsible for this discovery, therefore theartists special function was to achieve states of knowing and awareness that did not depend onfamiliarisation with vast quantities of accumulated knowledge [] (Walker 1995:24).

Cosmology, Industry and PolicyLathams focus on time and event is a condition for artists placements in organisationsas it allows for an art production that is linked to processes rather than artefacts. In

many ways the APG framework is inseparable from the epistemological and societalideas of John Latham often referred to as a cosmology due to their comprehensive

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nature, aiming to change arts position in society and ultimately to change society itself for the better.In short, Latham contended that we experience only one reality but we then accumulateand describe our knowledge about this reality within a wide range of disciplines andfields, such as in science and religion, which in turn only are able to account for limiteddescriptions of the same reality. The specialisation within disciplines only strengthensthis overall division, as so-called experts are forced to stay within their own field toachieve a high level of knowledge, making them illiterate to a more holistic orcosmological description of the world. According to Latham the divided state of knowledge has led to a severe crisis that plague humanity (Walker 1995:2), a crisiswhere art would be key to a solution. As we saw, he viewed art as superior to spoken

language but also as the best medium to disseminate his theory of time/event, which hemaintained would provide a common basis for humanity to understand reality as awhole.

The artist was the type of person that could bridge the divisionary gaps due to his or hersArchimedean position in society, both inside and outside at the same time and able tosee patterns of coherence across divided fields. This was the case both on a universal,

societal level, but also locally in an organisational placement where they were able (andby contract allowed) to transcend departments and hierarchies as no other employeeand perhaps even manager could.This way Latham and APG could circumvent the artists outsider position and turn it intoan advantage and furthermore they would begin to establish artists as a direct part of the decision-making bodies of society.According to Latham, these bodies such as in industry, government departments andthe media were concerned mostly with a short and limited time-horizon, which failedto comply with human development and purpose (Steveni 2002) which in turn wasreduced to a matter of economics and expedience in the form of gross national productand equally short- sighted monetary indicators.To Latham art was a special kind of cognition and art works a device for comprehendingand understanding cosmos. It follows that art works should have a didactic form thatwould allow the audience to reproduce the learning it contained 19. Thus, the new role of art, as he and APG envisioned it, would help society to see humanity in the clarity of

19 Walker uses the word traps of art that captures the spectator and his judgements of the world andenlightens him (Walker 1995:42).

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longer- term perspectives and would function as a more advanced system of accountingfor human development.

Lathams work Offer for Sale from 1974, accurately describes the nature of the art worldversus the organisational world (in this case mainly business and governmentdepartments), using the particular language of accountancy to outline some of thedichotomies inherent in the two fields. At a show at The Gallery (an alternative art spaceat the time), Latham devised a three-pronged display unit featuring photostats withreproductions of two documents. Both documents were entitled Offer for sale andissued by organisations with the initials APG.

Offer for Sale , John Latham, installed at The Gallery, 1974 (courtesy of the artist/O+I).

The idea of using certain non- artistic rhetoric to describe art came from an advice APGgot from their first attempts of setting up placements in industry, suggesting theyshould mimic language and manner familiar to people from the corporate sector 20.Before the show at The Gallery, Latham had come across a written commercial offer froma group of companies, called Allied Polymer Group (abbreviated APG), that offered tosell shares and outlined a list of benefits concerning capital, directors, bankers, policy etc.

20 A strategy they actually adopted with success. Another trait from the business world, which theyappropriated, is an advisory committee, including non- artist members.

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It was this document that he had matched point by point in an alternative art- versionand presented side by side with the original. In the following table, I have described thecharacter of the two oppositional organisations and their respective fields (cf. Walker1995:128):

Allied Polymer Group Artist Placement GroupCapital value is Money Accumulated experience Success is measured Financially By units of attention21 and the

general level of awareness inducedThe ultimate goal is Profit for stakeholders To increase the quality of life and

level of meaningThe product is... Useful goods Useless art works - generates new

insights, ideas, imageryThe time- base is Short- term policies Long- term aims

Seeks to satisfy Specific markets The needs of society as a wholeIndividuals are Fixed within hierarchicalorganisational structures

Independent beings and capable of operating at any level withinorganisations

The use of availableresources should

Be maximised Be maximised

Economy is defined in Financial terms Economy of expression

This work can be seen both as an account of the enormous gap between the two fields,

suggesting that they could never meet; but also as an invitation to the corporate sectorand an attempt to meet them on their grounds by speaking their language. The nearlytotal lack of common ground provides a weighty argument for exploring any possibilityof working together as the potentiality of mutual learning and benefit is huge on bothsides.I do not believe that any business person, today or in the 70s, would fully agree withLatham, nor would all artists; but one should not forget the somewhat polemic nature of the piece. A lot has happened since 1974: Today soft expressions such as ethics (caringabout a companys social and environmental context); sustainability (adopting longersighted solutions) are part of many business peoples vocabulary, although it could bemaintained that the business world in general still has a lot to learn on these matters.Also, there is a greater appreciation of value as something other than just cash; flat andopen structures are often preferred to hierarchical and fixed ones and there is a greaterfocus on an employee as an individual rather than just a piece in a machinery.

21 Lathams expression for an artwork, which he sees as something that attracts attention.

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However, I believe the contrasts outlined in Lathams work are able to identify many of the potential conflicts that can arise in joint ventures between art and organisation, thenas today. This will also be evident in chapter 3 about Industries of Vision .

The Incidental PersonSo, in what exactly, lay this potential for mutual learning and how was it at all possiblefor artists to enter the realm of organisational life without making devastatingcompromises? In 1966 APG issued a report on possible benefits for artists who workedwith organisations. They were: Access to materials, machines and new technologies andin some cases even patronage from the host organisation (Walker 1995:98). At this earlypoint, the art object was still of main concern to APG. This was soon changed as theirambitions grew when realising what possibilities the concept of placement reallypossessed.In 1972, due to some brilliant lobbying from Barbara Steveni, who took care of thecontract work with host organisations, APG managed to have a Civil Service Memorandumissued:

Their intention is not that of the traditional relationship of patronage. Rather, they seek to havean artist in the day- to- day work of an organisation. The latter may be expected to benefit in avariety of ways. These may vary from contributions to the creation of some concrete objects tonew ideas about work methods. Generally, APGs aim is an attempt to bridge the gap betweenartists and people at work so that each may gain from the others perspective and approaches toan activity (cited from Walker 1995:98).

This memorandum was of crucial importance to APG and their placements in thegovernment as it was circulated to departments as a recommendation. The artist was

seen as simply a kind of person with certain abilities, such as creativity, formation andinsight, and someone who could contribute with longer- term perspectives. Thememorandum was also groundbreaking in establishing the artist as a professionaloutside the art world. This was of vital importance, not least to Latham who wanted tomake a distinction between the traditional role of the artists and this new one, as thiscould help settle with laymens false appreciation of the contemporary artist (as a wildgenius or starry- eyed dreamer that would be either dangerous or useless in anorganisational environment).

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Thus Latham coined the alternative terms Conceptual Engineer and notably IncidentalPerson. By incidental the unbiased and independent nature of the artist is stressed. S/hewas from the beginning of a placement more or less unfamiliar with the organisationalenvironment and thus able to respond to this from an unbiased and more objectiveperspective. The artists ambition to meet the needs of society as a whole should ideallymake him or her able to withstand contrasting organisational policies or agendas thatmight compromise his or her work. However, there are always compromises whenworking in collaboration and perhaps even more so when the working partners havetotally different backgrounds. To get artistic ideas realised and also avoid being pushedaside, the artistic proposal had to encompass realistic ideas for implementation. Still, theartist was not guaranteed that the organisation would accommodate even the best of

ideas, as will be evident shortly, when I account for Lathams placement at the ScottishOffice.I believe this is a general problem within the practice of Organisational Art. One could askwhy it is not stated in the contract that management must implement whatever theartist comes up with (within reason naturally). APG even stated in their contracts thatthey would not subvert organisation, but as any art project is ultimately an experiment,no reasonable company would agree beforehand to financially endorse the outcome

without stating a clear limit. But how to lay out a budget for the outcome of anexperiment that has no clear boundaries?

One thing that is hard not to admire by APG is the persistency and durability of theirschemes. In a paper from 1980 fourteen years after the groups origin Latham andSteveni summed up APGs placement framework in six guidelines for an effective formof association of artists with organisational structures (Latham & Steveni 1980:1):

1. The context is half the work.2. The function of medium in art is determined not so much by that factual object, as by the

process and the levels of attention to which the work aims.3. That the proper contribution of art to society is art.4. That the status of artists within organisations must necessarily be in line with other

professional persons, engaged within the organisation.5. That the status of the artist within organisations is independent, bound by invitation rather

than by instructions from authority within the organisations, department, company, to thoseof the long- term objectives of the whole of society.

6. That, for optimum results, the position of the artist within an organisation (in the initialstages at least) should facilitate a form of cross- referencing between departments.

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Especially the first guideline has proven to be one of the most durable principles of APGand many artists since. It can be viewed as an extension of the invitation, I mentionedearlier: The artists do not just want to be invited into the organisation; they also invitethe company into the art resulting in an equal platform for collaboration. To createsuch a platform, APG normally went by following steps when setting up a placement:

- First , the artist and organisation met for at short initial period with no predictableoutcome on either side, called The Open Brief (cf. guideline 5).

- Then the artist did at least a month of research within the organisation (The FeasibilityStudy) to identify possible areas to work on (cf. guideline 6). Arguably an incidental

person was in a position to achieve a synthesis across departments, disciplines andhierarchical levels that any middle- manager, specialist or civil servant would find hard tomatch. This obviously reflected Lathams cosmology in a microcosmic setting but on aconcrete level it was very important that both the professional and incidental status of the artist was supported by respectively top- management or government. Otherwise theartists proposal would be more or less impossible to realise (cf. Walker 1995:134) 22.

- Finally , if the artist and organisation agreed on those areas, they signed a contractideally of one years duration or more. The artist was paid as a member of staff and wasaccordingly involved in the day to day work at all relevant levels, including decision-making. This would entail thorough commitment on both sides, and also accredit theartist profession as equal to those of any regular type of employee (cf. guideline 4).The length of the placement was important to APG, as a longer time- base would make itmore likely that in-depth collaboration and mutual learning would take place.As stated in the second guideline, the artistic work in the placements had high focus onthe process and the context and not so much on the art object. This was not unlikeConceptual Art, which flourished from the 60s and on, and its notion of thedematerialised art object (see also chapter 4). The organisational practice was madesubject to artistic inquiry and thus subject matter in the art itself. When reading thesomewhat dialectical guideline 3, it becomes clear in what way the placements aredifferent from many of the interaction models of todays Arts- and- Business.

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Walker continues: Artists may be able to gain entry to powerful institutions but this does not mean thatthey immediately gain access to power itself. However, in the long- term they may be able to influencepolicy making and how public money is spent (Walker 1995:134).

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Learning from APG it becomes clear how powerful an artist position can be, when it isreleased from its obligation to make art for arts sake only and doing so by makingobjects only . Today this may seem less controversial but it is still far from a matter of course. In the following two examples, I will illustrate how Latham was able to work bothin and out of the art institution and utilise the art trajectory as a catalyst in newexperiments.

Big Breather and Scottish Office Placement

Big Breather , John Latham, second version, installed at Imperial College,London, 1973 (photo: courtesy of the artist/O+I).

In the 70s Latham was preoccupied with works about environmental issues and ecology.His work from 1973,Big Breather , is one example (an earlier version was made in 1972).The work is designed to demonstrate the moons gravitational pull on earth or asLatham put it: the breathing of the earth/moon (Walker 1995:126). The installation wasbasically an enormous pair of bellows that was placed in an upright position andmounted on a float on top of a slim wooden column containing water that represented

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one square foot of the seas surface. The water would move up and down as a result of the gravitational pull and thereby inflate/deflate the bellows twice a day.The installation (up to ten m. high when fully inflated) would emit a low sound similar toa sigh, suggesting an organism breathing. That organism could be interpreted in severalways (is it Mother Earth or Pan?), as could the sigh (is it pleased or is it dying?). Theorganic features contrasted the installations mechanical appearance and its robot- likepersistence which further thematized pollution and unconscious exploitation of nature.However, given the physical size of the installation, the viewer would probably turn thequestion upside-down: Does the machine have a heart?The first version of Big Breather was developed with the help of a designer and made of Perspex, but collapsed under the weight. The second revised version was made with the

help of the Managing Director of a Chester firm and erected on the campus of ImperialCollege, London (which housed the Science Department of London University and was just across the road from The Gallery). So both the development was significant becauseof its interdisciplinary makeup, as were the site and context of the second version:Scientists and students were invited to reflect upon questions of natures resources andhumanitys use of them.

Big Breather was also a working model of a much larger sea- sited structure, which couldharvest and transform the natural power of the tide. In 1975- 76, Latham undertook afive months placement at the Scottish Offices planning department in Edinburgh. Here itwas agreed that he should give an artists perspective on issues of derelict land and alsowork with their Graphics Department which in their view was the closest thing to art inthe organisation.After at least a century of coal and oil mining, big heaps of waste and shale, calledbings, were piled up in the districts of West Lothian near Edinburgh. Their scope wasenormous, actually some of the largest manmade formations on earth. Removing themwould be both problematic and costly.Latham entered the department as an Incidental Person and was able to move aroundfreely, do his research and make connections to other organisations with interest in theheaps. He chose five sites to document. He was impressed by their magnitude and alsotheir shape, which he considered accidental as they were not designed to be structuresof any particular shape. To Latham, this shape was unconscious (Walker 1995:131) and

reminded him of automatism where formative concerns are absent in the act of creating.

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He thus submitted a report in which he argued that the heaps should be preserved as amonument, honouring a century of anonymous work (ibid.) since the workers nowwere gone and forgotten.

(1) Niddrie Woman , John Latham, Scottish Office Placement, aerial view of man-made spoil tips of shalefrom the early oil industry, West Lothian, 1975 (courtesy of the artist/O+I). (1) Venus of Willendorf , c.24,000-22,000 BC, limestone.

During his research, Latham had come across aerial photos of two sites that revealed aninteresting formation seen from above. He discovered the shape of a female torso and atorn out heart next to her. Recalling Duchamps readymade, Latham suggested re-designating the two sites works of art. As such they would be protected from bothdamage and possible unsuitable commercial exploitation in the future. He named thesites Niddrie Woman 23 and mentioned a similarity with the carving of Venus of Willendorf ,

a comparable re-appearance he thought (ibid.).The Venus was found by an archaeologist in the soil (actually loess, a sort of clay) in1908 and by some believed to be a representation of Earth Mother from the Greekmythology. By comparable Latham refers to both to the physical likeness and thesymbolic similarities: Niddrie Woman emerged in the process of mining the resourceshidden in the ground and it seems only likely that it should be an image of the EarthMother that emerged from that process.

23 Niddrie is a large area on the east side of Edinburgh.

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What in the public view was considered a disfiguration of the landscape, Latham thoughtcould be transformed into attractions comparable to the Egyptian pyramids, and heproposed that huge sculptures should be erected on the heap tops to further the ideaand make them more inviting. Sculpture parks were successful attractions in othercountries. He even made an elaborated design and model of such a monument, whichwas to be build onsite from recycled material, some twenty m. high with a platform ontop. Like beacons they would be placed on the summits, not farther from each otherthan the people standing on top could see the adjacent monument. In practical terms,Lathams suggestion was eminently sensible, practical and, compared to the cost of removing the heaps, economical (ibid.:132) as Walker states it. Latham even supplied anoverall financial estimate to prove this.

However, the work was never realised, although Latham tried for years to make ithappen 24. In a recent report on what is labelled industrial heritage, The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions states that

A special opportunity has arisen with West Lothians unique legacy of 36 oil shale bings.Although many of these have been reworked [] two of the bings survive intact. In recognition of their industrial heritage value, and their distinctive contribution to the urban landscape, thesehave now been protected as scheduled ancient monuments. 25

So at least in part the works idea was eventually realised, although not with Latham(but, who knows, maybe with indirect inspiration from him). One can always discuss howimportant the physical side of a work as conceptual as this is. Without any visibletransformation however, such as building the beacon monuments, the public wouldprobably have a hard time buying into the idea and with them also the responsibledepartment.

The second part of The Scottish Office placement was about urban renewal in theGlasgow area that had endured industrial decline and urban decay on a large scale.Lathams solution was again aided by aerial photographs of the site. He proposed apackage of initiatives for cultivating the nearby sea region by linking four majorindustries: fish rearing, marine technology, steel manufacturing and electricitygeneration. Part of the idea was to farm fish on platforms warmed with water from a

24 Two possible reasons: According to Walker, it is difficult to gain support for large monuments in Britain.Furthermore, in his research Latham found out that landowners who profit from the sale of the shale are a

cartel. They would surely not be interested in preservation (Walker, 1995:132- 134). According to Steveni,Latham was successful in having another site, Five Sisters , declared National Heritage (Steveni 2003).25 www.symonds- group.com/services/environ_eng/publications/casestudies%5Ccasestudy3.pdf , p. 4.

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nearby nuclear power station (Steveni 2003). This ambitious idea could surely only havecome from an Incidental Person. Latham tried to deploy the tidal energy principle fromBig Breather but soon realised that the cost efficiency was weak and he discarded theidea. He also devised a plan to use an existing TV- network to increase visualcommunication and involve local people and artists. None of the ideas wereimplemented.

The placement at Scottish Office is a clear example of what happens when a departmentasks an artist for advice, and then choose not to back it up. It may be that Lathams ideaswere considered too radical at the time and one does not have to know much aboutgovernmental bureaucracy to know that there is a long way from even a good idea to a

decisive action, no matter how much goodwill is present.One direct outcome was an exhibition at the Tate Gallery (1976), documenting hisplacement and proposals. It could seem that Latham had more success in the art gallery,which was part of the traditional art circulation system that he and APG tried to gobeyond. But just like anyone else, they were forced to work from spaces wherepossibilities presented themselves and this was most often art places, a museum orgallery.

Though, in 1970- 71, APG had convincingly challenged the notion of the gallery in a twoyear long exhibition in time, called INNO 70: Art and Economics that should documentrealised placements. The exhibition culminated at a public show at the large HaywardGallery, which turned out somewhat unconventional as the artists had decided to live atthe gallery as a sculpture. Installations of board rooms were devised, where businesspeople, government representatives and artists would debate questions of ethical andeconomic value and the new role of artists in society. The discussions were videoed andrelayed to monitors placed around the large gallery.The show received quite a lot of media interest and led to mixed reactions in the public.The idea of literally populating the art gallery with people and everyday artefacts was inline with APGs principles but it also provoked the conventional art institution and itssupporters. Immediately after the Hayward show, the seeding funding, which APG untilthen had received from the Arts Council, was withdrawn. It was then they decided tofocus on government departments for future placements as they believed it would bemore natural there to work with longer- term perspectives and get more influence.

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The Scottish Office placement was one of many placements where several were moresuccessfully implemented than Lathams 26. The reason why I chose this placement is thatit shows how it is possible for artists to be both pragmatic and artistic at the same timeand that the two does not have to be opposites. A good example is when Lathamabandons his Big Breather concept because it is not efficient enough in terms of generating economic value, even though a possible scenario of, say, 50 giganticbreathers along the shore might have been priceless in terms of artistic value. Another ishis preoccupation with making Niddrie Woman economically sound, where he at thesame time uses the history of art as a foundation for his work (automatism, thereadymade and the Venus). If a geologist was to make the same claims as Latham, hewould have an even harder time being successful, as his suggestion would not add

artistic value to the preservation of the heaps.The placement also shows how powerful the detached position of the Incidental Personcan be at multiple levels. The ability to apply a distanced vantage point on mattersproved to be important both when working across departments but also when adoptinga birds eye perspective on things, via the aerial shots. If the huge beacons had become areality, one would be able, physically, to experience a similar position of being present-and- distanced at the same time: As the beacons would be identical, one could see people

on the adjacent towers platform and get the sensation of seeing oneself from outside.

Through time APG has endured massive criticism on their position. Non- artists haveaccused them for hypocrisy when claiming to be apolitical: How can they not have apolitical standpoint when their aim is to advance society? Artists have accused them of selling out their professional autonomy: If they promise not to damage an organisation,how can they act freely or even criticise?Arguably questions of this nature will always be raised when someone is trying to createnew positions that transcends framework within existing systems. The system will onlybe able to recognise what it knows and act accordingly. What the system does notrecognise it will naturally try to suppress. This does not necessarily make the abovequestions irrelevant, but it bears witness to the massive resistance APG was up againstwhen engaging in domains that are considered political.In regard to compromise and restrictions to the artistic position, it must be kept in mindthat any context poses complications and restrictions the idea that an artist in his

26 Steveni 2003 provides a helpful insight in her account of several placements.

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studio or a writer in his attic are beyond mundane influence is a well- maintained illusion.Of course it is also an important question of degrees of freedom but it must beremembered that many art works are produced under heavy restrictions, political,financial, social or self- chosen. APGs position is not without compromise but if the priceof maintaining absolute ideological purity and artistic integrity is social isolation andpowerlessness (Walker 1995:101) as Walker puts it, it is a price worth paying as long asit is outdone by the mutual learning for both organisation and artist.

As APG states, they are not an employment agency (Steveni & Latham 1980:2), whichmeans they do no want to trade the artistic potential to something other than art, eventhough they make a great effort to transform the artist role into something more edible

to society (although apparently not always edible enough). But that transformation isitself motivated first and foremost by artistic arguments that have holistic and societalconcerns embedded in them as a second nature (and ultimately financial as well; artiststoo have to eat). The history and tradition of art is echoed in Latham and APGs work andserves both as a foundation and as a platform for a takeoff towards new horizons.Walker puts it like this:

The schemes generated [by Latham] may seem a far cry from conventional notions of fine artbut the history of modernism has repeatedly shown that art is not a fixed, ahistorical conceptbut, on the contrary, it is subject to change and redefinition (Walker 1995:134).

In 1989, APG changed their name to O+I (Organisation and Imagination or nought plusone) because they thought the concept of placement had been appropriated and dilutedbeyond recognition by competing arts agencies. Today they keep working according totheir original beliefs with Barbara Steveni (as Executive Director) and an aging Latham,artists Gemma Nesbitt and Sarah Wedderburn as directors. Change and redefinition takes

time and one can only admire the persistence of these artists and the durability of theirideas. Today it is almost four decades since APG was founded and it seems that theirframework is echoed in many OA projects. Whether this is due to direct influence or not,one can only speculate; however, I do not believe they would be content with havingchanged artistic practice only.

We will now fast- forward into recent time, to the art scene of the late nineties and

Industries of Vision .

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3 3_INDUSTRIES OF VISIONBY DEMOCRATIC INNOVATION

The most peculiar thing about work life, as I see it, is thatas soon as you put on your working clothes, you saygoodbye to your democratic rights.

Kent Hansen (Andersen & Hansen 2001:109*)

Welcome to the art scene of the late nineties. Almost anything seemed possible back inthe sixties and the same certainly applies for the last decade of the millennium. One of the first to stick his neck out and try to describe the nineties art was French art critic andcurator Nicolas Bourriaud. His booksRelational Aesthetics (1998) and Postproduction (2000) were adopted with light speed by anyone trying to understand so-called sociallyengaged art.He uses the (flea) market as the dominant metaphor to describe art in the nineties, as itrepresents a collective form composed of multiple individual signs; it is the locus of a

reorganization of past production; and, finally, it embodies and makes material theflows and relationships (Bourriaud 2000:22).Bourriaud contends that economic globalisation has spiralled our existence intoabstraction and turned everyday functions of life into products of consumption. The roleof art, he argues, is to re- materialise and thereby restore these processes, not simply asobjects but as mediums of experience (ibid.) to be lived. Thus, art is a matter of interhuman exchange: a formal arrangement that generates relationships between

people, or be born of a social process (ibid.:26). This is the essence of art as RelationalAesthetics.As in the sixties and with APG there is an immense focus on process rather than object.According to Miwon Kwon, the contemporary artist role has undergone a drastic changefrom a producer of aesthetic objects to a cultural- aesthetic service provider, whose realcommodity is his/hers performance as a facilitator, educator, coordinator or evenbureaucrat (Kwon 2002:51).This view is supported in the prophetic article Art Futures by Anthony Davies and SimonFord in Art Monthly (1999). They describe the art world of the late nineties like this:

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While many artists, cultural commentators and public institutions were 'blurring boundaries',promoting 'the everyday' and 'accessing broader audiences', the business community was busyassessing the economic potential of cross sector activities and partnerships. It was theconvergence of these sectors (principally business and culture) that changed the role of publicinstitutions, the education system, and other institutions associated with art (Davies & Ford1999).

This is roughly the climate of the nineties international art world, in the sometimesoverexcited words of a few informed writers. I will return to Bourriaud and Kwon inchapter 4. We now turn to a more modest and less obvious place for art creation, namelytwo medium-sized manufacturing companies in Denmark.

Industries of Vision , Kent Hansen (design and photo), people and partners of IOV,proposal for the front page to the catalogue of IOV, 2001.

People and PartnersIndustries of Vision (IOV) (Da.: Visionsindustri) was a Danish art project by the artistorganisation democratic innovation (di) and was carried out during 1998-2001. Itincluded several partners, notably Danish artist groups Superflex and N55, staff in thetwo manufacturing companies LK and Basta in West Zealand, Denmark. It was the first of its kind in Denmark and its overall goal was to explore the potentials of the interplaybetween art and organisation in a Danish context. I have chosen this case because it

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without question is one of the most interesting Danish OA projects and also the bestdocumented cases I have come across so far.My case study is especially based on a sixteen page evaluation memorandum 27 issuedby di and two workplace consultant agencies that were involved in the project. Thefindings of the project were exhibited 29 Sept.25 Nov. 2001 at the regional art museum,Vestsjllands Kunstmuseum, where a catalogue was issued for the exhibit (Andersen &Hansen 2001), which also is very helpful. Further documentation is media mentions, diswebsite 28, two private interviews with Kent Hansen and a comprehensive article he wroteon his practice in relation to IOV (Hansen 2004).Since the documentation is quite substantial, I will have to leave some of it out.Nevertheless, I will try to provide sufficient data for the reader to make his or her own

judgements, especially since the most of the available material at present only isavailable in Danish. I will try to keep an equal focus on both organisational and artisticmatters; since this project is both recent and well- documented, it represents a uniquechance to apply both perspectives.My approach will start with a relatively unbiased reading of the relevant data andgradually engage in a more fathoming interpretation with inclusion of relevant theory tothrow findings into relief.

This will entail a thorough introduction to the people and phases of IOV (pp. 35-44),followed by a section about the processes of exchange (3.2), a section about the artisticpractice at play (3.3) and a concluding section about organisational culture and learning(3.4).As IOV was done in a collaborative setting, addressing authorship is problematic becauseultimately every single participant has a share in the project. However, I have chosen tofocus on Kent Hansen as he was the initiator and present in every single phase of theproject, from beginning to end, and as such the central mind behind its framework andconcept. I will also have to favour the part of IOV that took part in LK as it went thefurthest.

Let us now look at the different people and partners in the project:

27 Visionsindustri notat om resultaterne af en kunstnerisk udviklingsproces p to virksomheder (Eng.:

Industries of Vision Note on the results of an artistic development process in two companies, di et al2001).28 www.democratic- innovation.org .

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KENT HANSEN (b. 1962) is educated as a visual artist in The Funen Academy of Fine Artsand moved to Copenhagen in the early 90s. His initial position as somewhat an outsidergave him an impression of the Copenhagen art scene as a loosely connectedorganisation, which he begun to comment on artistically. This work, combined with athought from his youth that democratic rights to a degree are suspended when someoneenters a company, led him to work directly with organisations.

SUPERFLEX (established c. 1993) is an artist group based in Copenhagen, which includesmembers Rasmus Nielsen, Jakob Fenger and Bjrnstjerne Christiansen. Superflex isregistered as a shareholding company and is engaged in interdisciplinary projects mostlywith partners from outside the art world, such as researchers or economists. Each project

is called a tool and can be both abstract, like a virtual city, or concrete, as an internet TV-station or a biogas production unit. Several of their projects carry on within self-sustainable organisations, finding their own partners and audiences. The tool- metaphorcould imply the idea of something that needs adjusting and many of Superflexs projectsfocus on social and economic inequalities in local contexts around the world. Unlike di,they have a quite distinct public profile as they normally use the prefix Super whennaming a project and always make use of the three Supercolors: orange, black and

white29

.

N55 (established c. 1994) is a Copenhagen-based non-commercial artist commune withmembers Rikke Luther, Ion Srvin, Cecilia Wendt and Ingvil Hareide Aarbakke who workand live together. They share economy, professionally as well as privately, and arefinanced primarily by exhibitions, grants and educational work. N55 produce a variety of concepts and so- called things ranging from dynamic tables and chairs to movablehouses and small factories and machines mostly built from a few recognisable modularcomponents. The N55 products are implemented in local everyday situations around theworld in collaboration with different persons and institutions. N55 contend that societyconsists of power concentrations that affect and restrict individual rights. With theirmethods and products, N55 tries to find ways of living with as small and as visible powerconcentrations as possible 30.

29 Superflexs official website is atwww.superflex.dk.30

N55s official website is at www.n55.dk. Another artist, Joachim Hamou, took part in IOV and made adocumentary about it. I have not been able to treat his work in my investigation but it is available fromKent Hansen.

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LAURITZ KNUDSEN Ltd. (LK) (established in 1893) is a Danish development- orientedcompany, who provides material and knowledge to all electrical- based installations inhousing, office, commercial and public buildings both nationally and internationally. 31 Atthe time when IOV was carried out, they were located in Ringsted (65 km. SW of Copenhagen), employed 650 people and were part of the international Lexel group. Theyhad recently merged two departments and were restructured in 13 production groups,which had caused complaints from the employees, who didnt feel that managementwere communicating sufficiently enough (despite several attempts to do so, mainlythrough forms of written information). Thus, LK was eager to try out alternative ways of communicating with their employees.

BASTA Ltd. was traditionally a Danish bicycle lock and - lamps manufacturer. In 2000 theymerged with Dutch Axa Stenman and they now deliver bicycle accessories worldwide. Inthe merger process, much of the original culture of the Danish production factorydisappeared and with IOV they were hoping to recreate a teamwork culture where it alsowould be fun to go to work (Andersen & Hansen 2001:101). At the time of IOV, Basta wassituated in Korsr (110 km. WSW of Copenhagen) and employed some 60- 65 people. Inthis period it was decided to shut down all production in Denmark and dismiss most of

the employees.

PhasesIOV included three major phases of varying form and intensity32:

Phase 1_ Initiation and Design (1998- 2000)

For IOV, the first turf was cut in late 1998 when Kent Hansen and project coordinator GitteHolm from Institute of Technology (one of two workplace consultant agencies that wasinvolved in IOV) were brought together as a result of an offshoot from a previous projectto diminish monotonous repetitive work in factories (The EGA- project33). The idea of IOVcame about as a mutual interest in exploring the possibilities of how to integrate artisticpractice and company organisation with a mutual benefit that extended beyond merepayment for the artist and entertainment for the company. The final project design

31

Quoted from the LK websitewww.lk.dk.32 The tree- phase division is done by me and serves to provide an overview.33 EGA stands for Ensidigt Gentaget Arbejde (Danish), which simply means monotonous repetitive work.

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emerged in an open dialogue process, where BST-Sor (the other consultant agency)handled company contact and di the artist contact. From the first step on, an informaland open dialogue took place, involving partners and potential participants, about theproject design in particular and the interplay between art and business in general.Then followed a series of meetings where the partners got to know each other and theymade a lot of efforts trying to concretise expectations of possible outcomes: Was this tobe an art project, an organisational development project, a competence developmentproject etc., and how were ownership and partner roles to be defined?As it turned out, it was mostly the companies (and thus the involved consultants) thatwanted a semi- fixed project description, as it would give them an idea of the overallgoal, the various phases and how and when to expect results. The final project design

that emerged was, contrasting the odd partner constellation, quite traditional withemphasis on the process and the unidentified potential rooted herein 34. The projectmanagement was shared between Kent Hansen and Gitte Holm and additionally asteering committee was appointed, counting representatives from the companies andthe museum together with representatives from trade unions and the county who hadan interest in the concept of the project and its regional rooting. They were also part of an attempt to give IOV a regional resonance and perhaps stir up some debate.

According to the memorandum about IOV, there were three overall aims (di et al 2001:3-4): (1) Establish a communication space in LK and Basta, which would free up resourcesand development potential; (2) create a grounding to help the companies diminishmonotonous repetitive work further; and (3) gather knowledge that can serve asfoundation for a model of the interplay between labour, art and culture.However, it must be emphasised that the active project work in the companies beganwith a tabula rasa. Essentially the way of framing the project with the three overallgoals was adopted in the process of fundraising and approaching companies.According to Kent Hansen, this design was deliberately abandoned for an open andemergent approach where the participants set the agenda together with the artists(stated in a private interview 2.11.2004). As such there was no agenda for the art

34 In the memorandum about IOV (di et al 2001:13) it is stated that Superflex and N55 found the predefinedproject schedule too rigid and that they would have liked to involve top management and stakeholdersinstead of just employees. Employees on their side generally found both the preparation phase and the

creational phase (in the active project phase) too long and unproductive. Part of these circumstances isdue to mere practicalities. The superior reason, however, has to do with artists needs for some flexibilityand companies need for some control, read further in 3.2.

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making and the employees were never presented with the specific aims above. Theywere only briefed in general terms and the project was not presented as a problem-solving initiative as such, although there naturally were expectations from themanagements that it would have a positive effect.As the memorandum, which is one of the most valuable sources of information aboutthe process, sticks to these three goals, I will have to partly include this structure, eventhough it was not articulated directly in the process. This may sound confusing, but itbears strong evidence of how different language games are at play in one setting whereunlike cultures actually meet and collaborate. This will be treated more comprehensivelyin 3.3.

Phase 2_ Active Project Work (Oct. 2000 - May 2001) Conclusively it was decided to pair Superflex with LK and N55 with Basta. Kent Hansentook part in both pairings, practically as well as artistically.

SUPERFLEX AND LK: LK had recently undergone a restructuring, resulting in 13 self-governing production groups and a steering committee. Now, with IOV, they were hopingto get inspiration on how to strengthen the flow of communication and experience

across group thresholds. From LK the steering committee, a volunteer representativefrom each production group and a personnel manager took part in IOV. Administrativepersonnel and top management did not take part in the active project work but werenaturally kept posted.As a preparation a few meetings were held. Here, various expectations were harmonised,a group of employees learned to operate video equipment and the project was renamed Superkontakt (Eng.: Super-contact and/or Super- switch, a name which plays on bothsocial interaction and the LK product).Prior to the second phase, Kent Hansen had made a budget for how much time theparticipants would spend, and this budget was approved. However, the remainingworkers would have to cover for their colleagues absence on the shop floor. This meantthat they felt they had to justify their participation to their non- participating colleagues.This could sometimes be hard and the situation undoubtedly entailed some unforeseen

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dissonances especially since tangible results were a long time in the making: Much talkand little visible action hardly makes it up for justification in a factory context35.

The active phase was lead off with a project day revolving around the question: Whyshould we talk to each other at LK? which opened a discussion on the significance of various types of talking. Later the participants were given a disposable camera each andwere asked to illustrate these reflections with snapshots of conditions that strengthenedor weakened communication. Afterwards they came up with ideas to makecommunication more efficient, ideas of which almost all were integrated in the finalprototype concept in March 2001, after 4-5 meetings with Superflex.

(1) The Wise Oak (2001) - digital collage, a proposal (courtesy of Kent Hansen). (2)The Wise Oak (2001-2002) full scale mock-up, prototype for final proposal, installed at LK. The first version was placed up inthe air because of space-problems and was designed to resemble a typical Danish holiday cottage. Theproposal was discarded because the employees did not like it; they thought it looked like a house from achildrens program on TV (Bamse og Kylling). The second version was build by artists and employees forthe museum exhibit and afterwards installed for a few months in the factory space as documentation of the preceding process (courtesy of Kent Hansen).

This prototype concept was The Wise Oak that was designed to meet the values and

needs of the participants. The hou

else would kent hansen make employees imagine

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