Contemporary Art System | TE-S, originally uploaded by densitydesign.
“For Contemporary Art there are therefore essential requirements needed: something created by someone and a process that results in a social setting, that is an effective frame, something like art.”
(Alessandro Dal Lago and Serena Giordano, 2006)
It seems, in fact, that the production and enhancement of artistic is determined only by the logic of the market and the discourse on art. Initially we have analyzed the system of Contemporary Art in Italy in the last two years from the point of view of twelve breakthrough artist.
The representation of the system reveals how the process of defining value of the work is not dependent strictly by artists but involving different actors and how some dynamics of the system remain deliberately hidden.
It is important to understand which are the effective relations between the actors and then who, between them, influences most the valorization of an art work or an artist.
In fact the Contemporary Art System is ruled by logics that make hard the admittance for new players. Critics, galleries and curators, through their choices, confer on someone the artist status, without which it is impossible to be admitted to the spaces that the system gives.
The normal affirmation way of an aspiring artist plans lots of time, capacity for public relations and much luck. Therefore they will use specific actions which will reduce the time of this phase.
Aspiring young artists create a shared purposes manifesto and a growing collective that could promote the use of a temporary non-conventional spaces (not usually dedicated to the art) to realize their actions. So temporary visibility opportunities could be created, opportunities in which they could take part, exploiting public places and promoting their artistic activity.
For reaching their purpose, they want to take possession of urban spaces with temporary exhibitions for everybody. For everyone who has something to show (painter, designers, performers, …) and for everyone who wants to look round.
They want to cut out spaces from the city of Milan and to give these spaces a new meaning, taking the art in the places of everyday life.
For creating the collective, they have to spread their ideals and to communicate the identity of their movement, but they have a small money budget for realizing the project.
From TEMENOS metaphor to TE-S naming.
The greek temenos term (holy fence) expresses well the urban appropriation concept that the aspiring artists promote.
They set up a movement based on three fundamental concepts:
To cut out, to enclose and to fill in (with a new meaning) a space.
We have decided to start from this greek word to find a significant name for the movement. From temenos to TE-S (in italian is TE meno S) that it is also the acronym of TEmporary Spaces.
For reaching the purpose of the movement is necessary to spread the intents of the primary group of aspiring artists: strong communicative actions to attract new people that share the same purposes and the same thoughts.
After what the same people recruited in the first phases of the communication in their turn will be able to become communication vehicle to spread the message in a “viral way” and “infect” new individuals through the emulation of the actions proposed from the primary group. When the group will be big enough, the event will be possible.
We foresee that the whole process will be realize in about 10 weeks, and during this period the aspiring artists who started the initiative will be able to infect (in a direct way with their actions or in an indirect way with the emulations of the actions) at least about twenty of people and organize the event, but we foresee that several cycles of this process will be necessary to arrive to the formation of a more numerous collective. We assume that for the formation of a collective of 100 people are necessary at least three cycles.
The communicative strategy of the project foresees two phases:
- TEASER PHASE in which we want to create notoriety about the TE-S movement and through which we want to transmit the first two fundamental concepts : subtract (to cut out) spaces at the city and to enclose them. Through this phase we want to start a “contagion” which exploits the actions of the new supporters of the movement to spread the “virus”; the spectators of the communicative action are in fact invited to emulate it and share it with the supporters of the movement through the TE-S web site.
Purpose:
To attract the attention, to impress the “spectators” through a strong impact action and to invite the aspiring artists/common people to create an own space of visibility through a similar action (which will have to be photographed or filmed and put on the web site).
Message supports:
Pay off “Cut out your space” is the verbal element which summarizes in a strong and incisive way the message of the campaign, or better, the invitation of the first phase of the communication campaign,
Action of urban reappropriation (in which will be used: a personalized yellow/black ribbon and a TE-S cardboard box),
Action-flyer,
Action-pack,
Stickers,
Web site.
Target:
The teaser phase turns to a wide target (aspiring artists and common people) because we want to create a general interest about the movement and to spread the knowledge to the greater number of people.
Where:
Passage zones highly frequented to obtain high visibility. - CAMPAIGN OF EVENT COMMUNICATION, through which we will communicate the date and the place of the event to those that will adhere to the movement, and also to all the people who want to be present or to take part in this event in a direct way.
Purpose
To Communicate the date and the place of the event to the people registered on the movement and a more generic audience composed by people who live, work or study in Milan.
Message support
Pay off “Fill in your space”, for expressing the new concept of the reconversion introduced in the second communicative phase (through their works the aspiring artists will change the space, previously took away from the city, and so they will reconvert it in a free expression space),
Poster,
Flyer,
Web site,
Mailing,
SMS.
Target
Aspiring artists of the movement and people that live, work or study in Milan and that could be interested in taking part to the event like participants or visitors.
