The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context

"Tackling some of the most hotly debated subjects in art and criticism today, The One and the Many represents a decisive intervention into what we can expect to be a much longer discussion about the nature of collaboration in contemporary art." -- Sarah E.K. Smith * Reviews in Cultural Theory * "Proposing nothing less than a paradigm shift in the definition of the aesthetic, Kester argues for a move beyond evaluations of visual or textual signification to considerations of the often-unforseen effects of collective interaction. . . . [T]here is a productive tension between the modest, local practices Kester focuses on and the ambitious scope of his argument." -- Sami Siegelbaum * Art Journal * "Like all good researchers, Kester started with a simple question, which was, `Why have so many artists over the past decade and a half been drawn to collaborative or collective modes of production?' Secondary questions soon emerged. `What forms of knowledge do collaborative, participatory and socially engaged practices generate?' And, adding complexity and depth, `How do we determine which transgressions matter in the arts?' Kester takes us on a journey from performance photographers in Myanmar to project housing in Alabama, and along the way details, through methodology more often associated with the social sciences, how artists blend creativity with a sense of social conscience and still manage somehow to keep it visual." -- Peter Hill * Times Higher Education Supplement * "Kester is a seasoned art critic with a long track record of insightful writing on the shift from public art and identity politics in the 1980s and '90s to the new phenomenon of community art in the '90s and 2000s. . . . Kester, the consummate pedagogue, shows us ideology at work by comparing different kinds of art." -- Marc James Leger * Afterimage * "By pointing out that many contemporary artists' practices already exist quite comfortably as political activism, or urban planning, or community education Kester enables the discussion to shift from why something is art to what is at stake. The book also provides a thorough and rich description of a variety of projects. . . ." -- Amber Landgraff * C Magazine * "The One and the Many . . . offers in-depth discussion of individual artists in relation to his vision of reparative collaboration,and attacks some of the cherished verities of current critical theory." -- Eleanor Heartney * Art in America * "In this comprehensive study, Grant H. Kester reminds us that the role of the avant-garde is always to question the nature of art's identity and that that identity is also always in-process. Within this evolving continuum, many contemporary artists now define their work collaboratively. The One and the Many examines this phenomenon, providing the necessary philosophical, theoretical, and historical depth to position such practice as the essential art `work' of the twenty-first century."-Carol Becker, author of Thinking in Place: Art, Action, and Cultural Production "The One and the Many is brilliant, innovative, and brave, offering important insight on the intersection of art and politics. It complements the growing research into situational, collaborative, `global' art projects but offers something new and stimulating by considering these works in relation to a loosely Marxian understanding of labor relations and through close readings of how they actually function over time. It develops new ways of thinking that should have a huge impact on debates in the field."-Amelia Jones, author of Self/Image: Technology, Representation, and the Contemporary Subject "Proposing nothing less than a paradigm shift in the definition of the aesthetic, Kester argues for a move beyond evaluations of visual or textual signification to considerations of the often-unforseen effects of collective interaction. . . . [T]here is a productive tension between the modest, local practices Kester focuses on and the ambitious scope of his argument." - Sami Siegelbaum, Art Journal "By pointing out that many contemporary artists' practices already exist quite comfortably as political activism, or urban planning, or community education Kester enables the discussion to shift from why something is art to what is at stake. The book also provides a thorough and rich description of a variety of projects. . . ." - Amber Landgraff, C Magazine "The One and the Many . . . offers in-depth discussion of individual artists in relation to his vision of reparative collaboration,and attacks some of the cherished verities of current critical theory." - Eleanor Heartney, Art in America "Tackling some of the most hotly debated subjects in art and criticism today, The One and the Many represents a decisive intervention into what we can expect to be a much longer discussion about the nature of collaboration in contemporary art." - Sarah E.K. Smith, Reviews in Cultural Theory "Kester is a seasoned art critic with a long track record of insightful writing on the shift from public art and identity politics in the 1980s and '90s to the new phenomenon of community art in the '90s and 2000s. . . . Kester, the consummate pedagogue, shows us ideology at work by comparing different kinds of art." - Marc James Leger, Afterimage "Like all good researchers, Kester started with a simple question, which was, `Why have so many artists over the past decade and a half been drawn to collaborative or collective modes of production?' Secondary questions soon emerged. `What forms of knowledge do collaborative, participatory and socially engaged practices generate?' And, adding complexity and depth, `How do we determine which transgressions matter in the arts?' Kester takes us on a journey from performance photographers in Myanmar to project housing in Alabama, and along the way details, through methodology more often associated with the social sciences, how artists blend creativity with a sense of social conscience and still manage somehow to keep it visual." - Peter Hill, Times Higher Education Supplement

Collaborative and collective art practices have proliferated around the world over the past fifteen years. In The One and the Many, Grant H. Kester provides an overview of the broader continuum of collaborative art, ranging from the work of artists and groups widely celebrated in the mainstream art world, such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Superflex, Francis Alys, and Santiago Sierra, to the less-publicized projects of groups, such as Park Fiction in Hamburg, Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts in Myanmar, Ala Plastica in Argentina, Huit Facettes in Senegal, and Dialogue in central India. The work of these groups often overlaps with the activities of NGOs, activists, and urban planners. Kester argues that these parallels are symptomatic of an important transition in contemporary art practice, as conventional notions of aesthetic autonomy are being redefined and renegotiated. He describes a shift from a concept of art as something envisioned beforehand by the artist and placed before the viewer, to the concept of art as a process of reciprocal creative labor. The One and the Many presents a critical framework that addresses the new forms of agency and identity mobilized by the process of collaborative production.