The One and the Many

Collaborative and collective art practices have proliferated around the world over the past fifteen years. In The One and the ManyGrant 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 Alÿs and Santiago Sierra, to the less publicized projects of groups such as Park Fiction in Hamburg, NICA 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 re-defined 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 Manypresents a critical framework that addresses the new forms of agency and identity mobilized by the process of collaborative production.