Artifact Institute Study 1: Participants in the Institutions by Artists Convention

Recent years have seen rapid growth in artistic activities using quasi-institutional terminology and procedures. Words like “Centre”, “Institute”, “Laboratory”, and “Office” figure prominently in the names of artist-initiated entities. What accounts for the impulse to project agency and authorship through an impersonal entity rather than through the figure of the individual artist?

To examine this tendency, the Artifact Institute developed Study 1: Participants in the Institutions by Artists Convention. The project includes the administration of a survey, analysis of the data collected, and the production of a report. The target group surveyed is defined as the set of all individuals who registered for, presented at, or otherwise attended the Convention. These individuals were invited to complete a questionnaire available at on-site computer terminals for the duration of the Convention and also online.

Study 1 uses standard survey methodology and adheres to generally accepted protocols for quantitative research. A report tabulating the survey data is available in electronic format via a .pdf download.

Conference Attendees were invited to participate in
Study 1, located at three computer kiosks in the Media Lounge, Mezzanine
3rd Floor
Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
Simon Fraser University
October 12, 13, 14

Download the Study 1 Report

The Artifact Institute was founded in 2007 by Tim Dallett (Montreal, QC) and Adam Kelly (Halifax, NS) to study and intervene in the processes by which artifacts undergo changes in use, value, and meaning. The Artifact Institute uses artistic, institutional, and activist methods and practices to address the relationship of human-made objects and organizational structures to their aesthetic, technical, and social contexts. The Artifact Institute conducts research, collects artifacts, provides services, gives workshops, presents exhibitions, and produces publications. These activities are positioned in a hybrid space between contemporary art, technological practice, and critical inquiry to create multiple points of access and engagement.

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