Artist as Initiator

Authorship is a modernist vestige. When creating social or politically engaged art, it is inaccurate for the artist to claim all the results of their work. Under the artist as initiator model, the authorship of the artist is limited to sparking the process; the participants then take the idea into their own context and culture, developing it beyond the original desire of the artist. This practice understands art as a temporary state of things, one that seeps into people’s lives and cultures.