From M/Cyclopedia of New Media
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Collaborative Authorship
- The design and creation of new media artwork requires collaboration between professionals in the form of collaborative authorship. Collaborative authorship is the collaborating and co-creation of a project between groups of artists, scientists or technologists, in person or over a network (Manovich, 2004). Indeed, collaborative authorship is characterized by a division of labour, and new media artists are dependent upon deep collaboration with technology professionals for the creation of a project.
- Collaborative authorship has played a key role in art since early Futurism, even though the concepts of new media art had not even begun formation at this point in time (Diamond, 2003). From here, collaborative authorship has been present in many projects over the world including General Idea and Intimate Transactions, and now represents the norm amongst new media art projects.
Nature and Practice
- Collaborative authorship is typically the outcome of people with similar interests who meet and start a single or series of projects (Manovich, 2004). Because of this, collaborative authorship is in fact collective because of the motivation of group participants to create and finish a piece. Artists themselves now rely on peer-level dialogue to establish the value and context of their work (Diamond, 2003). Dialogue often occurs in environments specifically designed for collaboration. Backspace, situated in London is one of many media labs and lounges facilitating online and physical collaboration for internet, audio and visual art projects.
Difficulties with Collaborative Authorship
- Although technology-dependent creativity requires intensive collaboration between individuals, the idea that creation and prescience can reside within a group rather than an individual grates against typical tendencies of visual art (Diamond, 2003). In the traditional art world, market value is placed on individual achievement rather than collectivism (Diamond, 2003). Indeed, traditional institutions and curators often individuate and credit the artist as the sole author instead of acknowledging the role that each field of knowledge plays (Diamond, 2003, p8).
- Collaboration can also disrupt hierarchies of authority in the creation of a project to place science on top (Diamond, 2003, p.8). Leadership of a project can shift between an artist and a technologist or computer scientist so that artists may occupy the lowest position of authority. As such, a fear of invisibilty may arise within the artist (Diamond, 2003, p.8).
- The rights to intellectual property can become disfigured when a project requires more than just the artist to be produced. Although a project may be conceptualised by an artist, other professionals are required to carry it out. Authorship may belong to the group itself rather than the artist through intellectual property laws. New media art, especially in the case of net art may be made freely available through open source agreements.
Further Information
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Contributors to this entry include:
--Marnie-Anne Snow 10:27, 28 Oct 2005 (EST)
Word Count: 416 words
