Friends with Benefits

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Friends with Benefits

The art system often operates as a network of regular collaborations. At a systemic level, this can be understood in negative and exclusionary terms, as it may prevent access for those who do not know the decision-makers. At the individual level, however, such regular collaborations offer an opportunity to build trust and shared interests. It is precisely within close relationships that forms of support and care are often established, which can alleviate the precarious conditions of working in the arts. Collaboration with friends is no exception here, but rather a widespread practice that extends beyond the boundaries of the art world. Friendship as a starting point for collective artistic practice is the central theme of the exhibition Friends with Benefits, in which the collectives BRAVO, DILEMA and ILY highlight the challenges and advantages of working with friends.

For the BRAVO collective, friendship is woven directly into the artworks, which become a materialisation of internal humour, rituals and group dynamics of its members. ILY adopts a slightly more distanced position towards its own friendships, exploring the need for support by enacting a family in which the artists take on the roles of mother, father and daughter. For DILEMA, friendship primarily manifests as a working method. Even though the themes under consideration vary, the common thread of their joint practice remains the process of collaboration and shared thinking.

The collectives in the exhibition juxtapose fragments of past projects and their work to date with reflections on the challenges and opportunities of collaborative work that are currently most relevant to them. BRAVO reflects on the changes in the members’ relationships since they no longer live together. By intentionally staging coded events, which are documented in the exhibition, they attempt to rekindle some of the lost closeness while opening up possibilities for new forms of organisation and connection. The ILY family confronts the absence of one of its members. Yana (Father) lives abroad, while Lea (Mother) and Iza (Izi) live and work in Slovenia. Through a series of participatory-performative events over the course of the exhibition, they seek a potential partner for the mother on a fictional level and a potential collaborator to continue the project on a practical level. DILEMA, with its installation presenting a variation of a string game, materialises the multi-layered process of collaborative work, which requires at least two pairs of hands. At the same time, it points out that work often begins by chance, for instance, during an outing or a break.

The challenges brought to the fore reveal that collaboration with friends is a working method inseparable from the conditions in which it arises. A significant amount of the invisible and unpaid labour that enables the functioning of the art system consists precisely of nurturing relationships and providing help and support to collaborators. Since these are fundamental elements of friendship, the caring aspects of the work can be all the more profound in artistic practices stemming from friendships, while the possibility of defining the work becomes all the more elusive. As is generally the case with work in the arts, collaboration with friends has no clearly defined boundaries. Work seeps into the time and space of friendship and leisure. It is impossible to determine when a coffee turns into a meeting, and thus where the personal relationship ends, and professional collaboration begins.

Despite these conditions, or perhaps precisely because of them, collaboration with friends can also have a soothing effect. The care and support stemming from existing relationships form the foundation for all three artistic practices. DILEMA came about from the need for additional help that its members felt while carrying out their personal projects. Through their work in the exhibition, they once again draw attention to the sense of security and playfulness that collaboration enables. Affirmation is, notably, one of the cornerstones of the BRAVO collective, already signalled in its name. Working together allows the artists to exchange ideas and opinions on the spot and respond immediately, making their artistic practice less uncertain and more reflective. The members of the ILY collective first assumed their familial roles when Iza required support for her Master’s project, with Lea and Yana stepping into the roles of encouraging parents. Since then, the fictional family has served as the point of departure for their artistic exploration.

The challenges and benefits of working together are, after all, also significant for the curatorial team that organised the exhibition as part of the World of Art school. Even though, as participants, we were brought together by chance, over the course of two years of working together, we developed personal friendships that we wished to maintain throughout the preparation of the exhibition. We were aware that working in a large, diverse group can lead to disagreements and tensions. In addressing this concern, we looked to the artistic practices of the invited collectives as examples of positively marked collaborations.

We were also curious about how the responsibility attributed to the curatorial role is influenced by our acquaintances and friendships within the art scene. The curator’s task of inviting an artist to participate in an exhibition can be an opportunity to move beyond the confines of a closed art system or an opportunity for inclusion. We believe it is important for the curator’s perspective to extend beyond the limits of their immediate network of acquaintances. At the same time, a curator at the beginning of their career is inevitably constrained by their knowledge. Our attempt to address this issue lies in transparency. While the themes explored by the collectives resonated with us precisely because of their working methods, we also wish to acknowledge that we were already acquainted with some of them, or came to know them during the school programme. The latter, in addition to its curriculum, also provides networking opportunities, demonstrating that connections are a key tool for surviving in the art system. If this is to be the case, let them be pleasant, caring and supportive.

Eva Pušnik, Julija Hoda, Kara Marušič, Lucija Lunder, Svit Skobir Lampič, Tamara Pepelnik, Urša Culiberg