Self-institutionalisation: New Agents Take Matters Into Their Own Hands

New funding networks, self-established schools of art, self-funded platforms and cross-disciplinary studies – new types of artists’ groups and projects are challenging the homogeneity of our cultural landscape.

The pathway to artistic establishment can also be found outside the traditional institutions. A new generation of artists and self-established practitioners is creating opportunities for new groupings and forms of distribution, cutting out the institutional mediator – well helped on their way by digitalisation, which has accelerated the trend.

A revolutionary force in a changing ecosystem

A kind of revolutionary force can be sensed in the self-institutionalising practice, heralding a freer and more diverse cultural life. One could for example imagine a future scenario in which more self-established agents could create a breeding ground for new support and sparring opportunities, which could bring about greater robustness in the system as a whole.

It is therefore necessary for artists, institutions and, not least, cultural policy to change and take a stand on where in the ecosystem they wish to be in the future – and, in particular, how they wish to make use of each other as an ecosystem.