Working with Artists
Working with Artists
U:TOPOS does not ask artists to produce a new work for an unfamiliar city, nor to send an existing object to be exhibited unchanged.
Each collaboration begins with an existing work, an artistic method, an action, or an initial idea proposed by the artist. Through a dialogue between the artist and the operator of the biennial, we identify the element without which the work would cease to be itself.
This element may be an action, a relation, a rule, a tension, a gesture, or another structural principle. It is not necessarily the visible form of the work.
The purpose of this dialogue is to distinguish between:
- what must remain;
- what may change;
- and what can be translated into another place, material, scale, duration, or situation.
From a Work to an Instruction
The central element of the work is translated into an instruction.
An instruction is not a standard format imposed on every artist. It is the operational core of a particular work: a formulation that allows its essential action or principle to be carried out in another environment.
The instruction does not prescribe the final appearance of the work. It establishes the conditions of an action.
Depending on the project, it may take the form of:
- a written text;
- a diagram;
- a graphic score;
- a map or spatial indication;
- an audio recording;
- a video demonstration;
- a script or protocol;
- or another documented form sufficient to transmit the action.
The instruction is developed individually for each artist. There is no single model of participation that applies to every work.
The Role of the Artist
The artist brings the initial work, idea, method, or artistic principle.
The artist helps define what must not be lost in translation: the element without which the resulting version would no longer belong to the same work.
The artist is not required to know Avallon in advance, to imagine the entire local context from a distance, or to design a complete site-specific project alone.
The artist may participate remotely. Physical presence is possible but not required.
The degree of involvement may differ from one collaboration to another. An artist may formulate the initial instruction, develop it together with the operator, respond to proposals, review documentation, or allow the work to continue with a greater degree of autonomy.
These conditions are agreed upon individually.
The Role of the Operator
The operator is not a production assistant carrying out a pre-existing plan.
The operator acts as a mediator between:
- the artist’s work;
- the conditions of the city;
- and the operator’s own presence, judgment, and available resources.
The operator initiates and develops the translation of the work into an instruction, in dialogue with the artist.
The operator then places the instruction within a concrete situation in Avallon and assumes responsibility for its local realization. This may involve choosing a place, a moment, a route, an intermediary, a participant, or a particular condition of execution.
The task of the operator is not to preserve the external form of the original work. It is to preserve its operative core while allowing it to encounter another reality.
The City as an Active Condition
Avallon is not treated as a neutral exhibition site.
The realization of an instruction takes place under real conditions that cannot be completely controlled:
- weather;
- distance;
- local rhythms;
- access restrictions;
- administrative limitations;
- encounters with people;
- absence of participants;
- misunderstanding;
- delay;
- interruption;
- chance;
- or failure.
These conditions are not considered external obstacles to the work. They actively participate in forming its local version.
The realization is therefore not a confirmation that the instruction has been followed perfectly. It is a test of what happens when the instruction encounters reality.
A Version, Not a Copy
The result produced in Avallon is understood as a version of the work, not as a copy of its original form.
This version is formed through three elements:
1. the artist’s initial idea or work;
2. its translation into an instruction by the operator, in dialogue with the artist;
3. the encounter between that instruction and the real conditions of the city.
The material, scale, location, duration, or visible form may change.
A realization remains a version of the work as long as its essential action or structural principle remains present and recognizable.
If the action itself is replaced by another action, the result may become an interpretation, a response, or a work made after the original, rather than a version of it. Such cases are discussed and named explicitly.
The Process of One Collaboration
Although every collaboration is different, the process usually includes the following stages:
1. An artist is invited to participate.
2. A particular work, artistic method, action, or initial idea is selected.
3. The artist and the operator identify the core of the work: what cannot be removed without changing its identity.
4. They determine what may change without losing that core.
5. The operator translates the core into a working instruction, in dialogue with the artist.
6. A concrete situation, place, or mode of realization in Avallon is proposed.
7. The instruction is carried out under the actual conditions of the city.
8. The resulting version is documented and archived.
The order may vary. Some stages may overlap, return, or develop through several exchanges.
What Is Agreed Before Realization
Before an instruction is carried out, the artist and the operator aim to establish at least three things:
1. The essential element
A short formulation of what cannot be removed from the work without changing its identity.
This may be expressed in one or two sentences.
2. The working instruction
A documented form that makes the action possible in another environment.
3. The field of possible change
An understanding of what may be altered without losing the work’s core.
This may include:
- location;
- material;
- duration;
- scale;
- number of participants;
- mode of presentation;
- degree of visibility;
- form of documentation;
- or the identity of the person carrying out the action.
These points do not eliminate uncertainty. They establish a shared basis from which uncertainty can become productive.
Authorship
Authorship in U:TOPOS is distributed but not dissolved.
The initial idea belongs to the artist.
The translation into an instruction belongs to the operator’s work and responsibility, developed through dialogue with the artist.
The final version is formed through the encounter between the instruction and the city.
The environment is not described as an author in the conventional sense, but it affects the work through resistance, unpredictability, and material conditions.
The operator does not become a co-author merely by changing scale, material, place, or mode of execution.
Co-authorship begins when the operator introduces a new conceptual structure that changes the meaning of the initial idea rather than translating it.
Where this boundary becomes uncertain, the status of the result is discussed explicitly: for example, as a version, an interpretation, a response, or a work after another work.
Presence and Remote Participation
Physical presence may enrich a collaboration, but it is not a condition of participation.
A remote collaboration may involve:
- online conversations;
- written or recorded instructions;
- physical materials sent to Avallon;
- a demonstration transmitted by video;
- an intermediary or proxy;
- a local participant;
- an action carried out by the operator;
- or a combination of these elements.
The exact structure is decided separately for each artist.
An artist does not need to develop a complete image of the city from online information alone. When necessary, the operator may propose one specific place, condition, route, or situation as a starting point.
The collaboration can begin with a single concrete option rather than a broad field of possibilities.
Documentation
The documentation of each collaboration includes three layers:
1. the initial idea or essential principle of the work;
2. the instruction developed through dialogue;
3. the documentation of the version that emerged in the city.
Documentation may include photographs, video, sound, text, maps, records of correspondence, accounts of the action, or material traces.
A difference between the instruction and what actually happened is not automatically treated as a mistake. It is often the central result of the encounter between the work and its environment.
After the Realization
Whenever possible, the instruction and its realization are preserved in the U:TOPOS archive.
An instruction may also be published through a website, a zine, an archive, or another accessible form.
It may remain open to later realizations in other places and by other people.
The version produced in Avallon is therefore not necessarily the conclusion of the work. It may become one point in a longer chain of translations, executions, and further versions.