ei arakawa, get back / get out, 2020, performance
introduction
Writing about organisations as works of art is also a way to develop your thoughts about it. The act of writing forces you to think about what you want to tell and at the same time by doing it, putting your pen to paper or pianoing your key boards, the actual formulating happens, also in ways and with outcomes that might surprise you.
That is the wonder of the creative act. The pondering and the doing.
In this update I will continue the work I started in the previous update (#25) which talked about the unique occurrence of an organisation and colouring its context. I will elaborate on the acting, the doing which happens in an organisation. The acting delivers the result, but it also a process in which the unexpected, the wondrous happens.
That acting happens in an actively defined context to make it relevant and at the same time the acting shapes the context. In this update I will also look at this relationship.
Finally, I will share some thoughts about why I believe it is worthwhile working on becoming something of a work of art as an organisation.
Writing these two updates that deal with this idea of organisations as works of art, made me realise that the subject is everything but finished. The conversations, the actual experimenting, the thinking, the expressions and materialisations have just started. I hope you join me and others in the next steps.
gilbert & george, living sculpture, 1969 (15-11, )stedelijk museum, amsterdam
becoming a work of art
While the unique colouring of the organisation’s context deals with words, ideas, opinions, aspirations, the reality of an organisation’s occurrence is in the acting of its people.
It is the acting that results in the impressions of an organisation on its environment and in the minds of its audiences, directly through its services and more indirectly through the products it fabricates. The acting towards its umfeld together with de vibes of its internal interaction define the being of an organisation. You might call it the performance of an organisation, in all the various meanings of the word performance.
That performance incorporates the individual and the collective exceptionality of an organisation. The people acting in their work constitute the possibility of being a work of art.
This statement of the importance and the meaning of the acting does not answer the question what makes that performance happen and thus how the organisation becomes what you could consider a work of art.
Let me try to provide some ideas and suggestions for the answer to this important question.
An organisation becomes a work of art when the organisation itself believes that it is one and knows that one acts like one. That is an essential starting point to remember.
A process of activation towards the intended performance brings an organisation to that point. It is good to remember that the performance relates both to the outcomes of that materialised expression as it is perceived by the outside world and to the internal acting towards building and being an organisation.
The activation relates to the people who in their performance become a work of art. As individuals and collectively. It is as impactful as powerful an idea. It implies lengthy conversations, soul searching, finding a common ground, stimulating an open and critical artistic mind, a deep feeling of freedom. The activation is about finding a believe in each other’s creative and expressive abilities and the shared conviction of being of relevance for a certain audience.
The concept of organisations as works of art asks for finding and defining for everybody an individual and common position towards what the work of art of which they are part of means.
The process of activating is learning by doing. Working on the performance is making it part of yourself and the organisation. And while working on the performance it is being defined.
The activation will gradually transforms into the eventual performance. A result which by definition will continue to evolve.
Such a process will impact the functions in an organisations. Some will remain untouched, others will be intensively reviewed, rethought and redefined. They become critical for the organisation being a work of art and will probably look like something that seemed improbable before.
boltanski, after, 2017, installation at the oude kerk in amsterdam
performance framed in a context
Having discussed the performance and in the previous update (#25) the context, I will now focus on the relationship between these elements.
The acting, the performance does not happen in a vacuum. It only becomes meaningful in a defined context, in an internal and external environment. The defining of the context to make it significant implies a possibility of an activity to take place. For argument’s sake let’s forget immaculate nature that succeeds in escaping the Anthropocene.
So when you talk about organisations as works of art both the performance and the context matter, not separately, but in their position towards each other.
That relationship exists also in our not artful undertakings. Hygienic condition in a stress free setting is evident for a doctor treating patients. When selling luxury goods an exuberant setting provides the backdrop and the pretext for indulgence and spending.
What does that synergy look like in an organisation that is a work of art? The answer is always very specific for each organisation, but using some generic terms, words like contrast, expressive energetic, surprising, tension, ambiguous, thoughtful come into mind.
The organisation being a work of art is set to stage its behaviour in a particular way, such that it makes an indent. An indent based upon a kind of critical and creative thinking and doing. An indent that exhibits a certain position towards the human condition. An indent which does not have to involve everybody and everything. It is about turning one of the two knobs: an ordinary performance in a non ordinary defined context or an ordinary context for a non ordinary performance. Or both a extraordinary context and performance. But the idea of a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ is not a requisite. It may even be a little too much. It are often just only a few specific elements that proof to be determining.
Finding and materialising the performance and framing it in a context in such a way that it carries the attributes of a work of art is to a large extent also unexplored territory. But there are some ways forward that could help in this endeavour.
different references
One angle to help find unique attributes to an organisation is to look at how organisations which at first sight may be of little relevance, organise themselves: the role of the curator who sets a new context for art works, the way a collection of opinionated journalists determine the idiosyncrasy of a newspaper, the staging of a Shakespeare play in a modern theater.
decisive, every decision
Every day countless decisions are being taken in an organisation. Decisions to act, not to act, to change the setting, to keep the setting as it is, when to meet, when to call, what to emphasise, what to leave. Many of these decisions are just taken more or less automatically.
You could start taking these decisions with the organisation as a work of art in mind. Make every decision and the reflections about it count.
études
Engage in exercises which evoke reflections and sharpen abilities. It is through what I call études that you make steps towards mastering the capabilities and gain the confidence to shape an organisation as a work art. At Stordes we develop and curate a collection of such études.
experiment
Any organisation is also a going concern to service customers and the public and to engage with the people employed. The extend to which you can disrupt this is not endless. There is also a collective responsibility. Experiments can be a good way to try more radical changes and discover what is possible. The positive side of such a measure can be experienced, while a possible failure does not lead to unrecoverable damage. Experimenting is a sine qua non in arts.
A final word on the challenge of becoming a work of art. The balanced turning of the context and the performance knobs to create an artful synergie is not a static excise. The world around us and what is considered artful changes. The avant garde becomes the convention. Our thinking evolves.
Moving is the only constant for organisations as works of art.
alice neel, jackie curtis and ritta redd, 1970)