WHY NETVVRK?
WHY NETVVRK?
What does it mean to Netvvrk?
Netvvrking is about how you think about the world and speaks to the underlying beliefs about what art is and what it can do.
It’s about finding healthy ways to operate in an industry that regularly exploits arts workers.
And ultimately, it’s about making the art world more hospitable to artists by transforming our relationship to it.
Let’s break this down into more tangible principles. These are three major components of a Netvvrked practice.
A Netvvrked Practice is Contextual
Understanding context is key to running a Netvvrked practice.
Taking context into account means Netvvrk exists in relationship to ourselves, our communities, and the world around us. Rather than operating on a winner-takes-all paradigm that supports the myth of individual genius, the Netvvrked artist understands that we never succeed alone. Others are always involved.
Thinking holistically means understanding that your capacity for positive influence as an artist is often far more impactful on other artists or individuals than through a more global viewing audience.
By first focusing on the circles where you actually have the most agency—yourself and direct community—you can have an effective and powerful impact on people’s lives, without burning out trying to reach a more elusive audience.
A Netvvrked Practice is Interrogative
A holistic studio practice requires constant reassessment based on new information, and new realizations. This means listening not only to yourself, but the community and people around you.
In Netvvrked practices, we don't just use studio visits with artists and curators to achieve goals, but to listen and hear how others are receiving and interpreting our work, which are part of the process of judgment. (Do I want to buy this? Do I want to exhibit this?) Questioning is a community practice that includes our peers and audiences.
To find balance as an artist, you need a willingness to constantly update beliefs and assumptions, and the ability to be wrong and do something about it.
Think back to context: art work does not get made in a vacuum. It exists and is understood in relationship with the world around it. This means that a Netvvrked practice learns from what has happened in the past, what’s happening in the present, and what will happen in the future.
The key here? Be responsive to what’s going on around you, rather than bulldozing through what the world is telling you in order to achieve single-minded goals.
Netvvrked Practice is Sustainable
Sustainability, in the context of Netvvrked artist practice, does not necessarily mean making a living from your art sales, but rather the ability to consistently grow a career over decades. This requires the fortitude to stick with your work even when no gains seem apparent.
The important thing here is longevity, persistence, and planting seeds that will develop into long-term relationships that are mutually beneficial; artist-curator, artist-artist, artist-institution, artist-critic, artist-dealer.
A Netvvrked practice does not thrive on exposure alone. That means shows are not the only important metric. Of course, exhibitions are important. But what do your personal success metrics look like?
For example, do you want to engage in meaningful collaborations or produce a catalog of your work? Or do you want to be able to spend time in your studio simply experimenting and growing? Often success can be defined as continuing to make what you want.
While you get to decide what success means to you, it’s important to acknowledge that you can control success entirely. Being interdependent means that our success depends on others, and that cultivating relationships is crucial to being successful. Thus success can’t be entirely determined on our own, but rather in collaboration with the network you develop.
What’s Next
Are you ready to take the next step in building your career as an artist and get group coaching, workshops, and community support with like-minded peers? Join the Netvvrk waitlist here.
