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are completely unrelated could still lend another useful skill to
the player, for example, management. This ‘supplement’ tactic is
beneficial to counter financial gaps left by a sporadic practice and
can contribute to strengthening a player’s network capacity.
BITINg THE HAND
Finding ways to finance one’s manoeuvres throughout this game
is imperative to avoid missing a turn or losing the game. To what
extent players seek funding and from where depends on the scope of
their playing tactics. Players may apply for funding from arts bodies
and local authorities, and/or solicit backing from businesses and
industries, private trust funds and individuals.
THErE IS ANoTHEr WAy
Artist-led activity has an empowering effect on those players who
want to seek an alternative to handing over the control of promotion
and presentation of their work. These entrepreneurial types take
responsibility for creating their own platforms for presenting work,
and with that comes the freedom to control how their work is seen
and by whom. on a practical level, this activity is a DIY approach to
promoting and presenting artwork; on a national level it is more a
way of working, a mindset, than a prescriptive institution.
The impact that this grassroots activity has made to Britain’s
recent visual culture is formidable and has affected a move in
critical attention away from what was previously regarded as
the mainstream system. Whether this ‘rulebook’ can deliver an
academic knowledge for playing the game is debatable, as each and
every group of players has its own methods of playing depending
on its particular aspirations, aims, abilities, quality controls and
visibility. You make up your own rules as you go along.
fAIlurE IS WoNDErful
As with all games that require a level of good sportsmanship, it’s not
the winning that counts, it’s the taking part. Players constantly push
boundaries without the certainty of success when developing new
work – it is a requirement of one’s progress. For this reason, risk taking
is a key factor of many aspects of play during the game. New players
in particular often take risks, sometimes due to unfamiliarity with the
game or because they commonly have little to lose and much to gain,
but risk (and failure) equally plays an important part of an established
player’s game. With a well-planned risky move they can potentially
advance to a higher level of play; a failed move inevitably leads to a
better-executed one, and another step closer to success.
THE rEVErSE IS AlSo TruE
All the rules that have been set out may be subject to change by
future players.
Chris Brown is an artist and
co-director of g39, Cardiff.