When the founders of Aid & Abet first took residence in a brick warehouse in the grounds of Cambridge station their attention was drawn to a big knife switch in their new building, the kind you might find backstage in an old theatre. Although it was unmarked it obviously controlled something far more substantial than just the warehouse’s electricity supply. It was caged and padlocked, a beacon for anyone with an iota of mischief and vandalistic tendencies. Curiously the custody of this knife switch was given to an unknown artist-run project, with its penchant for gloriously quirky ampersands. It strikes me that the custodianship afforded to Aid & Abet could be construed as a metaphor for the influence that artist-led activity holds over the artistic landscape in the UK. From this artist-led activity comes the raw power that drives our municipal galleries and feeds our museums. It is a direct supply of creative energy for an arts ecology that has contemporary practice at its core. The exhibiting spaces that artists establish, the programmes and projects they initiate, the studio complexes and collectives they manage – these all provide a channel for this energy that flows between artist and curator, artist and collector, artist and commissioner, artist and critic. Flicking this artist-led activity switch would suddenly plunge these curators, collectors and critics into the dark, or perhaps more accurately, a twilight. Imagine not so much an artists’ strike, but a more fundamental and permanent absence of the apparatus that channels them – the Aid & Abets, the Outposts, the Eastside Projects, the Workplaces, the g39s – take these away and the two-way communication between supplier and consumer dries

up somewhat. Collectors and critics lose a sophisticated tool for intelligence-gathering and vetting, curators and commissioners are denied the chance to try before they buy. We would undoubtedly still be able to see art in our galleries and museums, albeit a more sanctioned, one-dimensional and safe art.

Fortunately that scenario is not yet a reality in the UK. We have an arts ecology that encourages practitioner-led activity across all artforms, making even the most pioneering risk-taking visible and even participatory. The founders of Aid & Abet were already part of this ecology as members of a successful studio community at Wysing Arts Centre. In 2009 they wanted to engender a similar community for their home town of Cambridge, within the context of a wider artist-led network across the UK. They imagined a venue for artists to produce, exhibit, curate and discuss art; an arena for social activity, a place of discovery, a hang out. It would be a locus for artists in the region and graduates from the city’s art school. It would invigorate and consolidate the community, and encourage reciprocal relationships between artists. And in the brief two years since its launch in 2011 Aid & Abet has achieved all this and more. It has also shown that artist-led activity can influence a city by working in cohort with existing visual arts organisations (as with the Temporary Residence project at Kettle’s Yard), being a role model for peer projects, and building a critical mass for the region.

Given that it has generated a considerable legacy in a comparatively short space of time, what might we expect of Aid & Abet in the future? Artist-led activity is

responsive, flexible and nimble-footed by nature. In a time of dwindling public spending when the merits of philanthropy are being debated, it must be emphasised that artist-led activity has always been a heavily philanthropic environment enabled by the altruism of artists, many of whom are volunteering their time and expertise to drive maximum value from modest investments. If we can acknowledge the altruism of artists as having equivalent value to the more tantalising philanthropy of cash giving, this has a massive impact on helping to understand the significance of artist-led activity to our arts economy. We can appreciate it as an asset whose value can be maximised through good maintenance and intelligent use: for example, employing artists as creative partners, influencers or decision makers, or inviting artist groups to curate our gallery and museum programmes. Aid & Abet demonstrate this already through their work for Cambridge’s CB1 development by providing sector intelligence and curatorial expertise for commissioning contemporary art in the public realm.

Similarly, if we neglect or abuse this asset its energy will diminish and could disappear altogether. While it is true to say that artists individually can be resilient and withstand working environments that might surprise other professionals, the apparatus they develop to channel their activity often remains as fragile as a young independent business. Perhaps there is a need for cages and padlocks to ensure no vandals get their idiotic hands on our artist-led activity.

Chris Brown is an artist, musician and co-director of g39.

The power of artists

The power of artists

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