Marsha Bradfield - Transacting as Art, Design and Architecture: A Non-Commercial Market

A NON-COMMERCIAL MARKET

Edited by

MARSHA BRADFIELD
CINZIA CREMONA
AMY McDONNELL
EVA SAJOVIC

First published in the UK in 2023 by

Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2023 by

Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Signed texts, their authors

Rest of the book, the editors

The publication of this book was made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and University of the Arts London.

The electronic version of this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) Licence. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. The Open Access version can be accessed from this link: https://www.intellectbooks.com/transacting-as-art-design-and-architecture.

Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise).

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copy editor: MPS

Cover and book designer: Aleksandra Szumlas

Cover image: Courtesy of Neil Farnan. The currency for #TransActing: A Market of Values was a collaboration between Metod Blejec, Neil Farnan and Neil Cummings. Frontispiece image: #TransActing: A Market of Values. Photo credit Marsha Bradfield. Production managers: Naomi Curston and Sophia Munyengeterwa

Typesetter: Aleksandra Szumlas

Print ISBN 978-1-78938-443-7

ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-444-4

ePUB ISBN 978-1-78938-445-1

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This is a peer-reviewed publication.

This publication considers the work of Critical Practice Research Cluster, which in 2015 included the following members: Metod Blejec, Marsha Bradfield, Helen Brewer, Fangli Cheng, Cinzia Cremona, Neil Cummings, Neil Farnan, Verina Gfader, Angela Hodgson-Teall, Karem Ibrahim, Amy McDonnell, Claire Mokrauer-Madden, Eva Sajovic and Kuba Szreder. Hundreds of additional members, enthusiasts and others operating in solidarity with Critical Practice also enriched the first decade of the research clusters activity. We are grateful for all their wide-ranging contributions.

With prismatic effect, this anthology spans art, design and architecture by refracting a single project. #TransActing: A Market of Values (henceforth TransActing) was a non-commercial pop-up market organized by Critical Practice in central London that took place in July 2015. We would like to thank all those involved, including the stallholders, both for their contributions to the market and their texts which comprise the section Stallholders reflections.

As a research output, this anthology depends on the articles that serve to contextualize and elaborate TransActing. To the contributors of these texts, we express our deep appreciation. This also extends to Verina Gfader for her invaluable help in commissioning three of these texts on behalf of Critical Practice. These do important work in establishing the collections common view that culture plays an integral role in how markets broker the values that they organize and produce.

TransActing as a project marked the culmination of five years of practice-based research, a sustained and dynamic season that brought together builds, cycle rides, hacks, seminars, screenings, walks, workshops, unconferences and other formats and events led by many generous and inspirational practitioners. This programming was made possible thanks to support from Malcolm Quinn, associate dean of research and director of Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Graduate School (renamed Research at Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Colleges of Arts in 2018). Quinns foreword to this publication exemplifies his long and strong support for Critical Practice and his regard for the clusters work as vital to the rich research culture of the University of the Arts London.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support that TransActing received from Arts Council England and University of the Arts London. The administrative team of Research at Chelsea College of Arts Claire Mokrauer-Madden, Gabriele Grigorjevaite, Ellie Pitkin, Wendy Short and Nick Tatchell will always have a special place in our hearts. Furthermore, TransActing coalesced as the central project of Marsha Bradfields postdoctoral fellowship (201315 based at Chelsea College of Arts). Without this opportunity, neither the market nor this publication would have been realized with such ambition. Critical Practice has also been core to Neil Cummingss research as professor of theory and practice in fine art based at Chelsea College of Arts. Words cannot express our sincerest thanks for his constant nurturing, organizing, mentoring, convening, provoking, advocating and so much more.

Many of us in Critical Practice resolutely identify with a generation of practice-based researchers whose ways of doing and being coalesced at Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Graduate School between 2005 and 2015. The personal and professional generosity of David Cross, Neil Cummings, Mary Anne Francis, Hayley Newman, Malcolm Quinn, Stephen Scrivener and others was indispensable to this rigorous and relevant community of practice.

Typifying the mixed economy that sustains Critical Practice, the paid labour of TransActing was dwarfed by unpaid and invisible work. Like most not-for-profit initiatives and many for-profit ones too our efforts rely on terrific good will, unbridled generosity and a complex economy of favours where we find ourselves perpetually in debt to each other. We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to all those who pitched in to help across TransActings many phases. Special mention goes to our collaborators Andrew Belfield, Andreas Lang, Carlotta Novella and other members of public works, the London-based art and design practice that collaborated with Critical Practice to develop the stall architecture and infrastructure. public works also helped with the projects aftercare by rehoming the stalls with organizations that share Critical Practices values, such as accountability, transparency, peer-to-peer exchange, self-organization, a strong sense of social justice and the power of critical creativity to change the world. In this same vein, thanks also go to staff and students of Chelsea College of Arts programme of Interior and Spatial Design (ISD), who have helped Critical Practice with its various builds for more than a decade. May the programme find novel opportunities for community-based collaboration further to its move to Camberwell College of Arts in 2019.