Co-creation is the creation of a work of art by professional and non-professional artists working on a basis of equality
What do I mean by co-creation? Answering that question is central to A Selfless Art. Co-creation can be a powerful tool that gives human beings new capabilities for working together to solve common problems. But it can also be hidden form of exploitation, through which people’s own assets and creativity are sold back to them at a profit. Most problematically, perhaps, it is the second while seeming, even believing itself to be, the first.
In the Traction project, I was part of a large group of people working on co-creating operas in Spain, Portugal and Ireland, a story documented on a website and a short book. Naturally, we had to say what we meant by co-creation and the definition I proposed then, which drew on my past thinking, is the starting point for A Selfless Art. I wrote then that, for me, co-creation is:
The creation of a work of art by professional and non-professional artists. In participatory art projects, it has been common to describe some of the people involved as artists and others as ordinary people, community members or simply participants. Implicit in this language is a belief that the artist is different, if not superior, to those they have invited to join them in a creative process. This difference makes it difficult, if not impossible, to work on the basis of equality.
Co-creation, in contrast, recognises that everyone who contributes to the artistic process is an artist, just as everyone participating in a marathon is a runner. What matters is the act: how well it is performed is another question. The Berlin or London Marathons include world record holders and runners for whom completing the course is a lifetime achievement. All contribute to the cultural meaning of the event.
But there is an important difference between professional artists and people for whom the artistic act is not a life choice: they bring different resources to co-creation.
Each group can create art without the other, although for several reasons the non-professionals will find it harder to fulfil their potential. Co-creation happens when they work together, and the result is greater than the sum of the parts because it is art that neither could have made alone. The interaction of professional and non-professional artists challenges everyone, sparks new ideas and insights, and generates novel forms and alternative meanings. It destabilises assumptions, producing creative energy that makes art unknown, risky and vital. Co-creation is a thrilling, joyous process that, once experienced, is never forgotten.Co-Creating Opera, Guidance from the Traction Project, 2023
But that is what I thought in the autumn of 2022. The problems in those ideas, and whether I can solve them over the coming months and years is one reason for returning to the issue in A Selfless Art.
François Matarasso 