Plural authorship is a continuing current in contemporary art. Artists may be pragmatically inclined to collaboration in order to facilitate large-scale or complex projects while for others it functions as an essential critical tool which calls into question ideas of self-expression and subjectivity and the social nature of the artistic production and inspiration. Various artists have introduced unorthodox models of authorship as part of the conceptual fabric of their work. This approach is interesting as it incorporates the social and political into the artwork’s form and construction.

 

France has been a major player in drawing mainstream attention to the phenomenon of collaborative practice. Bourriaud’s book Relational Aesthetics outlines some of the shifts in meaning-making in contemporary art. Since its publication and the birth of such political and cultural journals such as Mouvements and Multitudes, the French art contemporary art community have consequently embraced these ideas and they have become disseminated widely. While the emergence of such artist initiatives as Bureau d'études, Accès local, and AAA Corp has also represented an evolution of French art practices although the practice of collaborative production is less widespread than the concepts associated with it.