About the project

Over 2024, the arts and cultural sector in Canada and beyond witnessed an increasing pressure to prioritize consumption and marketability in the arts. Artists are expected to monetize their work through consumption-centred production or digital platforms that fail to capture the depth of their practices. With significant reductions in arts funding, particularly from arts councils and other public funding bodies, artists are met with the challenge to seek new ways to sustain their work without compromising their values.

From this premise, a collection of research and prototypes to develop new models in artists’ financial sustainability and design new pathways for artistic works will be published on this site. The researchers prioritize practices that don’t fit conventional marketplace frameworks and imagine new modalities for them to be showcased and monetized.

How do we create economic systems that value materials, craft, and storytelling? How do we centre place, relationships, and a sense of wonder in how we create and share art?

We want to reimagine the act of buying material goods or paying for an experience as something less transactional and more relational. Inspired by the aesthetics of fairytales and the sense of magical realism they evoke, we aim to transform the marketplace into a space of wonder. Through digitally mediated narratives, spatial interventions that "occupies the ruins", and artistic practices that defy conventional marketplace formats, we’ll explore how to create a critical approach to productization and monetization in the arts—a place to reflect on both desire and its consequences. Our goal is to shift the focus from mere exchange to interactions that feel alive, deepening the relationship between artists and their audiences.

Subscribe

By signing up, you'll get access to the collection of research and prototypes by the following artists, creatives, and community organizers. Keep your senses sharp and follow the trail of breadcrumbs into the deep, dark woods.

Project Research and Prototypes from

Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Tricia Enns, Luisa Ji, Adrian Layner, annais linares, Jerrold McGrath, Abbey Richens, Emil Woudenberg

Among friends

• Prachi Khandekar, Albéric Maillet, Kasra Goodarznezhad, and Husna Farooqui's care and expertise, particularly regarding local creative ecosystems in Montreal and Toronto, have been vital for this project.
• UKAI Projects is making space for prototype development and creative exchange, as always.

Research and Prototyping Funding

This project is made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.