Marc Garrett
Marc Garrett recently completed his PhD at Birkbeck University, London, UK. His work explores postdigital contexts of working-class culture as part of an intersectional enquiry. He co-founded the arts collective Furtherfield as a collaborative platform online in 1996 with artist Ruth Catlow. It has two physical venues, a gallery and a Commons lab, both situated in the park in Finsbury Park, London. Garrett has curated over 50 contemporary Media Arts exhibitions, projects nationally and internationally.
Garrett is editor of the Furtherfield web site and has written many critical and cultural essays, articles, interviews, and books about art, technology and social change. Recent publications include co-editing: Artists Re: thinking the Blockchain with Ruth Catlow, Nathan Jones and Sam Skinner (Torque, 2017), State Machines: Reflections & Actions at the Edge of Digital Citizenship, Finance, & Art, with Yiannis Colakides and Inte Gloerich (Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2019), and Frankenstein Reanimated: Conversations with Artists in Dystopian Times, edited by Marc Garrett and Yiannis Colakides (Torque, 2020). Currently editing the book Furtherfield: 25 years of Radical Friendships (Torque, forthcoming 2021).
His art and activist history began in the late 80′s on the streets of Bristol, UK, exploring creativity via agit-art tactics. Using unofficial, experimental platforms such as the streets, pirate radio such as the locally popular ‘Savage Yet Tender’ alternative broadcasting 1980′s group, net broadcasts, BBS systems, performance, intervention, events, pamphlets, warehouses and gallery spaces. In the early 90s, he was co-sysop (systems operator) with Heath Bunting on the art and anarchist Cybercafe BBS with Irational.org.
Furtherfield’s mission is to co-create extraordinary art that connects with contemporary audiences providing innovative, engaging and inclusive digital and physical spaces for appreciating and participating in practices in art, technology and social change. As well as finding alternative ways around already dominating hegemonies, thus claiming for ourselves and our peer networks a culturally aware and critical dialogue beyond traditional hierarchical behaviours. Influenced by situationist theory, fluxus, free and open source culture, hacktivism, and processes of self-education and peer learning, in an art, activist and community context.
- Links
- Furtherfield disrupts & democratises art and technology through exhibitions, labs & debate for deep exploration, free tools & open thinking.
- DECAL, Decentralised Arts Lab is an art, blockchain & web 3.0 technologies research hub for fairer, more dynamic & connected cultural ecologies & economies now.
