What?

The objective of this thesis was to explore the causes for the income difficulties experienced by early-career artists in Switzerland. In a second part, an intervention concept was developed. The intervention aims to improve the situation that early-career artists in Switzerland are faced with. It is based on the insights gained from the research.

Why?

Many artists struggle to sell their work, making them susceptible to monetary problems. To avoid this, early-career artists commonly take up other kinds of work, which defies the reason of why they became artists. Also, it sabotages their facilitation of discourse, making a demand for their artworks even less likely. For culture, the problem is relevant, as this fosters an exclusive and socially unsustainable culture. For the state, the problem can be assumed to lie in the economic unsustainability of the current situation. The state invests into art students, only for these students to change career after graduation, essentially defying the purpose of the money invested in them.

For whom?

The thesis addresses early-career artists and future early-career artists, such as the those studying art at the HSLU. They are the main target group of the developed intervention. More specifically, the thesis wants to address those early-career artists that are invested in the discourse of the problem area.

How?

The thesis is structured in two parts, the research and the development of the intervention. The research consisted largely of qualitative interviews with early-career artists, mid-career artists and problem area stakeholders. The subsequently gained insights were used as the basis upon which the intervention was developed in three iterations. The first iteration was a co-design session through which a first prototype emerged, which was then tested in the further iterations.

More information can be seen in the video.