Distribution within Artistic Practice 2026

This PhD level elective course addresses the conditions of contemporary artistic practice and research through the lens of distribution—understood not simply as the final stage of artistic production but as a central site where aesthetic, economic, and technological processes converge. The course is led by Dr. Vincenzo Estremo with contributions from Dr. Khashayar Naderehvandi, Dr. Michele Masucci, Prof. Mick Wilson and special guests. We welcome applications from PhD researchers in the arts and/or arts-related subject areas. The course examines a structural realignment between artistic practices and the rationalized logic of production and circulation that has emerged since the 1960s and 1970s and further impacted by digital network developments. Focusing on distribution, the course content provides examples of how the means of visibility, accessibility, and dissemination have become integral to the definition of the artwork itself across multiple art forms and traditions including cinema, contemporary art, literature and music. It also considers how this transformation of dissemination practices conditions the possibilities of artistic research. Through examples drawn mainly from experimental and marginal cinema (but also from publishing, contemporary art and music) the course will explore how practices initially positioned outside the cultural industry have been progressively absorbed, re-coded, and monetized. Through such examples the conceptual tools for analysing how infrastructures of distribution shape the aesthetic field and delimit possibilities for artistic research are introduced. Through these examples and tools, the course participants are invited to rethink the relationship between creativity and economy, critique and complicity, autonomy and circulation in the broader ecology of contemporary artistic practices. The sessions are online with an optional in-person meet up 29 June to 1 July, in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Dates and Locations

All occasions via ZOOM, except 29-June -1 July.

Monday 16 March 15:00-17:30 
Monday 30 Mar 15:00-17:30 
Monday 13 April 15:00-17:30  
Monday 27 April15:00-17:30 
Tuesday 28 April 15:00-17:30  
Monday 4 May 15:00-17:30  
Monday 11 May15:00-17:30  
Monday 1 June 15:00-17:30  
Monday 8 June15:00-17:30  

Monday 29 June to Wednesday 1 July (optional) in person meet-up in Gothenburg.

Conditions for Participation

Participation is free. 7,5 ECTS credits will be awarded. 

Application Procedure

Places provided on a first come / first served basis. 
Application made via this website.