Cluster is a network comprising eight visual art structures, each located in residential areas peripheral to large cities in Europe, with an extension in Holon pointing towards the Middle East. Each of these structures is actively implicated in its respective local context through the development of connections with their immediate environments, while also being actively present on an international level through projects and knowledge-sharing.

The members are all:

—Located in residential areas on the peripheries of major cities;

—Small to medium size operations;

—Focused on commissioning and producing contemporary art; the type of art that is produced is often experimental, process driven and involves research; the collaborations are carried out with local as well as international artists;

—Producers of works that are anchored in the local context; the members of the staff of the various institutions and organizations actively pursue an enhancement of the relations between the local community and the organization.

During 2012-13 the group will collectively visit each of the organizations in the network in order to look closely at the ways in which we are each operating in relation to our respective localities. Each visit will include a combination of closed meetings, site visits, and public events, through which we will share the ongoing dialogues that will be generated through the project.

Cluster is funded by European Cultural Foundation: www.culturalfoundation.eu.

Cluster was initiated in June 2011 in order to facilitate internal and public exchange of knowledge about how these types of institutions function and also to establish further collaborations between them. In addition to this, the long term goal is to collaborate within the network and to increase the awareness of the institutions’ and organizations’ work and the importance of this outcome. Cluster is the first network of this kind.

The members of Cluster are:

CAC Brétigny, Brétigny s/Orge, France; CA2M Centro Dos De Mayo, Madrid, Spain; Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Aubervilliers, France; Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden; The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel; The Showroom, London, UK; Zavod P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E., Ljubljana, Slovenia.

http://www.clusternetwork.eu