Tian Zhang

FavourEconomy Vol 1. 2015 - 2016

Tian Zhang : Creative Producer / Arts Manager / Curator FavourEconomy is a collection of audio recordings shared by women who work in the arts. The project operates as a platform for contributors to share their experience, insights and skills by recording an audio file and sharing it to the archive. The archive comprises of a series of volumes that develop over a one-year period coinciding with the financial year. The recordings shared to FavourEconomy have been termed ‘favours’ because they have been produced with the intention of being of benefit for other women to hear. Furthermore, the word ‘favour’ encapsulates a social gesture of ‘sharing something’ without defining exactly what that something might be. FavourEconomy operates as an audio gift economy, whereby each contributor has determined the content and value of their recording set in accordance with their own experience and is received by the listener according to their current situation and need. The audio favours concurrently act to gives value and power to the female voice, which is too often silenced. Diverse perspectives make FavourEconomy more valuable through their ability to highlight the breadth as well as the commonalities of the female experience. The project is inclusive of audio favours shared by those at various stages of their career and who occupy a variety of creative and professional arts roles. This is because the boundaries of contemporary art forms and careers can often be fused, blurred or multifaceted. Furthermore, arts practitioners frequently express themselves in multiple roles and creative disciplines. FavourEconomy is also inclusive of recordings shared by non-gender binary people to allow a spectrum of perspectives to be voiced. For so many women the path to ‘success’ is hazardous with a multiplicity of journeys simultaneously being navigated. Subsequently the female voice often vanishes from public discourse before being heard. To enable a platform for this to occur FavourEconomy is intentionally non-selective and embraces all audio favours shared from a female perspective of working in the arts - beyond only those 'at the top’ of their arts profession. The central aims of FavourEconomy are to promote a culture of supportive communication and information sharing amongst women, to foster relationships that are generative rather than competitive and counteract a system where women are often pitched against each other for finite slices of power and position. FavourEconomy is investigating at a time when we have the greatest numbers of women working in the arts, why there still is not commensurate representation in leadership positions, exhibitions, publications and collections. While there are many systemic issues to be addressed there is one specific area that can be combated by the FavourEconomy. We aim to actively support a culture whereby women help out other women in order to strengthen the female voice, knowledge, presence and power in the arts. We posit that our efforts and insights can benefit others and that the more that we share with and support one another the easier it will be for women to impact upon the circuit of contemporary art production and dissemination. Currently FavourEconomy volumes are accessible online to a digital public and for exhibition as a compendium of sound, installation and text based artwork. Moving forward FavourEconomy aims to furtther explore ways in which the archive records alternative histories; provides a platform for intersectional perspectives to be voiced; operates as an alternative economy; interrogates the notion of gatekeepers, prizes and exclusive exhibitions; challenges notions of success; empower the female voice and strengthens relationships.