Join interdisciplinary artist Jack Ky Tan as he breaks down what contracts are, their purpose, how to challenge contractual terms that are weighted against the artist, and how to advocate for your right to understand the formal agreements you are entering into as an artist. Jack will also offer two creative examples of contracts that are dyslexia-inclusive and that incorporate more-than-colonial approaches.

We will begin the talk with the DNA of what a contract is, who it is for, and a discussion about the power dynamics between artist and commissioner or institution.

Jack will then speak about the contract he created for FACT Liverpool who commissioned him to design his own contract when he joined their board of trustees as Artist in Residence. He will describe the process of designing a contract as an accessible document that not only challenges contract terms that are weighted against the artist, but one that avoids framing the artist-institutional relationship as adversarial, punitive and competitive.

He will then trace his research on creating anti-racist partnership agreements with Sheffield University, exploring how we can take inspiration from indigenous and multicultural approaches to reform the legal relationship between artist and commissioner by creating visual contracts that capture alternate value systems or cosmologies.

We will end with a Q&A where you can put all your burning questions to Jack!