Artist Perceptions and Experiences with an Experimental Artist Residency Program: The case of the S-store Project in Seoul Art Space Sindang

There is a growing recognition of the important role that artist residency programs can play in supporting artistic activities in their various forms. This paper examines an experimental residency program that has been in operation for less than two years in Seoul Art Space Sindang. The principal goal of the “S-store” project is to help artists develop products for the art market in cooperation with a major department store. We use Bourdieu’s field theory to analyze the strategies that underlie the operation of this more thoughtful approach to commodifying craft artworks; an approach that involves a mixture of both autonomous and heteronomous principles. Our findings reveal noticeable differences in the perceptions and experiences of the involved artists based on their positions in the field of craft. In particular, well established artists were more interested in the commodification of art and were consequently more actively involved in the project than less well established artists who were more concerned with maintaining the aesthetics inherent to small scale crafts production. Nonetheless, despite these differences, both groups equally recognized the importance of maintaining a pure art status beyond the boundaries of the art market. This study shows the potential and complexity of artist residency programs in helping artists adapt to the market logic of the art industry.