AFpistesarjan

AFpistesarjan is a multinational open-access platform and collective focused on experimental digital art, sound, performance, and interactive media. It supports collaboration among artists, technologists, and researchers by providing residencies, online publishing, and coordinated events that emphasize process, openness, and experimentation.

The name AFpistesarjan was coined by its founders to convey a sense of ongoing, serial production. The abbreviation AF signals a loose alliance of autonomous groups, while the component piste-sarjan evokes the idea of a series or set of works, reflecting the collective’s emphasis on iterative, collaborative projects rather than a single signature piece.

Originating as a small network of studios in Western Europe, AFpistesarjan formalized into a nonprofit cooperative in the mid-2010s and gradually expanded its membership to include participants from several continents. The platform aims to lower barriers to collaboration by sharing tools, workflows, and documentation, and by curating programs that cross disciplinary boundaries.

Activities include an annual festival, an online journal, resident programs, and a rotating program of collaborative projects. Its projects often combine generative media, live performance, and interactive installations, with an emphasis on open-source tools and open-access publication. The group also maintains an archive of works, methods, and project dossiers to support reproducibility and future study.

Organization is managed as a cooperative with a rotating steering committee and member-driven governance. Core members are supported by a larger network of associate artists, researchers, and partner institutions. Funding comes from grants, institutional partnerships, and individual contributions, reinforcing a model focused on shared resources and collective authorship.

AFpistesarjan has been noted for fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration and for promoting open-access dissemination in the digital art field, while some critiques point to administrative complexity inherent in volunteer-driven, globally distributed collaborations.