There’s a pervading sense lately that everything is the same, even though each thing presents itself as unique. This is very easily exemplified if you frequent (no one actually ‘frequents’) artist run spaces (ARIs) in Naarm/Melbourne, for they are indistinguishable from each other, despite being socially and geographically dispersed. I’m referring to archetypal ARIs that are fifteen to twenty years old—such as Westspace, Kings ARI, Blindside, Seventh, TCB Inc and Trocadero—that were inaugurated as an alternative to centralised institutions and commercial galleries.

All of them can now be described without differentiation, as a safe white cube in a gentrified suburb that supports experimental practices, often from emerging voices with politicised concerns grounded in feelings. There are also similar programs (e.g. Emerging Writers Program) in other creative fields (Board of volunteers) run by the same type of people (Instactivists). When these spaces feel angsty and try to problematise their  existence, they make generic decisions like engaging ‘community’, seemingly believing they are the first ones to do so. The rhetoric of ARIs is interchangeable and sounds like HR speak for Montessori kids, who are learning social change through play, on their way to becoming diligent members of the professional managerial class.