A critical, interrogative examination of the artist-run space's role in contemporary Europe from contributors who participate in its praxis

Part how-to manual, part history and part sociopolitical critique, Artist-Run Europe looks at the conditions, organizational models and role of artist-led practice within contemporary art and society. The book's aim is to evince how artist-run practice manifests itself, how artist-run spaces are a distinctive and central part of visual art culture and how they present a complex, heterogeneous and necessary set of alternatives to the art institution, museum and commercial gallery.
In a self-reflexive interrogative process, contributions from artists, curators and scholars discuss concerns pertinent to the book's proposed structural subversion. What position do artist-run spaces occupy within the field of contemporary art today? Should they stand in opposition to or in parallel to other art-world structures? How is value ascribed to these often transitory practices, and is this value recognized within the field? How are these spaces organized?