COLLABORATION.

This special issue of Afterimage explores the varied meanings and contexts of the process of artistic collaboration. The projects discussed herein are diverse, but each has one shared element: a mutually-agreed upon genesis. Individuals with disparate opinions and aesthetics must at some point decide how these differences can be reconciled in the service of a shared goal, and how to continue this process in an efficient and productive manner. It is important to discuss these issues in order to shed light on what brings individuals together to share their desires and ideas and then to work to find common ground that is both accessible to each and aesthetically inspired. This question proves relevant to the art world, and society, as a whole.

The personal narratives and critical investigations that follow illuminate the necessity to establish levels of effective communication, mutual respect and, ultimately, trust. The decision to work collaboratively often results in either an attempt to forge a singular identity that denies the members' sole authorship, or an emphasis on the chorus of voices present in the collaborative work in order to challenge the cultural value placed on individual achievement. The artists included in this issue, and countless more like them, have learned to share control and ownership, to forge new and shared identities, to juggle another's schedule and personal needs, to communicate more effectively through both traditional and new techonologies and to work collaboratively as a team or a group. They have worked to complement one another's styles, to challenge the other's methods and suppositions, to both compromise and push the envelope. The accounts that follow will in turns educate, inspire, confound, entertain and ulti mately (we hope) urge readers to consider a closer examination of this complex, common issue for themselves--and their partners.