Recently I attended a conference where G, my partner and sometimes collaborator, was presenting, and I was not. What surprised me was the level of confusion about why this was the case. It hasn’t happened to me when I have presented on my own without him.

It’s clear enough to me that sometimes G works alone, sometimes I work alone, and sometimes we work together - though what might be better to say would be that we always work together but only sometimes produce jointly-authored work. We share a bed but sit on individual chairs. There are differences, arguments, and separations. We have a history of occupying very intimate shared living spaces (tents, shepherd’s huts and the like) but we also spend plenty of time apart. Too much sometimes.

I often wonder how other artist couples manage it, the dynamic of sharing living space, with or without the art that they might make together. What are the dynamics of this specific relation of collaboration - is it qualitatively different or ‘better’ than other forms of collaboration? And what are the risks, for the practice, and/or the relationship? Is it inevitable that the collaborative practice is ultimately subsumed into a) the biography of the relationship, or b) one of the individual practices, in a hierarchal format?

I’ve been compiling a list of artist couples who also collaborate on occasion, or as a mainstay of their practice. Other contributions are welcome… Nina Canell and Robin Watkins; Marina Abramovic and Ulay; Christo and Jeanne Claude; Claes Oldenburg and (I’m ashamed to say I don’t know the name of ‘his wife’). Are Allora and Calzadilla in a relationship? Not sure about that one. Jennifer and Kevin McCoy; Heather and Ivan Morison.

More thoughts on this to come.