Psychic infrastructure

A few years ago we were speaking with our friend Clare Farrell, cofounder of Extinction Rebellion and Hard Art, about the big idea behind Metalabel: that all creative people could start “labels” to put out work by themselves and others that reflected their shared worldviews.

Clare, always brilliant, called the concept “psychic infrastructure” — a mental framework that opened up a new way of working and thinking. A way of working, not coincidentally, you see reflected in the output of Hard Art.

In part because of Clare’s encouraging reaction, we’ve spent the years since deep in this universe, during which we’ve come across a few recurring forms of collaboration that benefit from this psychic infrastructure:

• A group putting out work under a shared umbrella. Picture four people who make work in a similar style. Rather than competing through their difference, they celebrate what they have in common by co-promoting each other’s work and making projects together.
• A curator(s) using their taste and voice to lift others up. Some labels are a single person or group of people who have unique taste and the energy to scout, support, and nurture good work into the world. The label structure allows them to self-legitimize and cast a longer cultural shadow than they would on their own.
• An individual artist who works across mediums. Most artists today make work in multiple formats and mediums that has them collaborating with others for aspects of their work – logistics, a specific skillset, or specialty. Thinking of their work as a label allows this multimedia catalog to add up to a cohesive whole.

Each has its nuances and ways of working, but in all cases the psychic infrastructure of the label opens up new flows for energy and work. The structure allows us to distribute efforts and credit, share audiences and economics, and center the shared tastes and values behind the work.