ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 unpacks the modalities of articulation the Koalition der Freien Szene employs to constitute itself as a collective actor in Berlin’s cultural policy-making arena. It introduces the organizational set-up by analyzing first the non-elected Sprecher*innenkreis which serves as the main decision-making body of the Koalition, and second, the informal space of the plenum, open to all artists to engage with the Koalition’s activities. The chapter discusses internal power asymmetries within the Koalition that lead to partially difficult and tiresome negotiations within the heterogeneous group.
The self-designed conceptual framework of the Conflictual Consensus Matrix is introduced to illustrate four constellations of conflict among the constituent organizations. The scenario of ‘conflictual consensus’ is presented as a mode of agonistic representation to represent a collective position despite ongoing struggles. Moreover, the chapter sketches four interrelated vectors of articulation, marking them as agentic practices with the goal of representing universality and interconnecting differential elements. These analytical vectors navigate through narratives provided by artists and cultural administrators to understand the various legitimations constructed by the Koalition. The chapter presents and analyzes three modes of self-legitimation to unpack the group’s strong identification as ‘open action platform’, its self-authorization via diverse institutional affiliations from constituent organizations and the representative aspiration to ‘speak for’ the entirety of the independent art scene in Berlin. While the latter claim touches on the impossibility of representing the intangible subject of ‘the independent scene’, the representation attempted by the Koalition actively faces rather than neglects this impossibility. Mirroring the multiple approaches of self-legitimation, the chapter unfolds three modes of external legitimations to ascribe or revoke legitimacy to the collective actor Koalition by strategic partnerships with artistic scenes and established cultural institutions (NETWORKED legitimation), politicians’ gradually developing recognition of the Koalition’s impact (DELAYED legitimation) and the cultural administration’s tactical interactions (STRATEGIC legitimation). The chapter concludes by revealing the interrelatedness of legitimacy and articulation as precarious, contingent ‘loops of articulation’.
