ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses how collaboration has become characteristic for much of the contemporary art practices in the 21st century. It offers an exploration of leadership, voice, and collaboration in decision making in research examining the development of a music program, Ensemble, with a group of disabled young people. Outsider art is perhaps the most pertinent category of art prior to contemporary art and the disability arts movement. The book analyzes the contemporary American artists Robert Gober and Cindy Sherman. It also discusses the implications of an open, collective process of defining disability, which may increase the accessibility of institutional systems as the needs of clientele evolve. The book suggests that the artist is often a collaborator and producer of situations and events rather than objects.
