Embracing The BAD – Increasing accessibility to artistic expression through the concept of BAD Art.

The BAD Artist Collective is a group of women and non-binary individuals from in and around Växjö coming together to question and challenge norms, practice taking up space, form resilient and inclusive community and of course create art together.

We as a group embrace practices of BAD Art [all caps to take up space], which is the practice of creating intentionally BAD Art. Art that is not meant to be good, but is good for you. It values process over product. It is a practice to make artistic expression more accessible and break away from perfectionist tendencies as well as gatekeeping in the contemporary art world. We believe all beings to be artists, however many inner artists are hibernating. How can we gently awaken this inner hibernating artist?

This design project is situated in the sphere of social sustainability and the intersection of feminism and queer theory, feminist art theory and metadesign. The project centers around the inequality in the contemporary art world and the lack of accessibility to artistic expression, especially for women and non-binary individuals. This project argues for artistic expression being a basic human need, however in the western global north creative expression easily becomes deprioritized due to obsession with productivity. This is especially true for women and gender queer individuals who often carry greater responsibilities of unpaid and invisible labor, and experience greater levels of inequality.

Through the concept of BAD Art, a concept that prioritizes process over product and embraces imperfection, I set out to question and challenge norms and power structures in the contemporary art world while making artistic expression more accessible. The methods used include the creation of 100 pieces of BAD Art, a guerilla exhibition, the development of collaborative practices, languaging, forming a collective of women and non-binary individuals in Växjö. The collective practiced co-creation, collaborative artistic expression and building resilience through weekly meetings, making sessions and the planning and carrying out of an exhibition called ‘BAD Enough’ in collaboration with Konstfrämjandet Småland, Linnaeus University and The Cultural University.

“The researchers found just that: Art engages the social brain. Art awakens our ability to connect. The researchers saw that ‘art engagement recruits the same brain networks as complex social behavior’.”
– Amie McNee (2025)

The results illustrate that BAD Art practices can foster accessible, inclusive and empowering collaborative spaces, can spark critical conversations regarding feminism, gender and art and can build community and resilience. The collective members reported feeling welcomed, empowered and inspired through the process.

I argue that intentional BAD Art practices rooted in feminist, queer theory and metadesign principles hold great potential as tools for activism, community building and increasing accessibility to artistic expression. There is much room for the project to grow and for emergence and to expand beyond Växjö. A lot of good can come from the BAD.