NOR RESEARCH STUDIO, FOUR INSTRUMENTS (REPRISE), 2023. Nikon F4 on tripod, music stand, 1976 Fender Princeton guitar amplifier, and unopened ReoLink four-camera security system.
About
We are a design research studio that develops didactic media, exhibitions, publications, and other forms of intellectual property for artists, nonprofits, and creative businesses.
Book free 15-minute consultation
Book sliding-scale hourly consultation
Staff
Wye Coday
Senior Researcher
wye@nor.la
Evan Kleekamp
Operations and Development
evan@nor.la
Statement of Purpose
We pride ourselves on the quality and thoroughness of the investigations we develop for artists and creative businesses who seek to grow their enterprise and repair their relationships to money, power, labor, and personal identity.
Unlike many art professionals, we encourage artists to develop fully integrated businesses that hold no illusory distinctions between artistic expression, studio practice, commercial labor, and business administration.
This means conducting audits, interrogating financial objectives, setting measurable goals, and preparing our clients to advocate for themselves — and their businesses — with confidence while also supporting the development, production, distribution, and sale of their artwork.
In our view, this integrated approach represents a movement toward transparency and financial stability in an industry that is widely disingenuous, opaque, and exploitative.
It is also an optimistic gesture that demonstrates our commitment to advocating for artists who seek to make an independent living through their creative practices.
Statement of Method
We describe ourselves as a design research studio because we use research methodologies to define and counter the structural inequity and economic disenfranchisement that plague the arts.
Our artworks extend our research practice. To date, they have taken the form of grant proposals, photographs, sculptures, catalogue essays, legal interventions, lecture performances, and recorded conversations. We also advocate for what we described as “post-institutional” business models that allow artists to diversify their sales portfolios.
Rooted in the core of our approach is our belief that artists must reconcile their relationship to money if they want to have uninterrupted time to produce their work.
Statement of Equity
Artists with nontraditional backgrounds are encouraged to contact us for specialized consultations. We proudly work with and support neurodivergent, queer, disabled, and otherwise economically marginalized groups.
studio@nor.la
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NOR RESEARCH STUDIO, FOUR INSTRUMENTS (REPISE), 2023. Nikon F4 on tripod, music stand, 1973 Fender Princeton guitar amplifier, and unopened ReoLink four-camera security system. About
We are design research studio that develops didactic media, exhibitions, publications, and other forms of intellectual property for artists, creatives, startups, media companies, small businesses, and nonprofits.
Staff
Wye Coday
Senior Researcher
wye@nor.la
Evan Kleekamp
Operations and Development
evan@nor.la
Book free 15-minute consultation
Book sliding-scale hourly consultation
Services
Workshops and Events
We host an assortment of seminars, workshops, talks, research sprints, and intensives — including our controversial grant workshop, HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN WHITE PEOPLE, and our two-week portfolio intensive, IS MY BODY MEANT TO BE READ?
Collectively, our programming focuses on economic and institutional critique that asks artists to consider their studio practice as an independent business activity. Events are typically announced through our newsletter and on Instagram.
More Information
We host an assortment of seminars, workshops, talks, research sprints, and intensives — including our controversial grant workshop, HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN WHITE PEOPLE, and our two-week portfolio intensive, IS MY BODY MEANT TO BE READ?
Collectively, our programming focuses on economic and institutional critique that asks artists to consider their studio practice as an independent business activity. Events are typically announced through our newsletter and on Instagram.
More Information
NOR RESEARCH STUDIO. Paperwork featuring a Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ Untitled print; pencil drawings and xerox studies derived from Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up; a limited edition R.H. Quaytman insert from October #168; and notes in response to Quaytman’s 2016 exhibition Chapter 30: Morning at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2019. Digital photograph.Blackmarket Psychoanalysis
Our signature business development service is tailored toward artists and creatives seeking to create financially sustainable studio practices.
In this audit-driven inquiry, we investigate the emotional and operational blockages that are destabilizing your creative enterprise.
After conducting these audits, we create infrastructure like budgets, grant proposals, and publications that integrate these blockages into your work.
- Research and Development
- Career Advocacy Services
- Studio Operations
- Business Coaching
Our signature business development service is tailored toward artists and creatives seeking to create financially sustainable studio practices.
In this audit-driven inquiry, we investigate the emotional and operational blockages that are destabilizing your creative enterprise.
After conducting these audits, we create infrastructure like budgets, grant proposals, and publications that integrate these blockages into your work.
- Research and Development
- Career Advocacy Services
- Studio Operations
- Business Coaching
WYATT CODAY, THE LION THE SERPENT THE GOAT, 2023. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FROM CHAPTER III OF SO THAT MY BALLOON WILL TAKE ME DOWNWARD (ONGOING).Grants and Fundraising
Our grants have received recognition from venerated awarding bodies such as Creative Capital, The Andy Warhol Foundation, Sundance, and the California Arts Council.
We have also written application materials for residencies, fellowships, and graduate programs that have netted our clients research and travel stipends, institutional support for their creative projects, and full-ride scholarships.
- Grants, Budgets, and Proposals
- Residency and Fellowship Applications
- Fundraising Campaigns
Our grants have received recognition from venerated awarding bodies such as Creative Capital, The Andy Warhol Foundation, Sundance, and the California Arts Council.
We have also written application materials for residencies, fellowships, and graduate programs that have netted our clients research and travel stipends, institutional support for their creative projects, and full-ride scholarships.
- Grants, Budgets, and Proposals
- Residency and Fellowship Applications
- Fundraising Campaigns
NOR RESEARCH STUDIO, AUNTIE EVAN TAKING GILA TO SEE SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME, 2022. HUSKY TAKEN TO PEAK OF MOUNT WATERMAN IN 2015 DIESEL VOLKSWAGEN GOLF PURCHASED USING FUNDS FROM THE DECAPITATION OF THE SECOND WITCH’S HEAD.
Intellectual Property
We view publications as vehicles for developing and expanding intellectual property. We help our clients determine which aspects of their creative projects can be transformed into grant-worthy proposals, redistributed as subsidiary works, or repackaged for commercial productions.
- Branding and Visual Identity
- Business Plans
- Publication Design
- Ghostwriting
We view publications as vehicles for developing and expanding intellectual property. We help our clients determine which aspects of their creative projects can be transformed into grant-worthy proposals, redistributed as subsidiary works, or repackaged for commercial productions.
- Branding and Visual Identity
- Business Plans
- Publication Design
- Ghostwriting
EVAN KLEEKAMP, BLOUSE, 2021. MASSACRE OF THE SIGNIFIERS.TIFF
Audience Development
Artist depend on the financial support of their patrons. Whether an individual collector, a collection of subscribers, or an institutional partner, patrons come in different forms, sizes, and levels of commitment.
We help use diversify your audience portfolio, create digital communication channels, and integrate your brand messaging into your studio practice.
- Strategic Communication
- Lead Generation and Sales
- UX and Competitive Research
- Subscription Services
- Online Community Development
- Web Portfolio Management
Artist depend on the financial support of their patrons. Whether an individual collector, a collection of subscribers, or an institutional partner, patrons come in different forms, sizes, and levels of commitment.
We help use diversify your audience portfolio, create digital communication channels, and integrate your brand messaging into your studio practice.
- Strategic Communication
- Lead Generation and Sales
- UX and Competitive Research
- Subscription Services
- Online Community Development
- Web Portfolio Management
EVAN KLEEKAMP, BLOUSE, 2021. ODE TO SIESTAWARE AND COMMODITIES AKIN TO AND LOWER THAN SIESTAWARE.TIFF