The writers are dead, there is no longer any authority on how to play it. But whole societies organize conclaves to decide correct interpretations for Bach or Chopin. In class we study a writer who is no longer living, the teacher is positioned to be an authority on what the dead writer meant. He will tell you you are correct or incorrect about your interpretation but I wish we could pull Marshal McLuhan out from behind a poster. One wonders if he would agree or not with the expert.
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All artist collectives conform to values that regulate how that art is supposed to function. It’s no different than improvisers who speak about the importance of always being ‘in the moment’ when spontaneously creating. Why is it necessary to always be free? Who defines such abstract notions of what constitutes being ‘in the moment’ in the first place? Wether it’s this value or that, the more interesting question is why such groups exist in the first place, and why group validation and acceptance continues to be seen as a measure of artistic credibility.