We got the autumn season off to a great start last weekend! Thanks to Anca Baciu and Mandy Wong for curating, and to everyone who came along on the art crawl from Marylebone to South Kensington on Saturday. We started off with Allora & Calzadilla at the Lisson Gallery, where we wondered how the exhibition lives up to the political critique in the press release. Looking at Wade Guyton‘s work at the Serpentine, we wondered how the large-scale digital prints on stretched canvas or digital prints arranged in display cases are “pioneering painting techniques that explore the impact of digital technologies”. We more or less came to the conclusion that this could be justified by referencing the work’s engagement with formalist concerns such as flatness, surface, illusion etc. We got utterly exhausted by the V&A LGBTQ Tour, which was delivered with energy and enthusiasm. We unanimously applauded this excellent initiative, but were disappointed at the emphasis on anecdotal stories about celebrities.
Many thanks to School of the Damned for inviting is to the First Alternative Education Open Day! It was a privilege to be part of this excellent landmark event together with other alternative art schools. We covered a lot of ground in a relentless series of workshops, met new people, exchanged ideas, played games and had a great time. Many thanks to Maria Christoforatou for preparing and facilitating our workshop, we collected participant responses and we’re putting those together to share. In the meantime you can download the handout with A4 poster.
[SYMPOSIUM] BOOK CLUB Foucault: Of Other Spaces
Sunday, 15 October 2017, 1:30pm – 4:00pm
Yurt Café, St. Katharine’s Precinct, 2 Butcher Row, London E14 8DS
Facilitated by Dasha Loyko Free, booking via Eventbrite
Our next event is the book club on Michel Foucault’s essay Of Other Spaces, facilitated by Dasha Loyko and hosted at Unison, a former lifeboat turned project space by Anastasia Freygang “to create a shifting pocket of inquiries”. We’re meeting at Yurt Café, located next to Limehouse station before we walk to the boat moored nearby. For more information, to download the text and book your place please visit the page.
[OPPORTUNITIES & ANNOUNCEMENTS] OCTOBER 2017
The list of opportunities, open calls, deadlines, announcements & vacancies is updated regularly.
If you would like to post your listing for open calls, opportunities or vacancies on the list please use the contact form to send us the details.
IMAGE CREDITS ART SKOOL CO-OP. Poster by Sophia Kosmaoglou. [SYMPOSIUM] #20 Foucault: Of Other Spaces. Flyer by Dasha Loyko. Daniel Clowes [1991] Art School Confidential. Eightball #7, Nov 1991.
After a packed season of events and shared activities with alternative art schools we enjoyed the summer alright! Read the bulletin on our adventures and find out about some of the places and faces of the alternative art education movement.
Now we’re looking forward to autumn rituals, open days, book fairs, art affairs, bonfires and getting together with warm cups of tea to exchange ideas, make decisions and change the future of art education.
On Saturday, 30 September we’re joining Mandy Wong and Anca Baciu for a crawl from Marylebone to South Kensington. We’re looking forward to some interesting discussions when we visit exhibitions by Allora & Calzadilla at Lisson, Wade Guyton at the Serpentine, and wrap up with the V&A LGBTQ Tour.
On Sunday, 1 October we’re getting together for an exciting array of workshops at School of the Damned’sFirst 100% Official Unofficial Alternative Education Open-Day! If you want to come along, get involved or help out please see below for more details.
[ART&CRITIQUE] ART CRAWL Marylebone to South Kensington
Saturday, 30 September 2017, 1:45pm – 5pm
Meet 1:45pm at Lisson Gallery 27 Bell Street London NW15BY
Curated by Anca Baciu and Mandy Wong All welcome, booking not required
We’re contributing to School of the Damned’s Open Day with a participatory workshop on alternative art education and we need your help! If you want to come along, get involved or help out please get in touch by responding to this email or just meet us at Set Space on 1 October at 11am. This is a 30 minute workshop, scheduled to start at 1pm.
[OPPORTUNITIES & ANNOUNCEMENTS] SEPTEMBER 2017
The list of opportunities, open calls, deadlines, announcements & vacancies is updated regularly.
If you would like to post your listing for open calls, opportunities or vacancies on the list please use the contact form to send us the details.
IMAGE CREDITS [ARTCRAWL] #13 Marylebone to South Kensington. Flyer by Mandy Wong. Sean Roy Parker [2017] HOW TO SELF-ORGANISE. Daniel Clowes [1991] Art School Confidential. Eightball #7, Nov 1991.
July was a busy month, we had several meetings and got together with alternative art schools to ignite a discussion on cooperation and exchange ideas on the future of education in the arts.
On Friday, 14 July we got together for an open meeting and workshop on self-organisation. We shared ideas and decided to follow-up with a series of workshops to address new questions that came up, to consider the part that self-organisation plays in alternative art education, and to address our own cooperative practices.
Our first stop was the Railway Hotel, where we were joined by Simon Cole down from London on a different route. After catching up over vegan lunch and a drink we headed towards the seafront for a sneak preview of Twenty One, a brand new venue in Southend. We caught the installation of 100% Southend, an open access exhibition for the launch of the new space. We circled back through town to Focal Point Gallery to see the group exhibition Maximum Overdrive and Big Screen Southend, an open access rolling submission public screen. Follow the link to find out how to submit your work.
We passed the ostentatious University of Essex student accommodation building, the monumental VAT building, the Beecroft Art Gallery and enormous developments on the way to the Old Waterworks, an independent, artist-led space. We saw the artists’ studios, darkroom, printmaking facilities and Alison Lloyd’s exhibitionAct 1 – 1 Act – Walking the Gallery, Closed – Walking Birchen Hat.
Then we headed through streets of terraced houses to West Road Tap for a drink and chat about alternative art education and coops. We set off along London Road to Chalkwell Park, home of TOMA and Metal Art School. Emma gave us a tour of the studio spaces, the exhibition and meeting spaces, the cosy living quarters and work spaces with excellent views of the Thames estuary. Visit the website for more information on Time and Space Residencies at Metal, the next deadline is on 30 September 2017.
After bidding farewell to Metal and the beautiful park we got caught in a downpour which let up as soon as we got to Chalkwell station. The sun and tide were both out by the time we arrived Leigh-on-Sea where TOMA artist Richard Baxter’s studio is located. Richard told us about the boat-building history of the studio, he showed us his work and we talked about reading groups, practice, theory and choices in alternative art education.
Still somewhat damp from the storm we piled into the Mayflower to recount the the day over calamari and beer. We eventually had to run for the train back to London because we got carried away with the view of the moody estuary. For more images please see the album on our Facebook page. Thank you TOMA for a fantastic day!
On Monday, 24 July we had a special edition of the book club at School of The Damned‘s (SOTD) Common Room, a week-long public programme of free educational workshops, talks and participatory events at Guest Projects, 22-29 July 2017.
SOTD is an alternative contemporary art postgraduate course based in the UK. The school runs a labour exchange economy based, offering a series of skills hour-for-hour in return for guests’ time, venues workshop provision, etc.
The discussion was entirely unrestrained, we meandered beyond territories relevant to the text in several interesting directions, focusing mainly on pedagogical practice and ethics. We might benefit from a return to the text or a closer look at concepts such as Foucault’s notion of parrhesia (the obligation to speak openly), Adorno’s concept of autonomy and Guattari’s ethico-aesthetic paradigm and transversality in the context of art and education.
We were excited to meet several members of the SOTD class of 2018, aka Year of the Rooster before the book club, and to talk about their work. Sean Roy Parker ran a Wildflower and Floristry walk on the previous day and was busy reconfiguring his collection of found objects into new ensembles. We were sorry to miss the discussion on Self-organisation, Access and Sharing on the previous day and we heard all about the fascinating workshop Thinking with Water: Pooling resources, research and ideas with Emily Wooley.
We viewed the beautiful display of work from Renata’s Freehand Embroidery Technique workshop from the previous day. Renata combines costume design, visual art and art education in her practice, she is interested in pedagogy, communities, education, interdisciplinarity and participatory art, both as member of SOTD’s class of 2018 and in the context of her art practice. She has compiled the School of the Damned Open Library, which focuses primarily on alternative art education.
Thanks to SOTD, Renata Minoldo and everyone who joined this riveting discussion on art, participation and pedagogy. It was a pleasure to be part of this exciting programme of events and to enjoy the positive energy of this friendly, cooperative and creative environment. The fallen fruit crumble was delicious.
The bad news is that our application for the MayDay Rooms residency was unsuccessful. The good news is that we’re making progress with our research on alternative art education, radical pedagogy and self-organisation by developing our links with alternative art schools and self-organised groups in London and the UK.
If you’d like to get involved please come to the meeting on Self-organsation on Friday, 14 July 6:30-8:30pm. The meeting is a chance to discuss our plans to develop collaborative, cooperative and collective practices as part of our pedagogical remit.
We have a series of meet-ups with alternative art schools lined up in July. First up we’re joining AltMFA to view Louise Ashcroft’s solo exhibition All My Lives at Arebyte LASER on Monday, 17 July 2017, 6-9pm.
On Sunday, 23 July we’re visiting Southend-on-Sea to meet members of The Other MA (TOMA) for a tour of the art school, local galleries and artists’ studios led by Emma Edmondson, founder and coordinator of TOMA.
On Monday, 24 July we’re reading Claire Bishop’s essay Pedagogical Projects with Renata Minoldo. This special edition of the book club is part of School of the Damned‘s residency at Guest Projects.
See you there!
[ART&CRITIQUE] OPEN MEETING Self-organisation
Friday, 14 July 2017
18:30-20:30
LARC, 62 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1ES All welcome, no need to book
Meet-up with ALTMFA Louise Ashcroft: All My Lives
Monday, 17 July 2017
18:00-21:00
Arebyte LASER, 2 Pear Tree Street, London EC1V 3SB All welcome, no need to book
[OPPORTUNITIES & ANNOUNCEMENTS] JULY 2017
The list of opportunities, open calls, deadlines, announcements & vacancies is updated regularly.
If you would like to post your listing for open calls, opportunities or vacancies on the list please use the contact form to send us the details.
IMAGE CREDITS [ART&CRITIQUE] Open Meeting, 12 May 2017. Photo by Penelope Kupfer. Louise Ashcroft [2017] All My Lives, Arebyte LASER. The Other MA. METAL Art School, Southend-on-Sea. Gabriel Cornelius von Max [1889] Monkeys as Judges of Art (detail). Oil on canvas, 85 × 107 cm.