Dear MariaX and all,

sorry for the late reply to your questions concerning artschool/uk, I got caught up in a few deadlines last week..

people had different reactions to the 'school' aspect of the project mainly also because it wasn't clear initially whether the project would work with the practice of participating artists directly, whether we were in fact performing an idea of an exhibition or literally 'students' - when in reality it was a mixture of all three aspects. Part of this dynamic was also that expectations were different from the outset I think, some maybe thought of it more as a residency/workshop, others more directly as school depending also on the position of their own practice. 
There was quite a bit of debate amongst the group about the 'absence of work' and that at least the first part of the project was mostly talk-oriented with mainly outside input (interestingly, the artists in the group that got selected are largely studio-based and less 'engaged-practice' oriented as one might have expected in such a context).

I think the diversity of input was quite demanding and possibly hard to extend beyond the initial three weeks, people started to select what they take part in etc. towards the end.  It will be interesting to see where the focus will lie during the second part of the project in 6 months time and how our own practice may feed into this stage.


I would be very  interested to hear your thoughts re the exhibition aspect of a project like this and its context in the gallery framework. 

with best wishes,
Ruth



On 14 May 2010, at 11:22, Maria Chatzichristodoulou wrote:

> Dear Ruth,
> 
> Thank you for the info on the artschool/uk project. I wasn’t aware of it
> before I was invited to join this discussion, and I was very interested in
> learning more about this.
> 
> It seems that the project invited artists to invest a considerable amount of
> time, so I was wondering what the feedback is. Did they find the ‘school’
> component of it useful, and if so how?
> 
> Many thanks
> Maria X
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 14/05/2010 00:00, "JISCMAIL LISTSERV Server (16.0)"
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> From: Ruth Höflich <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 13:15:19 +0100
>> Subject: artschool/uk
>> 
>> Dear All,
>> 
>> Verina invited me to be part of this discussion to talk about my recent
>> participation in artschool/uk - a project conceived by John Reardon, Sabine
>> Hagman and Johannes Maier that took place at Cell Project Space in London
>> during April this year.
>> 
>> To introduce the project: artschool/uk selected a group of 20 practicing
>> artists to take part in a daily three-week long learning and peer debate forum
>> with an implicit view that such a group dynamic may lead to the conception and
>> delivery of  a collaborative artwork.
>> The project is structured in two distinct stages. So far we have completed the
>> first, "school" component. The second will take place in autumn and be a
>> reflection on the outcome and ideas raised this spring and take the form of a
>> public event. 
>> 
>> In terms of the learning/teaching experience artschool/uk provided a highly
>> condensed and intimate version of what may be expected of a good artschool
>> albeit in a self-organised form. There was an interesting line-up of visiting
>> lecturers, presentations, workshops and tutorials, including some less
>> orthodox formats for dialogue such as in situ artist visits (exhibition set
>> ups) and a field trip (london orbital coach tour with Hans Ulrich Obrist and
>> Richard Wentworth).
>> All of this was stimulating and valuable and no doubt the intensity it
>> provided had much going for it not least the commitment and effort amongst the
>> group and the room for moment to moment engagement - a momentum hard to
>> sustain outside such temporal structures.
>> 
>> Overall my impression was that participants and contributors alike (in some
>> cases roles could also have been exchanged which in itself is quite an
>> interesting dynamic) were chosen because of the diversity they offered to the
>> project, arguably making the school's theme self-referential, experimenting
>> with or discussing its form and framework. Within a temporary context the
>> variety and openness was exciting and energetic and it was useful for artists
>> to step outside of their established identities and engage in a pool of
>> opinions and approaches (especially since most had been outside formal
>> education for a some time). Inevitably it raised some questions within the
>> group as to the role of our participation and contribution as artists. This
>> was also due to the fact that the school was set in a gallery around a
>> commissioned seating piece/structure and that the project was itself heavily
>> documented throughout (not dissimilar to material for a research exhibition,
>> artschool also commissioned an artist to make a film from the collected
>> footage adding yet more layers to the possible outcome of the project).
>> 
>> Personally my feeling is that the organisers were looking at the project in
>> terms of the unfolding potential within a social peer environment 'seeking'
>> rather than presenting us with a set idea of what artschool can be.  It is of
>> course a vulnerable position to take as inevitably a school project comes up
>> against a lot of expectations and assumptions both art historically and in
>> terms of personal aspirations but I feel the endeavour from the point of view
>> of the organisers was a genuine exploration of the potential of
>> self-organisation within the context of setting up a school. It allowed us to
>> enquire beyond institutional, over-analysed frameworks and established ways of
>> thinking - asking us to suspend the emphasis on outcome and engage afresh in
>> process.   
>> 
>> I look forward to hearing your thoughts,
>> with best wishes
>> Ruth Höflich
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Ruth Höflich
>> T +44 (0)7944 107839
>> 5 Milton House Mansions
>> Shacklewell Lane
>> London E8 2EH
>> 
>> www.ruthhoeflich.net
>> www.guest-room.net
>> www.lawsonpark.org/library/
>> www.8fold.org
> 
> -- 
> Lecturer in Theatre and Performance - School of Arts and New Media -
> University of Hull @ Scarborough
> 
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