This project aims at presenting art practices that straddle both art and education, which have always been strongly tied. Utopia and the Everyday proposes to invite artists and collectives whose practices include strategies borrowed from teaching methods, using the cultural institution as a space for critical thought and discussion about education, and provide a prospective environment to tackle social and political issues.
The exhibition Utopia and the Everyday invites us to consider the field of contemporary art as a free space to experiment with new learning methods, to see the relationship between the teacher and the taught in a different light, or to tackle issues that learning institutions do not usually address.
Utopia and the Everyday revolves around three collaborations between international artists and local players: the students at Deutsche Schule Genf (the German School of Geneva), the Haute Ecole Pédagogique de Lausanne in relationship with CIRA (Centre International de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme), and a collaboration involving people and associations from Le Lignon (Geneva). Together they will produce new works, designed for the Centre's display spaces. The exhibition is based on democratic and creative processes that involve each participant according to a horizontality principle.
The invited artists and collectives, Nils Norman (UK), in collaboration with Tilo Steireif (CH), Oscar Tuazon and Damon Rich (founder of Center of Urban Pedagogy, USA), and trafo.K in collaboration with architect Gabu Heindl (Austria) all carry out artistic practices that are based on exchanging experience and expertise.
A documentary section also presents other pioneering projects in this field from the 1950s until today, allowing to expand the social, cultural, political, and environmental issues related to the project. Utopia and the Everyday will be the subject of a catalogue, a gazette, and a series of public events. A new version of this project will also be presented at the Kunstmuseum Thun in 2010.
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