‘The Subversion of Paradoxes’ — A 2018 Retrospective: Part I (Ch. 3/10)
Chapter 3— Beyond Disciplines: The Futures of Arts, Design & Learning
Ahead of the upcoming 5th anniversary edition of IAM Weekend (March 21–23, 2019 in Barcelona), in this 10-chapter retrospective we recap the key learnings, activities and next steps that emerged from our 2018 research theme: The Subversion of Paradoxes. In this chapter we present the key learnings from the ‘Beyond Disciplines’ session of our annual event.
In this session we argued that we can go beyond the consumption of education and move into critical thought and dialogue with an education system that embraces, challenges, engages, and includes students from all spectrums. This includes decolonising education, supporting art(ists) through challenging times, and encouraging futures-oriented learning and the evolution of the arts & design practices.
We were so grateful to hear from infradisciplinary designer/artist/researcher Pinar Yoldas, academic Francisco Carballo and artist Felipe Castelblanco, and a panel conversation moderated by Thibaut Thomas, featuring Transfer Gallery Founder & The Current Museum Director Kelani Nichole and Somerset House Studios Director Marie McPartlin. Check out the key insights below!
Here the four key learnings from this session:
1. Decolonising realities and knowledge calls for redistributing power and creating a new political imaginary and language
2. Museums can continually push the boundaries of what it means to curate culture and support young artistry
3. Cultural institutions can take risks, experiment with new technologies and support the creative youth to engage with urgent social issues
4. Every part of your experience is being tracked, creating a harsh paradigm for all
The 5 quotes from where these key learnings come from:
“The first tenant of decolonisation should be the decolonisation of knowledge. It is the only important thing that we can do in terms of decolonizing ourselves.”
– Francisco Carballo, Deputy Director of The Centre for Postcolonial Studies, Goldsmiths University,
”I am using my own position of little power to redistribute, to be a parasite, and actually to take from one organism to pass on to another, and I think there is something about this. I don’t see this as a project, I see this as a practice. And we can all do this practice.”
– Felipe Castelblanco, artist and Founder of Parasite School
“The Current is experimenting with what it means to open up a museum’s framework for identifying and acquiring works so that a more diverse group of young patrons can help shape the cultural legacy of their generation. We are an institution beyond brick-and-mortar. We have a vision to create a distributed museum collection that grows organically alongside the artists that we are supporting iteratively … Our underlying ethos is to remain responsive to what is current.”
– Kelani Nichole, Founder, Transfer Gallery and Director, The Current Museum
“Our mission is to support work which is experimenting with new technologies, which is engaging with urgent issues and pushing bold ideas.”
– Marie McPartlin, Director, Somerset House Studios
“By saying infra-disciplinary I wanted to position myself in a place where I am at the basement before disciplines emerge because every 10 years a new discipline emerges. So I thought that, you know, I am not between, I am not anti, I am at the bottom just watching what is next to emerge.”
– Pinar Yoldas, infradisciplinary artist/designer/researcher
‘The Subversion of Paradoxes’ — A 2018 Retrospective is a 10-chapter retrospective where we recap the key learnings, activities and next steps that emerged from IAM’s 2018 research theme.
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👉 Join us for IAM Weekend 19, our annual meeting for creative agents of change who care about the futures of the internet(s) where you can discover, be inspired and interconnect with diverse perspectives around our research theme for 2019: ‘The Quantumness of Archipelagos’.
