Any views expressed within media held on this service are those of the contributors, should not be taken as approved or endorsed by the University, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University in respect of any particular issue.

MA Contemporary Art Theory

MA Contemporary Art Theory

2023-24 The University of Edinburgh

Toggle navigation menu Menu

  1. MA Contemporary Art Theory
  2. Pre-Sprint 0: The Educational Turn
  3. What is the Educational Turn in the Commons? Dr Emma Balkind

What is the Educational Turn in the Commons? Dr Emma Balkind

image_pdfimage_print

What is the Educational Turn in the Commons? Lecture Part 1 (link) (9:44)

Lecture Part 2 (link) (3:05)

Context

In these ‘talking heads’ videos, I am trying to make a connection between a few concepts to consider the educational turn in relation to the commons.

Firstly, thinking about the concept of the commons itself. The commons being a type of resource which is shared, and has a £0 value.

Secondly, considering discursive practices. These are used as a means to provide discussion within contemporary art and are often framed as ‘educational’ or ‘relational’ programmes within institutions (museums, biennials etc.)

Many contemporary commons initiatives have been formed through reading groups and informal means of postgraduate education. These projects often form as a result of financial constraints. I give the examples here of groups such as Sixteen Beaver in New York.

Some of these projects are either partially or fully dematerialised and available as online resources or groups such as AAARG.org

The postgraduate educational programmes I mention here are School of the Damned, and Dark Study.

Links list:

A history of the concept of the commons. ‘The Uncommonality of the Commons’ by Simon Yuill, which was produced for Emma’s discursive programme Estovers in 2013. http://www.frontiersinretreat.org/artists/simon_yuill/324_simon_yuill_the_uncommonality_of_the_commons (link)

Essay for The Shock of Victory, CCA ‘Exhibiting the commons’ by Emma Balkind https://graphicalhouse-cca.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/7c292d5b-19bd-482a-8625-de1ff3c0d527EBEtC.pdf (link)

This quotes ‘Reclaiming the Commons’ by Naomi Klein in the New Left Review https://newleftreview.org/issues/II9/articles/naomi-klein-reclaiming-the-commons (link)

Sixteen Beaver space in NYC which ran Commons study groups http://16beavergroup.org (link)

Aaarg.org Artists, Architects and Activists Reading Group (available through a TOR browser at aaaaarg.fail) https://monoskop.org/Aaaaarg

Alternative MFA – School of the Damned https://schoolofthedamned.tumblr.com (link)

Dark Study https://www.darkstudy.net (link)

 

Back to The Educational Turn Learning Module (link)

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Emma Balkind 2020

BYNCSA

css.php

Report this page

To report inappropriate content on this page, please use the form below. Upon receiving your report, we will be in touch as per the Take Down Policy of the service.

Please note that personal data collected through this form is used and stored for the purposes of processing this report and communication with you.

If you are unable to report a concern about content via this form please contact the Service Owner.

Please enter an email address you wish to be contacted on. Please describe the unacceptable content in sufficient detail to allow us to locate it, and why you consider it to be unacceptable.
By submitting this report, you accept that it is accurate and that fraudulent or nuisance complaints may result in action by the University.

  Cancel