The Alternative Art School Fair (AASF)

19–20 November 2016
New York

Introduction

For the first time, alternative art schools were brought together around a shared project. Forty-nine schools from around the world participated in the event, mapping innovative educational models in art.

Art education reflects social and cultural changes. The idea of creating an alternative art school is rooted not only in the desire to create “better” art, but also in the desire to establish conditions for greater freedom of expression. Often conceived as independent, artist-led initiatives, these schools champion values and visions that vary considerably according to their methods, missions and governance structures. Even on a modest scale, they provide essential models for cultural critique and experimentation.

The Alternative Art School Fair (AASF) offered presentations, workshops and exclusive interviews with participants.

AASF sees the creation of a school as a way of designing institutional structures better suited to cultural change. With this in mind, the fair invited the public to engage with schools at interactive booths, alongside a programme of presentations and discussions on the role of these alternatives.

Objectives

• Increase the visibility of alternative schools and facilitate access to their programmes.
• Establish recognition and a status for the concept of the “alternative art school.”
• Create opportunities to share experiences and resources for mutual enrichment.
• Affirm the artist’s role as a cultural producer.
• Examine the evolution of methods in art education.
• Demystify the process of creating a school.

Organisation

In keeping with the spirit of these schools, participation in AASF was free, and each school was free to design and organise its own interactive booth. Through these booths and a varied programme of discussions on the role of art education in the evolution of contemporary society, the fair’s founders and organisers sought to raise public awareness of this global phenomenon.

Context

In the years leading up to the event, interdisciplinary practices experienced unprecedented growth in the arts. Around the world, artists engaged with the social sciences, questioned institutional structures and challenged increasingly obsolete divisions between academic disciplines.

At the same time, numerous unconventional educational initiatives emerged as forces for renewed pedagogical experimentation and cultural transformation. Their diverse methods, missions and theoretical approaches place the artist at the heart of developing new approaches across disciplines.

Programme

AASF’s programme enabled participants to exchange resources, share their perspectives and build relationships within the community. It also sought to shed light on the often complex processes involved in founding a school or choosing to study at one.

As part of the event, the fair organised a round-table discussion on the artist’s role in society and the relationships between art education and cultural change.

Participation Criteria

• Identify as a school.
• Offer artistic or creative education as part of the programme.
• Encourage the sharing of experiences and resources for mutual enrichment.
• Offer a distinctive approach to pedagogy, organisation, mission, curriculum or intended outcomes.
• For organisations that do not identify as art schools, offer an approach capable of influencing or transforming art education.
• Generate alternative systems and new cultural models.

Participants

• Alternative Art Program Guatemala
• AltMFA
• Anhoek School
• Antiuniversity Now
• Archeworks
• Arts Letters & Numbers
• ASCII Project
• Beta-Local
• Black Mountain School
• Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
• Bureau for Open Culture
• Center for Art Analysis
• Colabor USP
• École de Hogbonu
• Enrol Yourself
• Escuela Parasitio
• Free School of Architecture
• Islington Mill Art Academy
• Grizedale Arts
• Ox-Bow School of Art
• New Earth Resiliency Training Module
• Nomad/9
• Ricean School of Dance
• School of Apocalypse
• Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques (Iheap)
• School of Critical Engagem
• School of the Damned
• School of the Future
• School for Poetic Computation
• Shift/Work
• SOMA
• Sommerskolen
• Southland Institute
• Spring Sessions
• Sunview Luncheonette
• The Alternative Art College
• The Art & Law Program
• The Black School
• The Cheapest University
• The Field School
• The Other MA
• The Public School
• The School of Making Thinking
• The Ventriloquist Summerschool
• The Zz School of Print Media
• Thinker Space
• Transart Institute
• Uncertainty School
• UNIDEE – University of Ideas
• Union of Initatives for Educational Assembly

Resources

• Arthur Fournier Fine and Rare
• Booklyn
• Brooklyn Art Library
• Common Field
• Inventory Press
• Open Source and Space Administration Institute
• Provisions Library
• Zone Book

Partners

• Biennale de Paris
• Pioneer Works
• Pixartprinting

Related Documents

Catalogue, 302 pages, in English