Personally I'm absolutely against manifestos of any sort; I wrote something for Talan Memmott a while ago about it, a manifestor or anti-manifesto against manifestos.
The teachers I mentioned, who were really good, were good because they just worked with the students, not at them, but there was nothing formal, nothing to formalize. And it really depended as well on personality; some teachers just aren't interested in working this way and that's ok too. There was a teacher at UCLA I hated - he taught formal drawing in a formal way - and the students loved him, because he provided structure. There's no answers I think, just continuing discussion. - Alan, but I might be wrong here of course! On Sat, 16 Oct 2010, marc garrett wrote: > Hi all, > > I have been reading, catching up on the discussions about 'authenticity > of art in a neoliberalist world'. > > One thing that kept coming back to me when reading all of the great > concepts, cross-thinking and shared explorations around the subject, was > - how the hell does this all translate into an everyday practice? > > It seems to me that as an overall, blanket of rules or ethical > implementation on arts culture as whole it really would not work; > because people need their own space to experiment and discover their own > creative noise or voices. To suggest everyone becomes the same or reads > from the same song sheet, would be a mono-cultural and self-defeating > experience; very likely stunting individual agency on art-making and its > local, contextual terms. > > So, there needs to be a contemporary body of people or movement engaged > in dealing with these actual questions, specifically. > > A group who is willing to organize a shared (agreed) 'manyfesto' for a > collective practice; for producing alternative art contexts challenging > through its practice the destructive nature of neoliberalism and its > ideals, and influences on our cultures world wide. So far, there have > been small groups and individuals who have done this, but as an art > movement specifically re-evaluating and challenging art culture and the > neoliberalist agenda as its main focus; through ethical reasonings in > order to redefine the mannerisms of art behaviour, with guidelines for > others to discuss, debate, use themselves, as a shared create commons, > is another thing. > > The reason I propose 'manyfesto', instead of manifesto is because, we > need to be 'consciously' aware in our shared decisions in challenging > some of the older more singular modernist (even post-modernist) > languages bit by bit. If we take the 'i' out of manifesto, it feels > actually less 'masculine' originally (from Italian, from manifestare to > manifest). "...maybe we should jointly define the goals ... write some > sort of many-festo as marc garrett would call it" collaboratively user > designed, Armin Medosch. http://www.thenextlayer.org/node/18#comment-7 > > Obviously goals would be agreed by consensus, but a manyfesto would be > worked out in order to bring into fruition a focus and direction (even > rules, yes rules) making it easier for individuals and groups to define > their own situations, circumstances and differences, actively > incorporating process as 'critiques' as 'real' palette, material or > 'thoughtful manure' and nourishment in making such works. Such works > need not be technologically informed or based, but more exist in > recognition or through acknowledgement of the guidelines proposed, > shared via the movements own deliberation. > > The movement would of course need its own doubters, critical thinkers, > theorists to act as the consciousness of the collective/movement, but at > the same time there needs to be a consensus and agreement that the work > introduced into the world is from an activist position, and getting it > out there is important and urgent, for all concerned. > > Even though I am equally enthralled in theorizing about various ideas, > much of this excellent, independent, intelligent and > inventive/imaginative discourse can work towards informing a pro-active > art practice. > > Wishing all well. > > marc > > > > > Think we're pretty much in agreement here! > > > > Thanks for the discussion, Alan > > > > > > On Thu, 14 Oct 2010, Curt Cloninger wrote: > > > >>> The best art teaching I've seen (and hopefully articipated in) was Lutz > >>> Presser's in Tasmania, and David Askevold's at Nova Scotia; in both > cases, > >>> they/we assumed the students were already artists/agents, and > treated them > >>> as such. So making art became a cooperative effort - sharing techniques > >>> when needed, but not imposing anything. And believe it or not, everyone > >>> rose to the occasion. It's as if nothing was taught at all but > everything > >>> was learned. It was astonishing. > >> This sits well with me as a pedagogical practice. It makes me think > >> of Ranciere's "Ignorant Schoolmaster." If I am the teacher/explicator > >> with the correct answer, then in order to liberate my students with > >> my wisdom and knowledge, I first have to convince them that they > >> aren't yet liberated. This is a form of oppression masquarading as > >> emancipation. As the situationists say, "Don't liberate me. I'll take > >> care of that." > >> > >> I, as the teacher, don't arbitrate/decide "what matters." But the > >> student still must decide this for herself. That is her own pragmatic > >> question as a practicing artist. Because she has been thrown into the > >> world with a body that can act on things and with a limited amount of > >> time to live. She is the steward of this body and time. So the art > >> work she makes must at least matter to her; otherwise she would spend > >> her time, money, and bodily energy on some other activity she deemed > >> more worthy. > >> > >> What kind of pedagogy best comes alongside my student and helps her > >> discover what matters to her? That becomes my own "pragmatic" > >> question as a practicing teacher. > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> NetBehaviour mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > >> > >> > > > > > > == > > email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ > > webpage http://www.alansondheim.org > > music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ > > == > > _______________________________________________ > > NetBehaviour mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > == email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ webpage http://www.alansondheim.org music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ == _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
