Seminar: THE URGE, THE ECHO

It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories. Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble

Including workshops, screenings, readings and presentations: Performance from Sindri Runudde, Forest Law by Ursula Biemann, Pirámides/Pyramids by Pilar Álvarez and Mercedes Álvarez, Memory Piece workshop with Frida Sandstrom, The Camouflage Society by Gabo Camnitzer, Second Gift by Aurélien Froment, Kids Looking Busy workshop with Emmeli Person and Jemina Lindholm, Walking with the Trouble walk-shop with Tina Carlsson and Simon Ceder, Sensory Futures with Marianna Feher and Olivia Berkowicz, Turning over the grounds of sgulS with Katja Aglert, Composting Utopian Archives with Marta Gil, Easton String Games by Olivia Plender, The Camouflage Society with Gabo Camnitzer and Precipitational Learning with interviews from E.A.R.T.H Lab, Centre for Creative Ecologies and Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology and seminar curator Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris.

Program Notes
The Urge, The Echo – Reverberations of Learning Practices is a seminar at Index. Using the metaphor of echoes and reverberations, the seminar will unpack learning and critical pedagogy practices collectively. The seminar is a roundtable situation for educators, artists, theorists, writers and cultural critics to gather and ‘think-with’ these expansive practices. Working against traditional seminar formats where knowledge is ‘banked’, this will be a roundtable learning process, where all participants are both student and teacher.

Artists with pedagogical practices often work in complex social structures such as within schools, hospitals, other art institutions, how do we articulate what goes on here? How can we transport the knowledge produced into other fields? Artists who use teaching as their artistic material work with a form of invisible labour – how do we conceptualize this? The aim of the seminar is the development of knowledge about learning and pedagogy within contemporary art. The two days will be dedicated to workshops, presentations, film screenings and shared meals. While many contemporary artists are working with pedagogy, learning and relational practices, very little critical discussion is taking place on this topic.

Index has been running an ambitious learning program for the past three years, the topics and critical questions that have arisen during this process form the starting points for the seminar. The seminar mixes theory and practice, drawing on the proposal from Donna Haraway to ‘think-with’, the roundtable seminar aims to understand how pedagogy can be utilised as a tool of resistance.

The seminar is a highlight of the Index’ program and aims to shed light upon this under-explored area of artistic work and labour. Parts of the seminar will also be co-hosted by the Index Teen Advisory Board. These teen-led events amplify the voices of young people when talking about the potential of art and learning coexisting.

With the aim of being aware of environmental impacts, the seminar has minimised climate-impactful flights to Stockholm. We work to share knowledges through other methods such as interviews, film works and reading lists. There will also be a substantial collection of recordings made throughout the seminar. These recordings will form a listening set which can be easily circulated, so that we are able to reflect on and share the discussions with publics beyond Stockholm.

For further information please contact Emmeli Person at emmeli@indexfoundation.se
The seminar continues the dialogue between Index and the IBIS department at Konstfack University College of Art and Design. The seminar is supported with project funding from Kulturrådet and Arvsfonden. Index is supported by Stockholms Stad, Kulturrådet and Stockholms Läns Landsting.