Dear all,

In Transmedia Brussels this week. Marcelo Delcampo wrote this text that I thought I should share here,

have a good weekend! Rob

A Collective Self-Teach-in Network.    

-Since corporative thinking has been installed into –institutional- education policies it has become more than evident that information is being dealt as merchandise and the “cultural barrier” is a matter of wealth; a situation which can only create a deeper gap between those who conform/rule the government and the people. Far from the obvious socio-economical implications -upper, middle and lower class distinctions and struggles-, we have to acknowledge that such implementations translate immediately into a cleaved political practice where not everybody is willing/capable to discuss/participate actively in the public scenario, being this, a programmed attitude that simply perpetuates something we might easily understand as an “state of things”; a parliament fulfilled with stiff-nature entities.

At this point, one must not only understand the consequences derived from such unsustainable model, but the reason why it has been outline in a way that clearly contradicts the main purpose of an educational system under the umbrella of a democratic state -including fair-competition free market policies. Turned out it was more profitable to keep a considerable portion of population stultified basing the access to education in merely economic facts and even if the access has been granted the quality of service rarely exceeds mediocrity. Therefore, the need to create/propose third-ways, when it comes to education, arises almost as an emergency, otherwise we are at risk of considering the paradoxical relationship between study and labor as normal .

In fact being a professional artist is one of the most blatant examples, whether the training is technical or academic most artists can’t easily find themselves a position, and that’s is simply art itself does not have a defined role in –productive- society, driving emergent artist to a practice that tends to reach benefits from cultural policies or simply must occupy the grey-areas in other fields –formal education- before succumbing to the creative industry.

Is not chance that informal education has become a more common practice in order to overcome such deficiencies, but is also true that possible gains in quality and relevance resulting from such programs loose their power due lack of validation and its subsequent non representativeness in the labor-market; so if we intent to revalidate a transmission model based on non-profitable exchange of knowledge (after all this is the way we used to learn for ages before religious and capital restrictions) we must be analyze at least two instances of trade regarding the subjects and purposes involved:

The first would be a network for everyday-life needs (from fixing a computer to legal advisory, for example) which doesn’t require validation far beyond the community involved in such kind of information-trading, in this case a rating model where reliability of services/people can be determined by the positive or negative reviews made by participants. Of course, all activities would have to be mediated by a (digital?) platform in which the members can have access to a personal/collective profile where the services required/provided can be easily shared, modified and rated. The platform centralizes the information but not the management, it will only facilitate the links between users not determine the kind of information is shared or the ways it is transmitted. Yet, despite not pretending institutional legitimation, a system of validation can be implemented. –see below.

The second instance regards a form of education that takes place outside the school which I like to call Collective Self-Teach-in Programs , here, unlike the previous scenario, validation is highly recommended/needed and has to reach institutional level due the knowledge shared can be potentially translated into productive instances, but in order to achieve relevance, a model to set them up with out being seen as a menace to the business must be found first.

If seen from the artistic perspective (in term of operability more than aesthetics) we must consider the possibility of tactical empowerment, in this case scenario the grey-area to occupy relies on free courses and extended education programs provided by both, private and governmental institutions. The idea is to link independent groups or artist that are currently providing on/off-line education services, which will be in charge of the courses (context-specific programs regarding experimental and conventional art theories and techniques) and gathering the staff of artists/scholars (though annual proposals open call).

That way bigger institutions won’t have to spend resources trying to sustain low impact programs and temporal staff engagement, instead research programs could have access new funding sources while, in the other hand, practice of independent artistic-education will be included as part of the local cultural policies (another reason for institutions to support the initiative due the potential profit resulting from promoting fair cultural practices –read, government economical support). Also independent art spaces could be linked as off-line support platforms for such programs, where small groups can join and interact during the labs and workshops according to de intensity/necessities of each program.
Finally a point/credit system must be implemented in order to determine quality and relevance of the courses taken/provided. This system must take into account facts as the –artistic- trajectory of teachers, intensity of the program – Instant question-response model, 1-2 week workshops, open courses (no time limit), complexity of courses, and so on. This way practitioners’ experience will necessarily transform into academic credit validation.

Of course, there’s a lot yet to say, more if we consider specific legislations, but the mere fact of out-lining those ideas might well be the start point of a more social-conscious artistic teaching/learning model for the years to come.
It will continue...