Structures within structures: Examining alternative cultures of learning in the institution
with Sadie Edginton and Cicilia Östholm, Art & the Public Sphere, Volume 10, Number 2, 1 November 2021, pp. 265-274(10)
This article explores the possibilities of using critical pedagogy inside and outside the art school to counter the effects of neoliberalism. Developed from an initial transcript of a conversation between three graduates of the Royal College of Art (United Kingdom) about our education-as-art projects, it takes the form of a constructed dialogue that mirrors our approach to working collectively. We discuss particular issues that arose for us whilst studying, as we experienced how the neo-liberal art school conceptualized a form of education and arts practice that promoted individualized paths and set competitive dynamics between students. We are interested in how art practices characterized as being social, collaborative and democratic can resist the neo-liberal art school. Advocating for process-based methods that facilitate learning between groups of students, we aim to open up space for embodied and situated knowledges. Bringing critical pedagogical approaches to the inside of the university creates a porosity with the alternatives we experienced outside. Through re-practicing historically radical methods and creating supportive structures, we challenge the dominant ways of communicating and managing the student-body. We argue that students and artists can organize their own cultures of learning in opposition to those that the university-as-business wants to promote, whilst creating supportive models that take students’ needs into account.
Equal Voices in the Room? Iinterview with Laura Gordon, Content Free, March 4th, 2019
http://content-free.net/articles/equal-voices-in-the-room
Building Ruptures (with Sadie Edginton and Sofya Chibisguleva), Preconceptions, S2, E2, 2017
https://soundcloud.com/user209400473/preconceptions-s2e3-building-ruptures
Equal Voices in the Room? Article for The Pluralist, Issue 1, October 2017
https://thepluralist.info/Equal-Voices-in-the-Room
How Do I Make the Skyline Jump? Dissertation (awarded Distinction), RCA, May 2017
This work explores the relationship of writing and art to architecture and politics in the context of the Nine Elms housing development. I use the essay as a way to explore my impulses to use writing and language to create real material, political, and economic change. Please contact me for the text.
Interview with Artquest about collaboration, February, 2014
https://soundcloud.com/artquest/collaboration-talk-by-alex#t=0:01
My experience as artist in residence in Wellingore with Beacon Art Project, September, 2014
http://beaconartproject.org/projects/
Guest blog for Sondry Folk, talking about the project Object Atelier, November, 2012
http://www.sondryfolk.com/blog/527