FICA is pleased to partner with the Yamuna-Elbe Public Art Initiative for a series of Education Outreach programmes in November 2011.
WRITING ECOLOGIES: CRITICAL DISCOURSE, PUBLIC ART & THE ENVIRONMENT
Facilitated by Maya Kóvskaya, PhD
The Writing Ecologies workshop seeks ambitious, thoughtful writers interested in exploring the intersection of contemporary art, the natural environment, the public sphere, and the role that critical discourse production through art writing can play in expanding, enlarging, recasting or changing the terms of the dominant discourse surrounding related questions.
Slated to take place during the month of November, the workshop will be devoted to the practice and craft of critical art writing and grounded empirically in questions about the fate the natural environment in contemporary society, and art in the public sphere, that are raised by the Yamuna-Elbe project.
The workshop is concerned with ecologies in several sense of the word: the natural/biological ecologies of natural resources such as rivers in urbanized contexts like Delhi and Hamburg; the constructed/relational socio-economic ecologies of sweeping macro-processes such as “modernization,” “industrialization,” and “urbanization,” as well as competing local micro-economies and livelihoods of people on the margins of the dominant socio-economic order, in contrast to the role played by Global Capital;” the ecologies of habitualized practices of everyday life, patterns of consumption, and conservation and/or waste, and dominant conceptions about our relationship to water and nature; the ecologies of discourse production in the popular imaginaries of both mass and alternative media, and the public sphere, surrounding issues pertaining to environmental degradation and conservation; as well as ecologies of discourse surrounding the possible roles that public art interventions can play in challenging or shifting the dominant paradigms for understanding our relationship to, and quotidian practices vis-à-vis, the natural environment.
The writings from this workshop will be published online soon. This is a closed session with registered applicants.
LEARNING WITH ART
Workshops with the Deepalaya School students
Facilitated by Aastha Chauhan
The 'Learning with Art' programme is a long-term art education initiative by FICA in collaboration with the Deepalaya School (Kalkaji Extension) which aims to enhance the experience of creative learning and developing a transformative pedagogy through art. This programme focuses on experimenting with various practice-based methods of teaching using art. Learning via art is a social and transformative process, one that is constructed by individuals in interaction with others. It involves working collaboratively with peers, adults and associated skills. More critically, it examines the place of the art gallery as a resource for cultural education and a site of learning and the enormous potential of working in partnership with various individuals and institutions.
In the context of the Yamuna-Elbe project the students have been exploring the role and function of rivers in general, and Yamuna in particular, though a series of film screenings, and discussions.. They have interacted with artist Asim Waqif to learn about rivers and urban planning in India. The workshop also includes a site visit where they will be involved in a bird-watching, and making and flying kites.