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Learning through doing and exchange - MeM Agents

Learning
through doing
and exchange

Why do cultural institutions rethink relationships with their audiences? How can art be a force for social change, and why are diversity and inclusion so important?  How can the public participate in the processes of art and knowledge production? How has an educational paradigm changed, and what does an educational turn in curating mean for art? The course includes lectures combined with interactive workshops, peer-to-peer exchange, and independent tasks.

How can we convey mediation and inclusion as concepts not only through the content but also through the design of the programme? The educational activities should be seen as a system of human relations, so that networking, exchange, and, thus, shared knowledge production might happen along the way. We see communication as the core part of the programme to ensure that the idea of meaningful participation drives the mediators’ interests and the realisation of the course at all levels.  

The programme consists of four modules. Each module includes two lectures followed by the Q&A and discussion, and two local workshops followed by an online exchange.

Module I: Art-mediation and dialogue

What is art-mediation? Why do art and cultural institutions use this word so differently?
Is it possible to make a dialogue equal and overcome prejudices and hierarchies? How to engage different people in dialogue, supporting them to make them feel safe and inspired? How to include various points of view?
Why do art and cultural institutions change the relationships with their audiences? What does audience orientation mean in contemporary art, and why has it gained urgency recently?

Module II: Art and social change 

What is socially engaged art, and what does art have to do with social change? Does artistic work have a transformative power?
How does art contribute to our daily life, and how can people gain new social experiences from encounters with art?
Why is participation crucial, and what pitfalls should one be aware of?

Module III: Diversity and inclusion

How to embrace diversity with respect and integrity? What is intercultural competence, and can it be learned? How to ensure we recognize multiple identities we possess and enjoy the right to choose them freely? How can you discover “the other” through artwork?
What do we mean by “sense of belonging”? How does art address symbolic and emotional connections of a person with a locality, a group, a story, an idea?

Module IV: Conflict zone

Why do so many contemporary artists address decolonization issues? What does decolonization mean in the countries that were never colonies nor colonial powers? How does decolonial critical thought question the very logic and system of existing knowledge?
How to make the decolonization discourse less confrontational and more productive?
Why do we need artistic vision to approach controversial social issues productively? How does art give us a license to act beyond the existing frameworks? What particular local issues do we want to address in our collaborations with artists in MeM project?

Photo: Anna Mathews