Verkkoluento pe 22.11.: The School of Shying a Way
How can shyness hold space for not knowing and a pedagogy of wondering alongside? How can study offer an escape from the individual/collective dichotomy, shying away from the completion of the self as autonomous subject? What kind of a space does curatorial shyness open? How to ‘shy a way’ towards educational transformations that attend to the complexities of institutional power and privileges?
The event will take place from 4-6 pm online (CET).
The School of Shying a Way is an invitation to take part in an ongoing conversation and study initiated by CCA Lagos and the University of the Arts Helsinki. The research began its investigation of shyness from the ecological phenomenon known as crown shyness, whereby trees of similar and differing species, under certain conditions, exhibit an awareness of each other, restricting their own growth to allow space for light to travel between them. Shyness is an often-maligned contemporary character trait, when used with reference to humans, and yet one that is commonly found in art and artists. In a presentation society, we gather to wonder, what ways of knowing, and not knowing, might we find trapped in the resistant posture of shyness?
The event brings together artists, curators, teachers and researchers from the African continent and the Nordics. The School of Shying a Way is a part of a multi-year collaboration focused on experimental artist pedagogies between Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts and the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos. The collaboration, part of the Finland-Africa Platform for Innovation, is currently funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The project is co-directed by Oyindamola Faithful (Executive and Artistic Director, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Lagos) and Daniel Peltz (Artist and Professor of Time and Space Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki).
The event coincides with the release of one of two publications coming out of the project: On Place-based Artist Pedagogies: Àsìkò Art School and the Nordic/Baltic Studio for Continued Engagement, co-edited by Nana Ama Bentsi-Enchill and Daniel Peltz. A forthcoming publication that collects artifacts from The School of Shying a Way development processes in Lagos and Helsinki, co-edited by Alison Natural, Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo and Alyssa Coffin, will be released in December.
Presenters include:
- In person at 2pm: Oyindamola Faithful (CCA Lagos, Nigeria), Daniel Peltz and Taru Elfving (University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland)
- The Bisi Silva Library is located in the Passengers in Transit exhibition by CCA Lagos, hosted by 193 Gallery (Dorsodouro 993/994) as part of the Collateral Programme of La Biennale di Venezia 2024.
- Online at 4pm: Nana Ama Bentsi-Enchill (Washington, D.C., USA), Nontobeko Ntombela (Wits University, South Africa), Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh (blaxTARLINES (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana), Amilcar Packer (São Paulo, Brazil), Ama Ofeibea Tetteh (CCA Lagos/Àsìkò Art School, Accra, Ghana)