The Cooper Gallery presents Sit- in #2: To Be Potential, the second chapter of The Ignorant Art School: Five Sit-ins Towards Creative Emancipation.

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Running From 3 December to 19 February, Sit-in #2: To Be Potential activates how artistic practice as pedagogy dares education, in the words of bell hooks, to be ‘the practice of freedom’. Declaring that our collective future is determined not by what we know, but by how we create and share knowledge, 

Characterised by an ethics of equal access and an ethos of generous solidarity, together the radical pedagogical practices featured in this exhibition transform knowledge from a capitalist commodity to an emancipatory power available to all.

Placing emphasis on knowledge as a collective experience and communal act. The exhibition will feature archival material that presents and juxtaposes the radical histories of; the Bauhaus, the Basic Course in Newcastle, Anti-university London, Copenhagen Free University, the Environmental Art course at Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh Arts Summer School, Free University New York, GUDSKUL in Jakarta, The Hedgeschoolproject in Ireland, the Hornsey Sit-in of 1968, The White Room in Reading Womanifesto in Thailand, and The Rooftop Institute in Hong Kong, amongst many others.

Join the Copper Gallery on Thursday 2 December for a private view of the exhibition between 3 pm – 7 pm.

Sit-in Curriculum #2

Alongside the exhibition, the Cooper Gallery will present a public event series situating the archival material and artworks within the exhibition as critical stimuli and generative points of departure for an open space for learning facilitated by artists, activists, designers, educators, performers, and writers.

• A Nongkrong (hangout) Class: Forming a Speculative Collective
  Online workshop facilitated by artist collective GUDSKUL
  Thursday 9 December 2021, 13:00 – 15:00

• A Collage Class: Revealing / Creating New or Alternative Narratives
  In-person workshop facilitated by artist and researcher Harriet Sutcliffe in partnership with peer-learning programme In-Session (FKA GRADJOB)
  Saturday 11 December 2021, 14:30 – 16:30

• A Stillness Class: The Consciousness of Doing
  Online workshop facilitated by interdisciplinary artist and academic Dr Ranjana Thapalyal
  Wednesday 12 January 2022, 18:00 – 19:30

• A Consensus Class: Adventures in Collaborative Decision Making
  In-person workshop facilitated by artist Rabindranath X Bhose
  Thursday 20 January 2022, 18:00 – 19:30

• A Movement Class: Listening with the Body
  In-person workshop facilitated by multi-disciplinary artist and researcher Ashanti Harris
  Saturday 29 January 2022, 14:30 – 16:30

• A Class on Imagining
  Online writing workshop facilitated by writer Lola Olufemi
  Thursday 3 February 2022, 18:00 – 19:30

All classes are free, open to all and require no prior experience or knowledge to attend. Participants can sign-up for one or all.

Free places can be booked via Eventbrite.