Social Sculpture

Socially engaged art since the 1990s has become a global trend. The practices of socially engaged arts, while creating new kinds of arts and opening up the entire institutional domain of the art world, are inseparable from the practices of museums that undertake significant changes. In this essay, I theorize the concept of “socially engaged art museum” - a practice that unveils art as an aesthetic force for rendering everyday life performative or playful - to examine both socially engaged arts and museums under what the philosopher Jacques Rancière calls “aesthetic regime of art” (2009). Comparing with the current scholarship that mostly examines European and American examples, I examine cases from Chinese contemporary art. Specifically, I discuss artistic practices of the Yangdeng Art Collective in Southwestern China. My argument is that a socially engaged art museum - qualitatively different from a conventional art museum that engages social life through its curated collections and exhibitions - is both a context-specific artwork of aesthetic experience and a technology of the individualized self in contemporary risk society. Not only does this study question the common scholarly view of socially engaged arts as “post-autonomous” or “anti-aesthetic,” but it also advances a notion of sociality that accounts for the complexity of everyday life.

This artistic research reflection deals with what I call the “participatory
monument”, the intention of which is to bring members
of the public into the artwork and to openly share related experiences
with them, thus providing evidence of the existence and
potential transformative power of collective memory.

With the rapid increase of social media users migrating to varying online platforms, the Internet has become a world-changing phenomena allowing for instant interchange across the globe for those with access. These virtual interactions have changed many aspects of daily life such as communication, the sharing of information, and ways in which art is approached, created, and viewed. Social media has been labeled with buzz words like “hive mind” and “collective conscious” to define instances of Internet users coming together to share information and opinions. While the Internet has become a rapidly developing stronghold in contemporary culture, it was not a resource during the prime art-making years of German artist Joseph Beuys. The technology of today now presents itself as a potential tool allowing for the artist's decades-old philosophy of “social sculpture” to be realized on a wide-spread scale. Beuys' definition of  “social sculpture” stemmed from his belief that everyone could contribute their artistic talents to his or her society – forming his mantra “everyone is an artist.” Through Internet access, perhaps people are able to share their artistic talents with society and thus participate in Beuys' ideal social sculpture. By focusing on the artist's biography, artworks, and philosophies, comparisons can be made between contemporary use of the Internet as an environment for hive mind and the occurrences of bee-themed ideologies in the works of Joseph Beuys.

My thesis is concerned with the analysis of two long-term community-based socially engaged art projects of German artist Michal Kurzwelly: "Słubfurt" (1999-2018) and "Nowa Amerika" (2010-2018). The research methodology for the analysis is drawn from the fields of art theory and criticism, and sociology. More specifically, in order to evaluate the social impact of long-term social art practices on the local community I borrow the criteria from the sociological discourse of bottom-up community development, while simultaneously, combining it with the insights from art criticism to discuss aesthetic dimensions of the work. I am arguing that Michael Kurzwelly's projects are good examples of a successful long-term socially engaged project as they reconciles the antagonism between ethics and aesthetics, keeping both artistic and social critic in tension. I contend that the powerful imaginative component in combination with dedicated community work has led to the tangible social transformation of the local community, enabling its sustainable development through infrastructures of grassroots civil society and engagement in critical self-reflective dialogue. These social changes became possible due to the emancipatory potential of the mediated collective aesthetic experience that enabled the release of social imagination: the capacity to imagine better worlds, manifested in real action.

За проектот "Скопје 2014" е досега многу зборувано и пишувано, главно во медиумите и тоа низ една отворена или затскриена политичка призма, најчесто со цел да се глорифицираат или критикуваат личностите и институциите (владини, локални и партиски) кои фигурираат како негови иницијатори и остварувачи. Многу текстови се посветени на економско-финансиските аспекти, како и на непочитувањето на разните стандарди и процедури поврзани со неговото идејно и фактичко реализирање. Особено внимание заслужуваат некои обиди за оценка (пред сè критика) на проектот низ културолошката призма на етаблираните вредносни системи на современата западна цивилизација. За жал, во некои од нив, навредливиот вокабулар, исклучивоста (својственa токму за оние што се предмет на критиката) и цитирањето на авторитети, доминираа над вистинските длабински анализи.

"Artists are peculiar beasts and spirits... No longer are metropolises their Mecca; artists are now descending upon the periphery hosted by members of small communities to create new life and opportunity in their towns via artist residencies, where both artists and hosts orchestrate a durational slow change within the heart of remote Icelandic villages, often rekindling the economies of dwindling hope. In the words of Derrida: " ​ ...we rediscover the mythopoetical virtue (power) of bricolage. In effect, what appears most fascinating in this critical search for a new status of the discourse is the stated abandonment of all reference to a center, to a subject, to a privileged reference, to an origin, or to an absolute arché. " Within bricolage, the origin of perception is recaptured; the centre is disseminated. Authority and hierarchies are subject to distant, contorted imaginations as a previous reality twists into new artistic accounts and documentations conceived from deep in the field. The rebellious act of withdrawal and an international 'elsewhere' ethic contributes to a decentralisation of power within the institutional art world and gives flight to new peripheral centres of infamous activity; with a royal finger to the establishment, the periphery almost feels punk."

Should architectural education pull away from the design studio as the dominant form for architectural education? Can live projects offer a more relevant, inclusive, and engaging model? In order to establish points of divergence from studio-based learning and using a definition of live projects established in collaboration with Colin Priest, a comparative analysis is made between contemporary architectural live projects and the Public Art Projects led by David Harding at the Environmental Art Department, Glasgow School of Art from 1985. This comparison reveals the potential of live projects to extend collaborative ways of working beyond graduation and between the university and its community. With reference to Lave and Wenger’s theory of situated learning as legitimate peripheral participation the paper demonstrates how live project learning can be understood and valued. A case is made for a shift towards a transformative, democratic and holistic form of learning made possible by live projects.
Keywords: live projects, design studio, architectural pedagogy, public art, situated learning.
Paper available at: http://ingentaconnect.com/content/arched/char/2014/00000001/00000001

Con questo breve lavoro si è proposto di analizzare l’opera 7000 Querce del maestro tedesco Joseph Beuys e come questa sia stata una delle più alte e compiute realizzazioni della sua scultura sociale. Fu realizzata nel 1982 in occasione della settima Documenta a Kassel in Germania. Si tratta di un lavoro tardo (Beuys, infatti, aveva 62 anni all’epoca e morì dopo solo quattro anni) e come tale il linguaggio artistico del maestro era ormai compiuto. Si è cercato quindi di fare una breve riassunto della vita di Beuys concentrandosi in particolare sui momenti più rilevanti per la sua formazione; per poi passare a prendere in esame la scultura sociale e altri aspetti relativi alla sua visione artistica (quali il suo impegno politico e ambientalista, riportando delle opere esemplificative). Tutto questo per fornire una contestualizzazione e comprensione della ricerca del Maestro che, seppur breve, fosse il più esaustiva e completa possibile. Lo scritto si conclude con l’approfondimento sul lavoro 7000 Querce in cui prima viene spiegato il progetto nel concreto e poi analizzato alla luce dell’arte del Maestro e infine un’appendice fotografica.

This book started as a compilation of a series of zines created to introduce students to the field of social practice. This book expands and adds to each of these zines while compiling all of the history examples into a single timeline for easy reference. Available at https://ellenmueller.com/product/some-social-practice/

FEATURES:
A list of exercises for in and out-of-class use
A sample syllabus, adaptable to 10 and 15-week terms
Challenging discussion questions
Charts to explain intersecting fields of study and spectrums in the field
Social practice book list
Tips for effective social practice

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
v – Introduction
7 – Definitions of Social Practice
13 – Spectrums, Continuums, & Variations in Social Practice
17 – Some Intersecting Fields of Study Related to Social Practice
21 – Some Systems / Topics Social Practice Frequently Touches On
25 – Some Forms / Approaches / Strategies of Social Practice
29 – Useful Skills for Social Practice
33 – Some Tips for Effective Social Practice
37 – Some Discussion Questions in Social Practice
41 – Evaluating Social Practice Projects
47 – Intersection of Craft and Social Practice
51 – A Social Practice Book List
57 – An Incomplete Survey of Social Practice (or Similar) Programs
61 – Some Social Practice History
61 – Early 1900s
69 – 1950s
75 – 1960s
83 – 1970s
91 – 1980s
99 – 1990s
111 – 2000s
125 – 2010s
149 – Appendix
150 – Sample Syllabus
152 – Sample Exercises
154 – Exercise Resources

Imagine a place and time in New York where multiple city blocks were devoid of pedestrians and in which the passages from one neighborhood to the next occasioned drastic psychic shifts. This was lower Manhattan in the mid 1970's through the early 80's as it evolved into a discrete zone of interdisciplinary arts communities. Can anyone who was not present then still imagine today the elasticity of time, place, and aimless purpose that characterized the downtown New York arts scene? "Ritual of Rented Island" is an intriguing show that invokes this transitional time in the art/life of the city with a fairly small selection of mostly unknown (to wider, popular audiences) performance--oriented artists. These include, among others, Julia Heyward, Erica Beckman Stuart Sherman and Yvonne Rainer. It takes some skill to comb out a representative selection of this wild and wooly period that helped spawn many rumors and a few legends of anti--heroic and, in turns, tragic and comic nature. Jay Sanders, the show's curator, is too young to have been around at that time, but it became evident to me (I myself, as a young artist, frequented Franklin Furnace, The Kitchen, and some of the other venues represented) that in selecting the work he listened closely to those who were. There is an accurate and evocative essay by J. Hoberman in the catalogue in which Hoberman notes that this milieu, while having precedents in Futurist and Dada "scenes", evolved into its own " first stirrings of "object theater", "loft performance" and a new form of solo "psychodrama" (that) may not seem like art at all." Sanders's essay eloquently elaborates this point in detail, tracking influences and artists who are not represented in the show, and how performers like Eric Bogosian, and Karen Finley later emerged from this mix, albeit in a more conservative political climate. Individuals ranging from the cryptically flamboyant Jack Smith to the comically obtuse Michael Smith bracket the show's range of idiosyncratic performance types, replete with hand--made props, found objects and primitive video and printed matter documentation. The do--it--yourself scrappiness of many of these props and the aged tactility of paste-up poster layouts and black and white photos help to ground the show's wildly shifting aura with a low--tech physicality. Laurie Anderson's photo--documentations of her pre--recorded violin performances in different locations throughout the city are revealing of the character of the street at that time. Some of her bemused onlookers could have been lifted straight out of Weegee or Walker Evans images. They are stark indicators of how much the culture of downtown New York has changed from a wider working class habitation to increasingly polarized neighborhoods of privilege. Squat Theater, a familial group of

"The French contemporary artist Pierre Huyghe enjoys international acclaim, witness the many one-person and group exhibitions in which his work has been featured, and the prizes he has been awarded. His workplace in New York City, where this interview was conducted on January 20th, 2017, is an office where research and thinking take place and not a studio where things are made. The work Huyghe and/or others produce following his directives seems based upon raising questions, but what these are is unclear. Therefore, what the answers are is equally so".

https://www.theartsection.com/pierre-huyghe

Let’s consider the blackboard as a site; a presentational tool used in classrooms and lecture halls. Students, colleagues or strangers may observe an individual transcribing information with language, even drawings, or perhaps simply brainstorming collaboratively with the audience. The blackboard provides a space for sharing knowledge.

Certainly for Joseph Beuys, blackboards functioned as sites for art during his “lecture actions.” An artist primarily known for performance, installations and physical sculptures, Beuys is equally influential for his socio-political activities and his pedagogy. He conceived of and taught his theory of “social sculpture,” a belief that human beings have inherent potential to revolutionize society through their creativity and art. As he famously said, “Every human being is an artist.”

This informal essay explores the history and intentions of the SongBird project from my perspective as Co-founder/Developer and Creative Director. From the text:
"SongBIrd was also born out of a desire to explore how different ways of knowing about the world – especially the arts and sciences – could come together to engender better “place relations”, and more sensitive choices and behaviours in regard to local and global habitats and ecosystems. Launched in the spring of 1998, pre-dating the buzz of “sustainability” and of recent mainstream arts practice engaging questions around “environment”, SongBird was the first project (and later, organisation) of its kind in Canada, and perhaps in the world.

"Since the industrial revolution, the earth’s environmental health has steadily grown worse, arguably approaching a critical state. While science and technology offer innovations to help move towards a sustainable planet, another less obvious field is also working towards a more positive environmental future.

Environmental art is defined as an artistic process in which an artist engages with the natural environment. An artistic movement that began in the 1960s, environmental art has gradually evolved into a form that encompasses a large number of ecologically driven works, which allow artists to improve environmental conditions through a more proactive, yet aesthetic role.

Environmental art draws on a wide variety of approaches, including ecological feminist principles (Ecofeminism); large, remedial landscape architecture; biosculpture, that incorporates a living components, like water purifying moss; as well as social sculpture that aims to combine environmental conscience with social reform. These works introduce an aesthetic dimension to environmental remediation, incorporating sculptural and design elements. While forming a core element of environmental art since its inception, ecological aestheticism is slowly becoming a more wide spread art form.

Presenting various different interactions between artist and environment, this paper will begin with a brief overview of the early environmental art movement that establishes the history of environmental art and contextualises more recent environmentally remedial artworks. It will also discuss some of the different forms of environmental art, to finally focus on the forms that are ecological in focus that repair damaged ecosystems, offer environmental solutions and generally serve a remedial function in a positive environmental future.

Keywords: Environment, Environmental Art, Sustainability in Art, Landscape Architecture, Biosculpture, Social Sculpture, Ecovention, Ecological Art, Eco Art, Ecofeminism"

An expanded conclusion, divided into two parts: MANOEUVRING SCULPTURE articulates the ways that sculpture has been manoeuvred towards becoming an event through a series of methodologies, thereby addressing the first research question, which is: how can sculpture be practised as a proliferating event? TOWARDS A PROLIFERATING EVENT is the second part of the expanded conclusion and addresses the remaining research questions, which are: How does engaging sculpture as event produce relations between modes of production, engagement and reception? And: In what ways does approaching sculpture as an event contribute to contemporary practice? The contributions of the PhD are also articulated. Chapter references and an overall bibliography

The current health pandemic, environmental destruction and near economic collapse, across the globe, highlight the simultaneous crises as being not due to the way our ecosystems function but how our ethical systems function. There is increasing awareness emerging through critical design studies that insists on a cultural, philosophical approach that questions design's very foundations. Any paradigm shift requires re-humanising and embracing the entire living ecosystem, to include the non-human, and a worldview that aligns with the relationality between what we design and the impact this has on all life forms and systems in both the global north and south. Increasingly, the design literature omits the socio-cultural aspects of sustainability with an increasing emphasis on the technical domain. A more holistic approach is imperative if design research is to be inclusive of non-western and feminist epistemologies; this is especially important when, historically, dominant western cultures have asserted themselves through technologies and techniques. This research explores creativity through designer activist, multiple and non-western, told through their life-story narratives and situated processes of change in Bali, Indonesia. In-between spaces where meaning is created and can result in hybrid ways of living that have nothing to do with the western construct of development but more to do with creative collaborations across cultural and national boundaries. By positioning this research in the dimension of experience and relationality, we can understand patterns of our social relationships within the culture of everyday life and the lifeworld, possibilities that Manzini (2011) has identified as being at the heart of sustainability. Thus, a relational worldview that exists in dynamic fields-in flux, unpredictable and full of creative possibilities. The aim is to understand how designers creatively utilise the diversity of their experiences to navigate change towards more sustainable ways of living by illumination what happens in their social world; their emergent world-making activities, social sculptures, give hope to diffusing capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy through social structures created in society using language, thoughts, actions and objects. Shelly Sacks (2007) describes the social sculptures as the place where inner and outer worlds coincide, in particular, connections between aesthetics and eco-social responsibility. Thus, a bottom-up theoretical and methodological agenda focusing on embodied ways of knowing and situated processes of change beyond Western notions of development.

For Immediate Release, January 2, 2016: The 2nd edition of the unmonumental book is now up: new and improved, available to read online (click 'full-screen') and/or print-on-demand (click printer icon) - includes some new images and new introductory text by the artist along with the original essay by Tom McGlynn (54 pages).

Reflection Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) in Artistic Research at the Faculty of Arts and Craft, Oslo National Academy of Arts. Supervisor: Mary Jane Jacob. Second supervisor: Olga Schmedling.

In contemporary culture installation has become the leading genre
of artistic creativity. In connection with this the question of criterial base
for its evaluation becomes an essential one. In this article it is examined on the basis of a methodology suggested by cultural theoretician Boris Groys, who criticizes the “realism” of installation-based art which characterizes the presentation of results of its thematic research by artists who use open sources of information, including the internet, from the positions of the symbolic context of museum representation. The “museum” in the broad sense of the word plays the role of the symbolic replacement of the universal government which endowed a sovereign status to art in contemporary culture. Thereby, installation must not simply represent in a most accessible manner certain information in a spatially unfolded form, but to problematize the very structure of representation as a derivative of global historical transformation. The art characterized by the conception of “post-internet,” is particularly the type of such installation-based solution. The article examines
in detail the installations of German artist Hito Steyerl within the framework of the Muenster Sculptural Project of 2016. It fits in the institution representing it into the global context of modernity, indicating the semantic split of its cultural and economic connections. For this reason, although Steyerl’s installation is not characterized highly technological solutions, plastic unity, or a connected narrative of the presented material, it may be considered a specimen of a successful artistic manifestation of this genre. The work of the artists of the post-internet is juxtaposed in the article to what is done by artists and media-theoreticians who make use of new technologies for the
creation of spectacular media products directed at engaging the viewer into play with highly technological contemporaneity. In particular, Lev Manovich’s project “On Broadway” from the years 2014-2016 is examined. Attention is drawn to the fact that notwithstanding all the technological perfection of this installation-based product and its spatial-plastic expressivity, it simplifies the perception of the space into which the universal artistic institution is fit in, and thereby brings discredit to it in reality. Thereby, the methodology of Groys makes it possible to describe and critically evaluate various types of installations laying claim to the status of art in contemporary artistic culture.

В современной культуре инсталляция стала ведущим жанром художественного творчества. В связи с этим принципиальным становится вопрос о критериальной базе для ее оценки. В статье он рассматривается на основе методологии, предложенной культурным теоретиком Борисом Гройсом, который критикует «реализм» инсталляционного творчества, характеризующий представление результатов своих тематических исследований художников, использующих открытые источники информации, в том числе Интернет, с позиций символического контекста музейной репрезентации. «Музей», в широком смысле этого слова, играет роль символической замены универсального государства, исторически придавшего суверенный статус искусству в современной культуре. Инсталляция, таким образом, должна не просто репрезентировать наиболее доступным образом некую информацию в пространственно развернутой форме, а проблематизировать саму структуру репрезентации как производное от глобальных исторических трансформаций. Искусство, характеризующееся понятием «постинтернет», как раз и дает примеры подобных инсталляционных решений. В статье подробно рассматривается инсталляция немецкой художницы Хито Штейерль в рамках Мюнстерского скульптурного проекта 2016 года. Она вписывает институцию, ее представляющую, в глобальный контекст современности, обозначая семантический раскол ее культурных и экономических связей. Поэтому, хотя инсталляция Штейерль и не характеризуется высокотехнологическими решениями, пластическим
единством или связным нарративом представленного материала, она может считаться образцом удачного художественного воплощения этого жанра. Работа в жанре инсталляции художников постинтернета противопоставляется в статье тому, что делают художники и медиатеоретики, использующие новые технологии для создания зрелищного и интерактивного медийного продукта, направленного на вовлечение зрителя в игру с высокотехнологической современностью. В частности,
рассматривается проект Льва Мановича «On Broadway» 2014–2016 годов. Отмечается, что при всем технологическом совершенстве этого инсталляционного продукта и его пространственно-пластической выразительности он упрощает представление о пространстве, в которое вписана универсалистская художественная институция, и таким образом подрывает к ней доверие в реальности. Методология же Гройса позволяет описывать и критически оценивать различные типы инсталляций, претендующих на статус искусства в современной художественной
культуре.

A solo exhibition of Anusapati at ROH Projects. Titled PLANTSCAPE, the artist's childhood memories of trees in plantation areas around him became source of curiosity, quest, as well as artistic practice; which are cultivated into forms of knowledge, space, time and reality. Anusapati (b. 1957) is a celebrated artist and lecturer at ISI (Institut Seni Indonesia) based in Yogyakarta, who throughout his career has always been preoccupied with wood and its origin: trees. “Memories are a source of inspiration, explanation and knowledge,” Anusapati said. Levels and dramatizations are a requirement in this thinking sequence. Memory is the mind's ability to reproduce feelings or impressions based on something that has been experienced. While remembrance is the reappearance of a thought that existed once because it was triggered by something outside of the self.

Since the industrial revolution, the earth’s environmental heath has steadily grown worse, arguably approaching a critical state. With the convenience of technology came pollution, environmental degradation and human apathy towards the planet. Thus, in looking towards a more healthy environmental future, substantial changes need to occur. In this future, art can have a highly proactive role to play. This paper seeks to present many of the artworks that have contributed to a more positive environmental future since the beginning of the environmental art movement in the 1960s.

The description ‘environmental art’ is used as an umbrella term to describe works in which artists actively engage with the environment. While not all environmental artworks are ecological in nature, many function to substantially alter and contribute to the natural environmental to undo damage caused by humanity. These works introduce an aesthetic dimension to environmental degradation incorporating sculptural and design elements, as well as landscape architecture.

Presenting various different interactions between artist and environment, this paper comments on the positive role art can play in building a better environmental future, combining aesthetics with ecology. It includes works that contribute to the environment through actively purifying water, works that address loss of habitat, large-scale works that draw attention to deforestation and works that aim to incorporate environmental conscience with social reform.

The so-called "social turn" in the arts has led to a stronger orientation towards action. But what does that mean for aesthetics as a category? The lecture presents artistic projects and works that consist solely or for the most part of social interactions. Following projects of Franz Erhard Walther, Suzanne Lacy and Marina Naprushkina, the contribution illuminates the break in the aesthetic dispositive which occurs when the recipient becomes an unimportant figure. From here I finally ask what therm aesthetics means when the recipient is no longer in the centre?

Przedmiotem artykułu jest działalność Laboratorium Edukacji Twórczej w Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski w latach 1990-2016. Omówieniu zostały poddane założenia teoretyczne leżące u podstawy aktywności LET-u oraz możliwość ich wprowadzania w życie w zależności od zmiennego kontekstu instytucjonalnego. Za główny wyraz tego kontekstu została uznana wizja funkcjonowania instytucji jako całości reprezentowana przez dyrektorów CSW Zamek Ujazdowski.

Τέχνη #Συνέντευξη.
Ο όρος «κοινωνική γλυπτική» αφορά μια συγκεκριμένη αντίληψη για τον δημιουργικό ρόλο της τέχνης που πρέπει να προεκταθεί στην κοινότητα των ανθρώπων.Αυτή, όμως, η διαδικασία δεν εμμένει σε μια σχέση λογικής πληροφόρησης –όπως ένα πολιτικό πρόγραμμα–, αλλά παράγει έναν σύνθετο κόσμο που αφορά βιώματα και αγγίζει συναισθήματα. Η αντιστοίχιση της τέχνης στον σύνθετο χαρακτήρα του ανθρώπου αφορά εδώ ένα αίτημα πολιτικής διεκδίκησης για τη ζωή. Οι διαδικασίες και οι δράσεις που είναι το έργο-περιβάλλον, λοιπόν, παρεμβαίνουν σε μια διαδικασία διεκδίκησης στην κοινωνική ζωή, προεκτεινόμενες πολλές φορές στον χώρο της πόλης, ανακαθορίζοντας τις σχέσης μας με τους άλλους, με το παρελθόν και το μέλλον.

Immersive Theatre is no longer an inviting term; it does little to ‘unconceal’ the strife in the open centre of (Heideggerian) truth. How do we rescue the registers of experience and reflection emerging from works that employ ‘participation’, ‘play’, and/or ‘action’, from the operative vocabulary of Immersive Theatre? This essay examines propositions implied in a sleep-performance series named DOWNTIME, performed in Berlin and New Delhi simultaneously in the winter of 2014. A week long series of performance-invitations, this project manufactured situations for people to experience and/or perform sleep, and directed them to create and contribute to a phenomenological archive of different sleep practices. This paper builds a critique of the interiority of immersion that this project forged; architectures, rituals, economies for sleep, the ‘labour’ of audiences performing sleep, and the interpenetration of the material of the ‘lived-everyday’ as performance.

This article present (in Danish) a critique of the prevailing the management paradigm of control, which emphasizes economic efficiency and economic growth as this is applied in general to the sphere of human spirit (Geist) and more specifically as this is used to discipline the university world. It is claimed that even this paradigm runs directly counter traditional paradigms of human growth through edification (Bildung) and that its actually legitimizes dehumanization. It is further argued that even though notions of edification and the focus on the individual human person has to be the starting point for a critique of the management paradigm, then this critique has to be extended into a critique of the political economy behind this prevailing management paradigm. It is further indicated how such a critique could take its inspiration from the German artist Joseph Beuys’ notion of social sculpture and especially his notion of money, a notion which can be seen as a fundamental challenge to more traditional notions of money (which are embedded in the prevailing paradigm - and our willingness to accept it or at least not to revolt against it) Finally it is argued that the university and the academic world, rather than passively accepting the prevailing paradigm under more or less silent protest, actually has a strong moral obligation, as the exemplary representative for human spirit’s creation of knowledge and the edification of newer generation (which is replicated at lower levels of the educational system), to develop such a criticism of the political economy further

Przedmiotem artykułu jest działalność Laboratorium Edukacji Twórczej w Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski w latach 1990-2016. Omówieniu zostały poddane założenia teoretyczne leżące u podstawy aktywności LET-u oraz możliwość ich wprowadzania w życie w zależności od zmiennego kontekstu instytucjonalnego. Za główny wyraz tego kontekstu została uznana wizja funkcjonowania instytucji jako całości reprezentowana przez dyrektorów CSW Zamek Ujazdowski.

Jeder Mensch ist ein. Künstler. Das Prinzip der Kreativität, das
Joseph Beuys mit seinem Schlachtruf propagierte, hat inzwischen der
Postfordismus gekapert.

Everyone is an. artist. The principle
of creativity, that with his famous battlecry established, has been hijacked by the postfordism meanwhile.