"A broad swath of society seems to feel more welcome in a public library rather than a museum. I examined the Brooklyn Public Library as a model of heightened engagement through collective knowledge creation."

...

"At a time when museums are being held accountable by a variety of publics for every aspect of their operations — from programming and exhibition-making to financial support and governance structures — perhaps it is useful to look at parallel institutions that are doing similar work for guidance on alternative ways of working.

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about the relationship between museums and public libraries, to understand what makes libraries feel different from museums. Why do they have a public spirit that most museums don’t? Why are there lines around the block at some NYC library branches at 9 am? I’ve been reading about the roots of both institutions in the United States, and they have evolved in similar ways; so how do they diverge? And is this divergence relevant to the ways in which a stunningly broad swath of society feels welcome within a public library and not a museum?

John Cotton Dana, the Progressive Era thinker and radical re-imaginer of public libraries, wrote a particularly important essay in 1917 titled “The Gloom of the Museum.” It includes a section about expertise that is particularly germane today:

They become enamoured of rarity, of history … They become lost in their specialties and forget their museum. They become lost in their idea of a museum and forget its purpose. They become lost in working out their idea of a museum and forget their public. And soon, not being brought constantly in touch with the life of their community … they become entirely separated from it and go on making beautifully complete and very expensive collections but never construct a living, active, and effective institution.

Museums and libraries in the US originated in similar places and via similar patronage models with their foundational collections coming largely from wealthy collectors of books and art objects, sometimes in conjunction with institutions of higher learning. However, the word “public” remains embedded in what we call the library. And while some branches are named for generous funders, these are secondary to the overall system. In fact, the Queens Public Library system, the largest in the nation, boasts of a branch within a mile of every Queens resident."

"Download
Machine Project Guide to Curating and Planning Events
This tool kit covers the basic ideas, philosophies, and techniques for event-based programming. It's for anyone interested in producing events as a form of cultural programming. It's for anyone who wants to make something exciting happen with other people but isn't sure where to start.

Download
Machine Project Guide to Workshops
This tool kit covers the basic ideas, philosophies, and techniques for workshop-based programming.

Download
Machine Project Guide to Starting Your Own Art Space
This tool kit is for anyone who is considering starting an arts or cultural organization. We will guide you through the ins and outs of conceptualizing, setting up, and running your organization."

[via: "Oh nice—Machine Project has published free downloadable toolkit’s for starting your own art space, curating events, etc. nice way to end their terrific 15-year run:"
https://twitter.com/ablerism/status/956683123730808834 ]

"A Feral Studio is an undisciplined and itinerant space for talks, workshops, film showings, hack-labs and discussions, loosely based around communication and design. Talks are free and open to the general public and design community."

…

"Questions and answers

Can anyone come to the events?
Yes.

How do you decide on speakers?
We try and select speakers and external tutors to achieve a mixed programme of events that are loosely design focussed. All speakers and workshop leaders, through their work or activities, demonstrate an interest in the development of design based practices.

How is AFS funded?
Currently A Feral Studio is an independent autonomous endeavour. When first established we were based within the Glasgow School of Art, and supported by Front Page. This financial support was echoed by Arts and Business Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art."

[See also:
https://twitter.com/aferalstudio

"A Feral Studio"
https://vimeo.com/68852395

"A Feral Studio - Students feedback"
https://vimeo.com/68852394 ]

"Parallel School offers an open environment for self-education in the broader context of art and design. We want to bring people from different places and backgrounds together to share knowledge, connect and initiate projects, publications, meetings and workshops.

Parallel School belongs to no one.
Parallel School has no location.
Parallel School is not teaching.
Parallel School is learning."

…

"Parallel School encapsulates the idea of non-institutional, self-organized education in the broader context of Art and Design. The idea is that anyone around the world, whether currently a student or not, can create a new type of school, parallel to existing ones. It serves as a structure to share knowledge, connect with other individuals and initiate projects and workshops. But it can be anything. Self-education and sharing knowledge are possibilities through which we can engage emphatically with one another.

Parallel School originally started as a way for sharing and exchanging ideas and topics (self-education) and organizing workshops across borders, for example in Paris, Berlin and Moscow and was continued in Glasgow, Brno, Leipzig and Lausanne.

The goal is to bring people from different places and different backgrounds, not only from the world of (graphic) design, and work in an autonomous, self-set open structure. The focus will be on topics participants propose themselves around the subject of education. We will invite guests and lecturers from different disciplines to complement the workshop series. In the spirit of self-education every participant holds a short workshop, conducts a discussion or does whatever suits best to share her/his interests or specialties. We believe that inspiring and productive situations can be created without hierarchy.

Spread the word, contribute and be part of Parallel School!"

[via: https://walkerart.org/magazine/never-not-learning-summer-specific-part-1-intro-and-identities ]

[previously: https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:aecd0852151a ]

"To come under the shade of this mango tree with such deliberateness and to experience the fulfillment of solitude emphasize my need for communion. While I am physically alone proves that I understand the essentiality of to be with.
—Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Heart

The structures of formal education systems are increasingly reaching their limits due to their outmoded and inflexible foundations. However, informal and artist-led educational initiatives are taking root. documenta 14’s aneducation and ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) are organizing the gathering of Under the Mango Tree—Sites of Learning, which addresses current educational shifts by inviting different artistic initiatives and schools from multiple geographies to come to Kassel. These different organizations are critically positioned both within and outside the Western canon.

With a special emphasis on historical and contemporary accounts and examples from nonhierarchical models of learning, the gathering presents Indigenous, communal practices of producing and preserving knowledge as well as initiatives that reflect on postcolonial knowledge production in nonhierarchical settings.

The some twenty contributors are each working towards new vantage points for a contemporary and broadened understanding of learning and knowledge production. Their work is presented in forms ranging from lectures to performances and workshops, in which active participation is welcome. Drawing on the model of a communal garden as a place of teaching and learning, the gathering takes place at various sites in Kassel during documenta 14.

Contributing projects, initiatives, and schools: Óscar Andrade Castro and Daniela Salgado Cofré (Ciudad Abierta), David Chirwa (Rockston Studio 1985), Sanchayan Ghosh (Santiniketan), Rangoato Hlasane (Keleketla! Library), Anton Kats (Narrowcast House), Duane Linklater, Tanya Lukin Linklater and cheyanne turions (Wood Land School), Sofía Olascoaga, Alessandra Pomarico (Free Home University), Marcelo Rezende, Syafiatudina (KUNCI), Jorge I. González Santos (Escuela de Oficio), Marinella Senatore (The School of Narrative Dance), and others

*Please register for the gathering by filling in the form at: www.ifa.de/en/events/under-the-mango-tree.html. More information will be provided upon registration.

Under the Mango Tree is a cooperation between documenta 14 aneducation and the Visual Arts Department of ifa (Institut für Auslandbeziehungen).

The gathering is supported by a partnership with ArtsEverywhere, an online platform by Musagetes, which discusses the arts in relation to all aspects of the world around us."

"Part illustration, part workshop, part retail, part library, ALL FUN. Promise. "

[See also: https://www.instagram.com/outletpdx/ ]

"Children are curious creatures. They are naturally drawn to new things, and it is their innate ability to be in constant wonder. We believe that the word ‘why’ — though simple and easily articulated — is very powerful. We love how it opens up opportunities for discovery, and above all, how the joy of these little discoveries can be shared with others."

…

"Why, O, Why! (w,o,w!) is a space for design, research, and retail of products focusing on encouraging creativity and imagination in children. We develop play objects, publications, activities, and workshops to create and facilitate meaningful interactions and play experiences.

Why, O, Why! is an initiative by Pupilpeople (Pp.)."

…

"Why, O, Why! workshops are a series of art and design activity sessions for children, a physical space dedicated to cultivating curiosity and the joy of discovery.

Each of the workshop series focuses on a particular ‘material’ that is versatile enough to allow for a wide range of visually and haptically rich, hands-on, and playful experiences through guided yet child-directed explorations. Other than the learning possibilities each workshop series offer, we hope to leave behind an independent approach and process to learning and discovery, and to encourage the development of interests specific to each child."

"Human Sciences explores what it means to be human through alternative pedagogy, seasonal workshops, and unique community events.

Human Sciences studies human beings and communities through perspectives that bring together multiple insights, methodologies, and disciplines that have developed to account for human complexity. Human Sciences considers how ways of speaking and writing inform and shape ways of knowing. Relating contemporary theory and criticism to a wide range of human creations — including art, languages, social and economic systems, and rituals — Human Sciences focus on areas of inquiry shared by the humanities and social sciences.

Human Sciences is an exteriorization of discourse to engender action and participation through creative and re-centered learning. "

[via: http://www.husci.org/cal/2015/7/30/the-archipelago ]

"This August we’re going to have our first week-long Winnebago Workshop. Each day we will meet at the St. Paul studios of Alec Soth and Little Brown Mushroom. After a morning brainstorming session, we’ll board our RV and explore. Through photographs, video, drawing and writing, participants will collect visual stories. Throughout the course of the week, we’ll have public projections of the stories on the side of the RV.
Who: Teen artists (age 16-18)

When: August 17-22, 2015. 9am – evening

Where: We’ll meet each day in the Midway area of St. Paul and then drive wherever the wind blows us.

Cost: Free

Due by August 3rd at 5pm

Questions? Please email: workshop @ littlebrownmushroom.com

…

Do you like to *
• Draw
• Take Pictures
• Make Movies
• Write
• Otro: [blank]

Tell us a short informal story or anecdote that gives a sense of your personality. *

Tell us about your dream field trip you've never taken. *

Show us some stuff!

We want to get to know you. Send pictures, videos or links to your work online. We'd also love to see a self portrait.

Upload a self portrait here: https://goo.gl/NH9oW2

Email us links/videos/photos at: workshop @ littlebrownmushroom.com "

[See also: http://www.littlebrownmushroom.com/blog/the-winnebago-workshop/ ]

"Parts and Crafts is a member-supported family makerspace and community workshop based in Somerville, MA.  In our programs we encourage kids to play, think, make, and learn through the exploration of the arts, science, computer programming, and engineering –  a cluster of disciplines we refer to as “the creative application of technical skills.”  We run school-vacation camps, a full-time school-alternative program, and afterschool and weekend classes and workshops, open-shop hours and other community and family events."

"Blackhorse Workshop is a new public space dedicated to making and mending, just half an hour from the centre of London. We offer open access to a fully equipped wood and metal workshop. Machinery support is on hand from our highly skilled technicians, and here you can build or fix anything from broken chairs to theatrical sets, bikes and furniture – and where you can grow your startup with the support of industry expertise and a community of makers.

You can come and use the workshop for half a day or sign up for a year. We welcome everyone from dabblers to professionals, and will help you wherever we can.

We also run courses and events, from basic DIY skills to the art of welding. We invite artists, designers, expert fabricators and craftsmen from a range of industries to talk about their ideas, – let us know if there is someone in particular you’d like to see!

Blackhorse Workshop was founded by the architecture and design practice Assemble,and has been developed by its Creative Director, Harriet Warden together with Toby Poolman, Rob Shaer and Sara Pereira. The project has received support from the Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund, the London Borough of Waltham Forest and match funding from Create, Legacy Trust UK and Arts Council England."

[An Assemble project: http://assemblestudio.co.uk/?page_id=235 ]

"10th – 11th December 2014

Invitation only symposium

Through this symposium we will explore how by bringing together Design + Ethnography + Futures we can deliberately step out of established disciplinary methodologies. This means moving into the future with people and challenging what we habitually do and think about. We want to open up a space where we can question the taken-for-granted, trigger genuine surprise, play with the edges of boundaries and reconfigure ways knowledge is produced.

Throughout 2014, we have been developing an agenda for our Design + Ethnography + Futures programme to propose a new meeting of design and ethnography through a focus on futures. D+E+F builds on design anthropology and design ethnography, but is not exactly either of these. Our work, which has developed through a series of workshops and iterating research projects, has focused around concepts of knowing, sharing, making, moving and disrupting. We are exploring how the future orientation of combining design + ethnography approaches invites different forms of change-making, where uncertainty and the ‘not-yet-made’ is at the centre of inquiry. It brings the improvisory, playful, imaginative, sensorial and somewhat contested edges of both fields to create an opening to experiment with what might emerge out of an assembly of ideas, people, feelings, things and processes.

This symposium is above all a context where we will get to explore these ideas with you – by talking and engaging in workshop-like activities. By ‘hacking’ a traditional symposium format, we are inviting you to explore together ways not to know, rather than sharing what we each already know through argument and consolidation. In joining us in this endeavour, we are also asking the participants to ‘let go’ of their preconceptions behind, forego the need for a resolution, and enter into this together, to anew and awaken and become more aware of the emergent.

By embarking on this journey, we also have some specific and more strategic objectives:

• To consolidate a global network of researchers who will continue to develop these themes together, located in hubs across the world;
• To apply for funding internationally for future network meetings;
• To look into possibilities for applying for research funding together for shared projects; and,
• To produce a publication output as well as creative practice works where relevant.

Sarah Pink & Yoko Akama
RMIT Design + Ethnography + Futures research program leaders"

"Kay Ryan on creative writing "workshops" [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/article/171211 ]

Workshop. In the old days before creative writing programs, a workshop was a place, often a basement, where you sawed or hammered, drilled or planed something. You could not simply workshop something. Now you can. You can take something you wrote by yourself to a group and get it workshopped. Sometimes it probably is a lot like getting it hammered. Other writers read your work, give their reactions, and make suggestions for change. A writer might bring a piece back for more workshopping later, even. I have to assume that the writer respects these other writers’ opinions, and that just scares the daylights out of me. It doesn’t matter if their opinions really are respectable; I just think the writer has given up way too much inside. Let’s not share. Really. Go off in your own direction way too far, get lost, test the metal of your work in your own acids. These are experiments you can perform down in that old kind of workshop, where Dad used to hide out from too many other people’s claims on him.

See also: Brian Kitely on the subject [http://www.austinkleon.com/2009/06/24/how/ ]:

The standard American workshop is a lazy construction. The teacher asks students to bring in stories or poems to class, sometimes copied and handed out ahead of time, sometimes not. The class and its final arbiter (usually the teacher) judge the merits of the story or poem. Few ask the question, “Where does a story come from?” The standard American workshop presumes that you cannot teach creativity or instincts or beginnings. It takes what it can once the process has already been started. Most writing teachers say, “Okay, bring in a story and we’ll take it apart and put it back together again.” I say, “Let’s see what we can do to find some stories.” The average workshop is often a profoundly conservative force in fiction writers’ lives, encouraging the simplifying and routinizing of stories….I use exercises in my workshops to derange student stories, to find new possibilities, to foster strangeness and irregularity, as much as to encourage revision and cleaning up after yourself, and I don’t worry much about success or failure.

"

"Seventeen-day Studio writes about books, experimentation & experience. "

"The Seventeen-day Studio began on March 29, 2013 and ended seventeen days later on April 14. We formed the studio as an exploration in collaboration, an exhibition of the design process, and an evaluation of the field as we know it. What came from the studio greatly outweighs what we put into it, due to the kindness and generosity of our colleagues, advisors, and all those who stopped by."

…

[Projects]

"Studio as critique.

As much as the studio is about showing designers in their element, we felt a need to be critical about what we do. Through open collaboration with each other and visitors, we embrace the loss of explicit authorship. We recognize our own ego but do not believe in solitary genius. To achieve this we developed projects which spanned the 17 days. These parts of the studio are meant to challenge the traditional notion of the graphic designer through our relationships with clients and the greater public.

Posters, books, and logos are quintessential so we began there. To explore our use of technology, media, and medium as they relate to the deliverable, we created these systems of making and interaction. The Poster Machine, Logo Parlor, and Bookshop as we called them produced work for a walk-in clientele. They act as introduction to basic concepts of design[ing] and being designed for in a way that was personal for each visitor.

We want to expand the space of graphic design criticism. Through our studio space and by working in the gallery, performing, we present design, the verb, to more than our peers. We used one of our 23 ft high walls to proclaim a diagnosis of the field. Graphic design is made of contrary elements, involving a clash of thought, emotion, and behavior, leading us as graphic designers, toward eccentric perceptions, unusual actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality into fantasy or delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

Bookshop.

The print-per-request Book Shop interprets an individual’s reading preferences and habits. We posit that reading is distracting, because it is plastic, creative work that is affected by methods of publishing and the devices we use. Visitor input went into editing and producing a 100 page book that focuses on the parts of books and reading that cannot be read or are routinely glanced over, though contribute the how a reader reads.

The poster machine, an alternative interface.

The poster machine was made to challenge the digital tools that designers conventionally use in making. A series of knobs and switches are used by the machine’s operator to alter the mood and layout of their poster. Each poster is then handmade and machine-made. After playing with the machine the maker sends her poster to print, where it is also automatically fed to our website for all to see.

Logo Parlor, a generative identity system.

The logo parlor generates a logo and 20 business cards in 8 minutes. The piece was developed based on a system in which visitors fill out a form where they rank different skill sets in a scale of 1 to 10. The skill sets are gathered from a survey of most repeated characteristics mentioned by prospective candidate during interviews across different fields. During the exhibition visitors were encouraged to fill out a form and spend 8 minutes with the designer as the process of creating their customized logotype unfolded."

…

"Graphic design is made of contrary elements, involving a clash of thought, emotion, and behavior, leading us as graphic designers toward eccentric perceptions, inappropriate actions and feelings, our withdrawal from reality into fantasy or delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation."

"First session of a series of workshops at Studio-X Istanbul organized together with çocukistanbul - www.cocukistanbul.org "

[Reminds me of this line: http://robertogreco.tumblr.com/post/22111306605/call-ahead-to-the-tourism-board-or-city-hall ]

"Open Space Technology creates the conditions for respectful conversation. It is a powerful way of bringing people together to search for solutions to complex issues. All participants have the opportunity to express what they consider to be important and to take responsibility for their passions. In doing so they discover new ways of working cooperatively."

[See also: http://www.openspaceworld.com/users_guide.htm
http://www.openspaceworld.org/tmnfiles/2pageos.htm
http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?FacilitatorResources
http://www.openspaceworld.com/brief_history.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Open-Space-Technology-Users-Guide/dp/1442966424 ]

[Via: https://twitter.com/HHG/status/403054788092239872
https://twitter.com/HHG/status/403054914869264384
https://twitter.com/HHG/status/403056455479070720
https://twitter.com/HHG/status/403058182886395904
https://twitter.com/HHG/status/403060715210039296 ]

"Hello! My name is Taeyoon and I make art projects, teach, write and curate about technology, cities and political possibilities. I live in New York and Seoul."

…

"Making Lab at APAP2013 is a proposition for city of Anyang for a Hackerspace. Situated in Anyang Pavilion of Anyang Public Art Park, Making Lab will host series of workshops and provide facility for local community to engage in art and technology. The space will be operate from February to December of 2013 as a pilot program. After initial period, the Lab will search for a self sustainable model for community participation."

…

"This is what my portable lab looks like. I make art projects using technology, teach workshops and collaborate with others."

"Participatory art projects are increasingly popular around the world, not least because their social agenda can attract considerable sponsorship. However, these projects are also often criticised for failing to achieve results. Bitkina and Veits, who had to look abroad for funding, even though their work is almost unprecedented in Russia, do not make unrealistic claims about grandiose changes. Their aim is to make small, lasting changes for the people who interact with the work. “We don’t want to shock and intersect with public space in an aggressive way,” says Bitkina. “We want to engage as many people as possible.” They deliberately involve the police and city administration, striving gradually to “enlighten them and change their ways, to show them that things can be done in a certain way”.

The process begins with Veits consulting with other sociologists, anthropologists, historians and residents to locate stories and problems in the area; then Bitkina commissions and curates artists (eight this year) to respond to these problems in public spaces. “The last wooden house in Kupchino” is typical of Critical Mass in its attempt to engage with communities that are normally cut off from both the art world and from discussions about development, and in its focus on neighbourhood and belonging."

…

"Kennedy’s work stands out from this lineage because of its emphasis on myth and tradition. His folk-fictions seek to create new traditions that will represent the community and provide them with common touchstones of identity. He is guided by Claude Levi-Strauss’s belief that the myth must be enacted to find new relevance in the contemporary, and by the notion of “shared anthropology” pioneered by filmmaker Jean Rouch, whose documentary films made North African communities act out their daily lives with “critical awareness”. “Myth,” says Kennedy, “becomes something that is embodied and manifested, in this case in public and civic space through the aesthetic form of the procession.” In the Kupchino action the artist takes an intimate, personal tradition — the story of one family — and turns it into a shared myth for the whole community by re-enacting it in a public space with 60 participants, and then by showing them his Super-8 recording of the event. "

…

"But the greatest sense of public gratification came from one of the unscripted moments that occur naturally when the artist-viewer hierarchy is broken in public art. Just as Kennedy and Vasiliyeva shook hands and posed for photos by the handmade wooden house, a brightly coloured rocket exploded in the sky above them. It was the flare her mother had given her back in 1976. Vasiliyeva’s brother had decided to fire it today — clear confirmation of the significance and resonance of this social project for the family and for all of Kupchino."

"Ashevillage Institute is a nonprofit dedicated to sustainable solutions in action. We host educational programs with the goal of inspiring participants to walk their talk in their own backyards, neighborhoods, schools and cities."

"Our philosophy and approach is student-centered. We believe that if we develop self-confident and self-motivated students, everything else will fall into place.

Our priorities:
student confidence
a solid understanding of the academic material
providing tools with which student will thrive and grow
We have assembled a diverse team of specialists in a wide variety of subjects and skills. All of our staff has passed a Dept of Education background check, as well as regular in-house training."

"At MakerPlace a complete metal, wood and electronic shop, classroom and work areas await 
your projects.

Think of it as your dream shop… 
the one you’d build if you had a really big garage and a huge budget … 
a large number of expensive tools, many computer controlled, available for your unlimited use.
Multi-needle embroidery and industrial sewing machines are available for your construction of personalized gifts, shirts, caps, backpacks and comforters.  

A 3-D printer can create real durable plastic objects from just a drawing … almost like Star Trek.  

Large format, high powered lasers are available to cut shapes from wood, plastic or many metals or delicately engrave messages on wine glasses.  

A computer controlled vinyl cutter can make precise signs, decals or sand blasting masks.  

Welders, benders, brakes, shears, mills, an English wheel and a complete (legal) paint spray booth are ready to make or modify your motorcycle, bike, or ATV…"

"During the past 20 years Robin Wood has produced and sold over 30,000 wooden plates and bowls from his small workshop nestled into a Peak District hillside. Creating items for everyday use and making a living from his work as a craftsman is a fundamental principle underpinning Robin's working lifestyle. He seems very happy with the path he has chosen but his activities are not restricted to wood turning.

Robin is also Chairman of the Heritage Craft Association heritagecrafts.org.uk, is featured in many television craft programmes, and shares his skills and knowledge with others by running classes in bowl turning and spoon carving. He also writes a very interesting and informative craft blog. greenwood-carving.blogspot.co.uk
Dave and Lynwen went along to see him turn a bowl. artisanco.com "

[via: http://kottke.org/12/11/stay-small-or-go-big ]

"sprout is a community education and research organization devoted to creating and supporting the community-driven learning, teaching, and investigation of science. We're united by a passion to reclaim science as a richly personal and creative craft. Through our PROGRAMS & STUDIOS, we're working to make our vision real in Somerville.

You might say we're working to create a community college that lives up to its name—not a college in a community or a school in a building, but a community of people who work together as colleagues to explore questions they care about."

[From the Studios page]

"Our studios are a bit unusual. Here you can find out WHERE they are, how you can use them as a COWORKING space, a community VENUE, a WORKSHOP AND LABSPACE for independent investigation, or WHATEVER ELSE you have in mind. And if you're interested, you can read about WHY we run our studios the way we do."

"Anderson Ranch Arts Center Anderson Ranch celebrates artists, art-making, critical dialogue and community. We promote personal and professional development of artists of all levels of expertise through year-round workshops in ceramics, sculpture, photography, new media, painting and drawing, printmaking, woodworking, furniture design and more. Our artists residencies for emerging and established artists, summer internships, visiting artists and critics, community outreach, and public events offer a full spectrum of opportunities to creative people of all levels. The facilities feature fully-equipped art studios and galleries. Anderson Ranch programs and activities including art auctions and artist slide lectures, attract thousands of artists, art-lovers, students, faculty and patrons annually to this historic Rocky Mountain ranch dedicated to the fine arts."

"The Hayward Gallery’s Wide Open School is an unusual experiment in learning. Its programme of classes is devised and delivered by over 100 artists from approximately 40 different countries. It is not an art school however. Instead it is a wide-ranging forum where artists lead and facilitate workshops, collaborative projects, collective discussions, lectures and performances about any and all subjects in which they are passionately interested.

That is a territory as expansive as the imaginations of artists."

"Most schools are in the business of transferring knowledge from teachers to students. Wide Open School, on the other hand, is more like a labyrinth of learning in which various possibilities can be explored and developed."

"Wide Open School will take place in classrooms built in the Hayward’s gallery spaces. But is not meant to be an exhibition in any sense, and it demands a very different type of engagement."

"We all curate stories, images, and our lists of the best stuff. We publish our interests to our social media sites and suggest what others might find meaningful. We participate in making a viral video flash of YouTube stardom happen. Open Curate It is a FACT led programme of events, workshops, classes, seminars and a discussion forum designed to engage with these new forms of media curation and meaning making. Over the course of the programme we will be talking about and experimenting with how these practices might be better engaged by organisations and arts institutions like FACT and help us to be more connected to our community."

"The brainchild of artists Kyle Hollingsworth and Renee Ridgeley, Hand on 3rd is a workshop and creative space where people could come together and create. The shop offers hands-on training for crafts and arts of all sorts -- from sewing to mosaics -- and a place for like-minded aspiring craftspeople can meet and hash out new projects."

[Video also here: https://vimeo.com/17460475 ]

""We modeled it after our ideal teaching environment," Pitaru says about the genesis, "which means we only take as many students as can fit around our kitchen table (a maximum of five, because the small number is ideal for group-thinking). The seating arrangement is important, as we all get to talk and look at each other rather than face a big projection on a wall."…

Participants are FIFO or first-come-first-serve. As for instructors "We love having guest instructors mainly because it allows us to become students and learn something new," Pitaru says…

Pitaru was recently contacted by someone who wants to open a Kitchen-Table-Coders in London. "Trademarking doesn't worry me," he says. "I'll be flattered if due to our efforts, more kitchen tables are used for learning code, and happy to help anyone who wishes to do so.""

[See also: http://kitchentablecoders.com/ ]

[Wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20100419063957/http://www.parallel-school.com:80/2010/02/students-as-designers-norman-potter.html ]

"Parallel school of art is a virtual and international school where those who want to self-educate themselves can share what they are doing and thinking about, as well as their interests and projects.

Parallel school wants to generate and spread work emulation through the development of self-initiated projects such as publications, meetings, lectures, workshops, etc.

Parallel school would like to bring together the knowledge, experiences and energy from students all over the world.

Parallel School is an umbrella that is free to use by anyone interested in doing so."

"Studio-X is a multifunction outpost of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in lower Manhattan. Alternately a studio space for several of GSAPP's research groups (including C-Lab, Netlab, Living Architecture Lab and Urban Landscape Lab), exhibition space, and events venue, Studio-X's flexible programming makes it a uniquely unpredictable site where architectural and urban thinkers interact with a curious public. Now exporting its model to other cities around the world where GSAPP has a presence, including Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, and Amman, Studio-X marks its first publication with The Studio-X NY Guide to Liberating New Forms of Conversation. José Esparza talked to the book's editor and Studio-X NY's former programming director Gavin Browning, as well as Glen Cummings and Aliza Dzik of New York design firm MTWTF, who designed the book."

"I put a short post up a few days ago in an online group I’m in, with the above image and this brief description:

superhero school. center for disruptive innovation. continuous learning zone. collective intelligence. live/work startup incubator. community center. hackerspace. makerlab. autonomous zone. permaculture and sustainable food production. cooperatively owned communications infrastructure. resilience. r&d; lab. a place for creative troublemakers. hudson valley. i want this to exist.

It blew up to over 100 comments in less than 48 hours, with many people sharing their own thoughts and plans and existing initiatives to create similar things in their areas. I was inspired! Is this an idea whose time has come?"

[Also here (with comments): http://emergentbydesign.com/2011/11/09/superhero-school-an-epicenter-for-disruptive-innovation/ ]

"At best, when the workshop host is actually someone who reads & writes & doesn't have a lot of formulas or 'best practices' & instead engages all in the actual practice of reading & writing—rich rewards can often accompany.  When the participant continues to read & write & is suitably curious, the ideas learned & questioned via their own practice may make for interesting, if not provocative, work inside their own classroom.<br />
<br />
There is an organicism in such practice. <br />
<br />
In contrast, when the presenter is someone who has also learned 'workshop techniques' at a distance from actual practice & passes along a laundry list of dos and dont's (think chart after chart) that truly make little actual sense, the outcome is rather dubious. Even worse than this however is the 'turnkey' presenter sent to the latter workshop who then returns to tell everyone else how to "do" workshop.  The workshops enacted after such learning are often vapid and usually rely on standardized practices for all.

"Last month John Thackara ran his first 'X-School'…to continue a conversation about what a 'school' for a new design paradigm should look like. Myself and a group of design minds got together in the countryside to thrash it out over a weekend of chat and activity.

Whenever we talked about what we thought 'X-School' could be, somewhere in my head I heard 'Fight Club', as in 'the first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club', except of course, we were there to talk about X-school, and... nobody got hurt.  We played some games, we built a flint path, we slept under the stars and swam in the river, we drank real ale and ate pizza and we talked about X-school.  It wasn't like a 'conference', or 'workshop', or even as John put it 'a country house weekend', it was something new.'

…there is enormous value in doing, there is enormous value in not defining your purpose, but most of all there is enormous value in sharing that experience with others."

"For three years, Young Rewired State has been showing young people the joys of coding using open government data such as crime figures and weather data. This year, Newcastle got involved for the first time. JOHN HILL finds out more about how everyone got on, and how the project may help raise interest in a valued skill."

[See also: http://youngrewiredstate.org/ ]

"David graduated from the UNC in 1993, Yale in 1999, & went on to form O-R-G, a design studio in New York City. Stuart graduated from the University of Reading in 1994, the Werkplaats Typografie in 2000, and co-founded the arts journal Dot Dot Dot the same year. David currently teaches at Columbia University and Rhode Island School of Design. Stuart is currently involved in diverse projects at Parsons School of Design (NYC) and Pasadena Art Center (LA).

Dexter Sinister recently established a workshop in the basement at 38 Ludlow Street, on the Lower East Side in New York City. The workshop is intended to model a ‘Just-In-Time’ economy of print production, running counter to the contemporary assembly-line realities of large-scale publishing. This involves avoiding waste by working on-demand, utilizing local cheap machinery, considering alternate distribution strategies, and collapsing distinctions of editing, design, production and distribution into one efficient activity."

"The Xskool model is expected to be based on some kind of self-directed action learning that enables participants to study locally, at work or on a project, and in their own language – but supported by a distributed network of learning providers, tutors and mentors.

To be determined: Accreditation/certification

Xskool is envisaged, at the moment, as a part-time programme of intensive workshops, each of a three to five days’ duration. Some workshops on this learning journey will be at a residential site; others will involve participation in live projects."

"What alternative roles might designers take and what new strategies and ideas might the ‘design community‘ employ in response to these challenges?

What happens when we move from severing corporate interests to the interests of the community?

How can new tools and resources of rapid prototyping, digital and bio hacking, and DIY culture as a whole be used to create new economies?

What services might we design if our constraints move from concerns about legal implications to personal ethical considerations?

If instead of designing for the free market, what if we designed for the street, or black market?"

"Maine Media College offers a Professional Certificate program and a low-residency Master of Fine Arts Degree program in the fields of Photography, Filmmaking, and Multimedia.<br />
The school provides a focused educational experience distinguished by a dedication to craftsmanship, creativity, and critical thinking.<br />
Located in the small village of Rockport, Maine, Maine Media College is in an area that has long attracted artists because of its supreme physical beauty. The school provides an immersive environment conducive to concentrated work. The curriculum honors historical forms and practices while embracing new technologies and modes of creative expression."

"The 2011 Summer Salon Series will take place from June 2 through September 1.  A complete line-up of artists and performances will be coming soon.  In the meantime, use the information below to take a stroll down memory lane from last year's Series.  See you this summer!

The San Diego Museum of Art and Agitprop are proud to co-present this summer long program of contemporary artists' performances, talks, demos and workshops."

"Q: What kinds of methods do you use in your teaching?

The methods are very much influenced by the fact that instead of giving classes or assignments, I have appointments with the Master students in the course of their final projects. The meetings are based on guiding and reflection.<br />
I usually introduce the students to design research through my own research-based projects. …discussion certainly plays an important role in workshops.

Q: This brings to my mind the phrase “doing research by design”, which points out research being part of the design process.

I definitely consider that an applicable approach. In the context of design, the tendency is to conceive research and execution as separate entities. Students tend to be done with the research part when moving on to working with visual means. The main aim of the platform is to encourage students to integrate research more profoundly into their practice."

"The San Diego Space Society (“SD Space”) was founded in 2008 with the purpose of raising awareness and educating the general public to the benefits of human exploration of space and San Diego’s role in space development, as well as to the idea of creating a spacefaring civilization within our lifetimes.

General meetings are held regularly at the Serra Mesa library, and SD Space members participate in many other local space events. Details of each meeting will be posted to the calendar. The general public is welcome to attend any meeting or event listed on this site.

SD Space is headquartered at the Space Travelers Emporium [http://emporium.sdspace.org/ ], a storefront and workshop in the South Park neighborhood."

"Ace Camps are vacations where you learn and create from the BEST, the most POPULAR and the most INTERESTING leaders.<br />
<br />
You and your group head on a journey to improve a skill, meet new people and experience different cultures. Along with your guide you will spend time with a professional. Ace Camps seek out the most interesting professionals, artists, photographers and creative people to spend time with and we want to pass on the experience to you."

"It is impossible to really capture what happened in the roundabout 65.000 minutes during the Palomar5 camp in 2009 in something like a movie. Nevertheless, we want everyone to experience at least a glimpse of it - within 60 minutes.

Thanks to our filmmaker and editor Patricia Günther, who accompanied great parts of the camp and made this movie possible."

"San Diego Book Arts is open to everyone interested in the art of the book and serves as an educational and creative resource for the community.

San Diego Book Arts is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 as an outgrowth of a book arts presentation sponsored by the Artists Guild at the San Diego Museum of Art. Its membership has grown to over 150 people from all walks of life. Widely know for the quality of its programs and the energy of its leadership, it includes artists, collectors, graphic designers, bookbinders, conservators, librarians, teachers and literacy instructors."

“A lot of people get lost in the world of computer simulation...You can’t simulate everything.” "Creative designers and engineers are rebelling against their alienation from the physical world. “The hands-on part is for me a critical aspect of understanding how to design”..."rediscovery of human hands arose partly from the frustration of engineering, architecture and design professors who realized that their best students had never taken apart a bicycle or built a model airplane."...“Students are desperate for hands-on experience”

"The three rooms are especially designed for children of different ages, with different physical needs and abilities. Here kids will find hideaways, hammocks where they can lie and read peacefully, exciting things to look at."

see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulturhuset "Opened in 1974, (Swedish for The House of Culture) is cultural centre to south of Sergels Torg in central Stockholm; both loved & hated as symbol for Stockholm & growth of modernism in Sweden"

"The new rule seems to be that if you're going to spend the time and the money to see someone face to face, be in their face. Interact or stay home!"

"Three exhausting hours later, and what might be the world’s first ARG Design Workshop for teenagers was over. I was pretty happy - but even happier that there had been four other people there to help."

"Mediamatic is a cultural organization in Amsterdam. We do exhibitions, presentations, workshops and much more. This site combines an overview with news and theory. It's edited automatically with anyMeta, matching the topical with heritage in a sometimes

"The Dutch Mediamatic centre is known for connecting the physical world with the digital. So, a couple of weeks ago, they held a Hybrid Toys Workshop to teach people how to make physical toys with digital and/or networked components."

"How & why are contemporary artists from around world opening up concept of mapping? This project explores potential of new cartographic languages, deepening our understanding of identity, place & power to reflect on multiple spaces we inhabit."

"technology and design consultancy that helps artists, designers and brands make the best use of digital technologies. Our manufacturing expertise, which includes the Arduino project, allows us to work with designers on all aspects of a project, from init

"Welcome to the original Learning 2.0 Program. This site was created to support PLCMC's Learning 2.0 Program; a discovery learning program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies and reward them for doing 23 Things."

"In this article, I’m going to talk about four things: why we use games, core game principles, how to apply games, and how to sell design games to your organization or client."

"The ab/use of the metaphor for normal sexual connection in the plant kingdom has reached a critical mass in educational conversation – so much so that that the next person who invites me to a “cross pollination meeting” will be told in normal invertebrate sex talk to “Keep your jelly away from my eggs”"

"I am now officially a bigger fan of small, hands-on workshops than large, hands-off professional society conferences."

"The Institute For Figuring is an organization dedicated to the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science, mathematics and engineering.

The Institute’s interests are twofold: the manifestation of figures in the world around us and the figurative technologies that humans have developed through the ages. From the physics of snowflakes and the hyperbolic geometry of sea slugs, to the mathematics of paper folding, the tiling patterns of Islamic mosaics and graphical models of the human mind, the Institute takes as its purview a complex ecology of figuring."