School of Unlearning
AIR Programme 2022
Yes, you got it right.... a school that does not propose to learn, but rather to unlearn. If we want to seriously address the problems of climate change and social justice, we need to have the courage to question certain given ways of thinking, doing and being. For how can we save the earth if we do not question the belief that humans are the most important beings in the universe, separate from and superior to animals and other nonhuman entities? Or how can we eliminate structural social inequality if we are not open to other histories and alternative forms of knowledge? In the School of Unlearning we ask the question: what do we need to unlearn in order to create the art that the world needs today?
On six Saturdays, in February, March and April, we’re inviting you to join us for six different programmes, at six different academies, addressing the six themes of the School of Unlearning: death, the human, language, rituals, time and space.
Artists in residence
For each of the Saturdays, we’ve invited artists in research to put together a surprising programme in which you are challenged to ask questions, experiment and gain new experiences.
Hands-on
Don't expect a series of lectures, but days where you actively get to work with the themes in all kinds of ways. Always in an interdisciplinary context. Together with students, teachers and staff from all academies, you will embark on a joint adventure.
Info and registration
Anyone can register - students, teachers, staff - for one or more Saturdays. If the interest exceeds the number of places available, we will ask you to make a choice so that as many people as possible can participate in the programmes on offer. Preparation, experience and prior knowledge are not necessary, an open mind is sufficient. The language of the programme is English, but feel free to ask questions in Dutch. Participation is free of charge.
Study points
For students there is the possibility to get study points for participation. [more info]
What time
All programmes are from 10.00 to 18.00h.
If you have registered for a programme, we will keep you informed by email about where exactly it will take place, what will happen and whether there's anything you need to bring.
If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to: schoolofunlearning@ahk.nl
Six themes - Six academies - Six Saturdays
Unlearning Death
Saturday 5 February 2022 | Breitner Academy
Artist in Residence: Susanne Duijvestein
Connecting to the web of life
Death and grief are often presented as something to avoid as much as possible. But what if death, grief and pain hold crucial wisdom for us? What if it can help us to connect to the complexity of life and heal our relationship with the earth, our larger body? [read more]
Unlearning the Human
Saturday 19 februari 2022 | Academy of Theatre and Dance
Artist in Residence: Amanda Piña
Practicing Decolonial Ecologies
How can the arts contribute to addressing anthropocentrism and the violence towards non-human life that this value system enables? Can we recognize and understand how the colonial idea of the superior and separate human may have come to inhabit and restrict our bodies? What can we learn from an encounter with an alternative mode of relating to the non-human world? [read more]
Unlearning Language
Saturday 12 maart 2022 | Reinwardt Academy
Artists in Residence: Farida Nabibaks and Suzan Tunca
Learning to acknowledge the intuitive body and incorporate the word
The memories that our bodies sense, store and (re)perform are part of our collective memory. Yet the memory of the body and its unfathomable ways of knowing are more than often lost in translation, as Western education privileges the written word as the way to share and pass on memories and knowledge. How can we open up to what our bodies communicate to us and understand the intelligence that is stored within our embodied being?
[read more]
Unlearning Rituals
Saturday 26 maart 2022| Conservatorium van Amsterdam
Artist in Residence: Samir Calixto
An immersive unravelling of (im)possible realities
Rituals are rooted in social and cultural contexts, and they shape and inform artistic practices. They involve artistic output, its presentation, and the way it is perceived by audiences. They may be cherished or debated, and they evolve over time. Unlearning rituals may be considered an engine to keep the arts alive, fluid, adaptable and relevant. [read more]
Unlearning Time
Saturday 9 april 2022 | Netherlands Filmacademy
Artist in Residence: Rachael Rakes
Entangling pasts and futures
Underlying the dominant Western notions of storytelling and history is a conception of time as linear, progressive and measurable. ‘Unlearning time’ means questioning the oft detrimental effects of this common conception of time and researching alternative understandings of time: circular, parallel, monumental and experiential… [read more]
Unlearning Space
Saturday 23 april 2022 | Academy of Architecture
Artist in Residence: Puck van Dijk
An immersive pilgrimage through the under- and upper world
The underworld versus the upper world: the hidden, the dark and the demons versus the enlightened, the transparent and the clear. How does this implicit appreciation affect public space and our experience of it? And can we, albeit for a short moment, withdraw from that opposition and explicitly connect the non-visible with the visible? [read more]
We provide lunch for all the six prorgammes, which will be a vegetarian one in line with the theme of the event! The lunch will be provide by Maureen de Jong van 't Kleinkookbedrijf.
@The School of Unlearning programme was co-produced with the cooperation of creative production company Popkraft.