Public presentation of the 6th Rupert Alternative Education Program
Rupert kindly invites you to attend a public presentation of the 6th Rupert Alternative Education Program which will take place on 23 January, from 6 pm at Vilnius Academy of Arts doctorate auditorium 102 (Malūnų str. 3, C1). During the event, curator Adomas Narkevičius will present this year’s program and two alumni Anastasija Sosunova (4th edition, 2016) and Vytenis Burokas (2nd edition, 2013-2014) will share their own experience of being part of the program. The event will be followed by a Q&A session. Entrance is free of charge, no registration required.
Our Alternative Education Program aims to combine self-directed education, interdisciplinary exchange and professional development. It is a resource aimed at creating opportunities for exchange between thinkers and creative practitioners from all over the world, and seeks to facilitate the production of individual projects, including artworks, exhibitions, publications and institutions. The program consists of regular lectures, workshops, events and studio visits with local and international guests, among which Travis Jeppesen, Suhail Malik, Dora Garcia, Nina Power, Dan and Lia Perjovschi, Julijonas Urbonas, Mårten Spångberg and Lina Lapelytė have participated in the past. It also encourages self-initiated initiatives such as reading groups, workshops and trips. The Alternative Education Program will benefit from around 40 artists, writers, curators and creative researchers, who are joining Rupert’s exhibitions, residencies and public programs. Each Alternative Education Program ends with a final presentation of completed projects, with an accompanying event or series of events hosted at Rupert and at partner organisations in Lithuania or abroad. participants have travelled to Studio-X in New York, Komplot in Brussels and Warsaw Bauhaus in Poland, as well as sites and collaborations around Lithuania.
Past editions of the Program have taught us that it is essential for applicants to regard themselves as active participants, not as students. It is equally important for them to regard the Program as a resource, not as a training. All of us at Rupert and the people we invite are equally faced with the challenge and desires of making things in seemingly impossible conditions; so Alternative Education Program is an opportunity to help each other succeed in that effort.
Every edition of the Program begins anew, that is to say – it is always divergent from its past iterations. We fine-tune our approach with each edition, exploring new modes of engagement and pedagogical formats. However, Program’s original aim remains: to help emerging artists to develop their practice in the framework of formal and informal exchanges between themselves, writers, art theorists, curators, scientists, international artists, and the public. The focus of this year’s Program derives from a quote by Suhail Malik, taken from a seminar with 5th edition participants: „Artists must break out of a self-defeating logic. You should regard yourselves as inter-related subjects of power, and that power can be moral.“ We will consider new forms of collective empowerment, not limited to short term personal gains through endlessly anxious symbolic capital accumulation. This initial framework is only an optional guideline, enabling the participants to find a starting point for the development of individual ideas and collective processes.
The 6th edition of the Alternative Education Program is curated by Adomas Narkevičius and joined by Joanna Warsza, Orit Gat, Jörg Heiser, Martha Kirszenbaum, Myriam Ben Salah, Fatos Üstek, Owen Griffiths, Laurynas Adomaitis and more local and international tutors (to be announced) who will provide mentorship, host talks, workshops, public events or engage participants in free-form conversations and discussions. The rest of the Program will be created by you – the participants.
Applications for the 6th Rupert Alternative Education Program are due 31 January (midnight)
More about the Open call: https://rupert.lt/open-call-2/
Rupert Alternative Education program is kindly supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture, and Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.
Image: Anastasija Sosunova’s video work screening ‘Demikhov Dog” at Ignalina Sports and Culture Centre, 2017 (photo by Harmonija Tamošiūnaitė).