Over the course of four days, Jeanne van Heeswijk speaks with philosopher Johan Siebers and Psychoanalyst Maaike Engelen about learning in public spaces.
For this event, which is part of the Public Faculty series and is Public Faculty no. 4, they are situated in front of the Hayward Gallery. They discuss, with anyone who wants to participate, the idea that public space can facilitate responsible and collective learning in society.
This is a free event and open to anyone who would like to take part.
Public Faculty series
The idea of the Public Faculty series is to engage in learning through a process of knowledge exchange within the context of a certain place. It references Beuys's seminal work 'Richtkräfte' (Directive Forces), an installation of 100 blackboards created for public discussions and later held at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London in 1974.
Using Rudolf Steiner's concept of 'thought drawings', Beuys used chalk on blackboard to communicate to his audience the basic principles of his theory of 'social sculpture' - freedom, direct democracy and sustainable economic forms. In this way Beuys illustrated his 'anthropologic construct' for a better world.
Public Faculty seeks to 'draw out' the anticipated conversations and findings by slowly building a visual analogy of its presence in the city. By taking these conversations outside it undertakes strategies for rethinking, redefining and re-entering public space through collective cultural action.
Public Faculty no.1 took place in Skopje, Macedonie, October 2008; Public Faculty no.2 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, September 2010; and Public Faculty no.3 in Vranje, Serbia, March 2012.