The Collective School

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Collective School is the inaugural project of Asia Art Archive’s renovated library. Developed in collaboration with Jakarta-based collective Gudskul, which runs a grassroots school for other collectives, this project explores artist-driven and collective models of learning. It features an exhibition at AAA’s library; a series of online and onsite talks and workshops with artists, educators, thinkers, and academics; and new articles on AAA’s IDEAS Journal. The Collective School is generously supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, as well as Wendy Lee & Stephen Li, and Virginia & Wellington Yee.

Hosted at AAA’s library, The Collective School exhibition began with our invitation to Gudskul, who in turn invited eight collectives from across Asia. In the display, you will see their responses to archival materials from AAA Collections, developed together through group conversations over the past year. Their works, which include videos, sculptures, games, and zines, respond to three collective endeavours: Xiamen Dada, a collective known for their radical performative actions critiquing the art system in China in the 1980s; Black Artists of Asia, a collective that initiated VIVA ExCon, the longest-running artist-run biennial in the Philippines in the 1990s; and Womanifesto, a feminist art collective and biennial programme in Thailand most active from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s.

Participants: ba-bau AIR (Hanoi), BiSCA (Bishkek), Gudskul (Jakarta), Load na Dito (Quezon City), Omnispace (Bandung), Pangrok Sulap (Sabah), Salikhain Kolektib (Quezon City), Scutoid Coop (Kaohsiung), and Yayasan Tonjo Foundation (Yogyakarta)

Upcoming Public Programmes
The Collective School’s public programmes extend the questions raised in this exhibition. How does a school for collectives alter our understanding of art education models that tend to focus on individual improvement? In Hong Kong, where land and space are especially scarce, how do artists work collectively to share access to these resources?

 

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Asia Art Archive (AAA) is an independent non-profit organisation initiated in 2000 in response to the urgent need to document and make accessible the multiple recent histories of art in the region. With one of the most valuable collections of material on art freely available from its website and onsite library, AAA builds tools and communities to collectively expand knowledge through research, residency, and educational programmes. Please visit our website for more www.aaa.org.hk