Unland (Paperback)

Paperback. English / Deutsch UNLAND engl. wastelandIn the summer term of 2013 Professor Rene Francisco Rodriquez from our partner university Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana (ISA) was our guest in Halle, offering a workshop to students of both the art and design faculty. We had met Rene Francisco a year earlier in Havanna on a wasteland close to the city, were he was constructing a 'temporary city' with his students for the Havana Biennial. We had already heard of his teaching method 'Desde Una Pedagogia Pragmatica', or short DUPP, in which he intently explores and searches for the relationship between art and life, or design and everyday necessities, with a fixed group of students over a longer period of time. The students investigate their desires, develop visions and ideas and then implement them collectively in temporary or permanent artistic works. They often do this in collaboration with the residents of Havana. In a country shaped by shortage and poverty, working artistically poses a challenge. It requires fantasy and the ability to improvise and associate freely, not to mention an organizational talent, social skills and strategic thinking when it comes to mastering bureaucratic obstacles or acquiring materials. Thus, Rene Francisco's teaching does not only focus on artistic design and form as such, but encompasses an innovative and holistic method for implementing artistic interventions in the urban and social context. The workshop in Halle took place under less precarious signs, and-due to the shortness of time and the fact that the event took place alongside all other study obligations-could not be performed with such consistency. Nonetheless, it tied in directly with many of the discussions and questions we have here in Halle with our students and that have gained importance in the public art discourse of the last years: How do we want to live? How can our actions have a lasting effect? How can we engage in and actively shape societal reality? What could a societal sculpture look like? During the workshop, the students developed a series of performances, interventions, and installations in the public space. This collection of works documents all individual and joint projects and insight gained during the workshop. PROF. ANDREA ZAUMSEILUNLAND Im Sommersemester 2013 leitete Rene Francisco Rodriguez, Professor an unserer Partnerhochschule Instituto Superior de Arte in Havanna (ISA), bei uns an der Hochschule einen Workshop, an dem Studierende aus verschiedenen Klassen beider Fachbereiche teilnahmen. Kennen gelernt hatten wir Rene Francisco ein Jahr zuvor in Havanna, auf einer Baustelle auf einer Brache, wo er mit einer Gruppe von Studierenden des ISA eine "temporaere Stadt" fuer die Biennale von Havanna baute. Wir hatten bereits von seinem paedagogischen Ansatz gehoert, DESDE UNA PEDAGOGIA PRAGMATICA, kurz DUPP genannt, demzufolge er mit einer jeweils festen Gruppe Studierender ueber einen laengeren Zeitraum hinweg konsequent die Verbindung von Kunst und Leben, die Verknuepfung von Gestaltung und alltaeglichen Notwendigkeiten sucht. Die Studierenden erforschen, zum Teil zusammen mit den Bewohnerinnen und Bewohnern der Stadt, Wuensche, entwickeln Visionen und realisieren gemeinsam temporaere oder auch dauerhafte kuenstlerische Transformationen. In einem Land wie Kuba, das auch von Mangel und Armut gepraegt ist, ist dies eine besondere Herausforderung. Phantasie, Assoziations- und Improvisationsvermoegen, Planungsfaehigkeit, soziale Kompetenz und strategisches Denken in Bezug auf buerokratische Huerden und Materialbeschaffung sind nur einige der Anforderungen, die an seine Studenten gestellt werden. Seine Lehre bezieht sich demzufolge nicht nur auf das Gestalten an sich, sondern umfasst eine innovative und ganzheitliche Methode zur Umsetzung kue Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.…