a-positioning
// performance + video installation w/ José Cortes + Veronica Mockler //
The question of art education–what it is, what it does–has been in the mouths of theorists and the hands of practitioners for decades now. While the field is often characterized by and celebrated for its indiscernibility, there remains a stubborn resistance to change at both systemic and subjective levels (Coates, 2020, p. 45). This inflexibility is not just symptomatic of art(X)education’s ongoing institutional standardizations and neoliberal recuperations but also points to a deep sense of frustration in the field, a widespread dissatisfaction fueled by the idea that change is both inevitable and impossible.
In this project, we put such frustrations to the test via an art(X)education user dissatisfaction survey that was developed as one way to experiment with the very threshold of what is perceived possible, and thus impossible, within art(x)education practices today. This work was performed, shot, edited and presented in just a few short days during a recent road trip to Halifax for CSEA/SCÉA and features a series of phone conversations with folks who have thoughts on, and as it turns out, frustrations with, art and its education. As just one experiment in a-positioning, this project has got us thinking about strange vantages, partial perspectives, barely audible frequencies, pedagogical personas, and embodied tactics that fly under-the-radar or, sometimes, out the window.
