Past Event

In this informal exchange of ideas Artspace NZ Director talks about some of the potential programme and institutional changes coming up at Artspace. We will go into a reading and exchange session centred around the text Deschooling Society by scholar/writer/educator and Jesuit priest, Ivan Illich. Formative in reshaping thoughts around 'the institute' and 'schooling', the texts provides insights in how to imagine a society which learns, but is not schooled. Advocating that the school is a waste of human time and only prepares us for preparation, rather than have us learn, the text is a surprising up-to-date document on capitalist and institutional critique. The conversation at the Blue Oyster asks the question if and how relevant the text is to be considered in an art institution such as the Blue Oyster and Artspace, often seen as informal places of schooling and often connected to formal places of education indirectly. What can be the promise of Illich's critique translating it to the New Zealand of now?

Remco came to Artspace from the position of Senior Curator at the Centre of Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, where he had worked since 2012. Prior to holding that position, Remco worked at the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands from 2006 until 2011, where he co-curated Picasso in Palestine with Charles Esche, Khaled Hourani, Fatima Abdulkarim and Galit Eilat in 2011. He was also part of the team of Be(com)ing Dutch, a two-year project (2006-2008) led by Annie Fletcher at the Van Abbemuseum, that dealt with residues of globalisation, national identity and immigration. His 2012 research project, completed at Goldsmiths University, explored border practices of visual culture against the background of Suriname, South America. In 2013, he was recipient of the CPPC/ICI Travel Grant for Central America and the Caribbean. His written work has been published in a range of international publications.

Artspace is an intersection between contemporary art practices, exhibition making and critical thinking in New Zealand Aotearoa, bridging the universal with the contextual. Artspace is dedicated to commissioning and presenting new ideas in art and culture, as well as fostering critical debate and generating intellectual feedback. Artspace develops and nurtures artistic research at a national and international level through the production of an innovative programme of exhibitions and events, and risk-taking practices.