Under one roof - The curriculum of collective education

“Majális'' is the traditional celebration of spring in Hungary; throughout the month of May. There are many customs related to this period, one of which is erecting the co-called májusfa (May tree): a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings. “Majális'' also refers to “Majelis”, the common decision making platform of lumbung inter-lokal, as part of documenta fifteen. With the series of “Majális” discussions, OFF-Biennale invites members of lumbung inter-lokal to present their work and to decorate our common “május-fa'' with shared ideas on community, education, political agency, ecologies, urban practices, and the celebration of music, dance, and bodies.

In the context of the Majális discussion series, we will learn about the collective education methods that characterise the activities of Gudskul and MAMA. Who is learning, from whom and what? How are local communities involved in knowledge transfer and what impact do these initiatives have on the local ecosystem? And there will be a game at the end!

Gudskul

Gudskul (Jakarta) is an educational knowledge-sharing platform formed in 2018 by three Jakarta-based collectives ruangrupa, Serrum, and Grafis Huru Hara.

Gudskul sincerely believes in sharing and working together as two vital elements in developing Indonesian contemporary art and culture. Their intent is to disseminate initiative spirit through artistic and cultural endeavors in a society committed to collectivism, and to promote initiators who make local needs their highest priority, while at the same time contributing to and holding crucial roles internationally. Gudskul is building an ecosystem in which many participants are co-operating, including artists, curators, art writers, managers, researchers, musicians, filmmakers, architects, cooks, designers, fashionistas, and street artists.

The Gudskul members focus on different (artistic) practices and media, such as installation, video, sound, performance, media art, citizen participation, graphic arts, design, and pedagogy, etc. This multiplicity contributes to diversifying the issues and actors involved in every collaborative project that happens within a social, political, cultural, economical, environmental, and pedagogical context. Gudskul is open to anyone who is interested in co-learning, developing collective-based artistic practices, and art-making with a focus on collaboration.

MAMA

Más Arte Más Acción (MAMA, Chocó) is a nonprofit cultural foundation that generates critical thinking through art.

The foundation’s base on Colombia’s Pacific Coast is a source of inspiration for artists, scientists, activists, and writers, who are invited to explore wide-ranging social and environmental issues and consider the construction of other possible worlds.

MAMA builds networks with funders, universities, festivals, art institutions, and local communities to sustain the ideas and processes of critical thinking in the framework of territorial struggles. About their present situation MAMA says, “we are currently on a journey to evaluate our processes, narratives, and ways of organizing in the coming years. The journey is uncertain, and this uncertainty encourages us to resist results-oriented productivity.”

Más Arte Más Acción evolved following years of community engagement led by the artist Fernando Arias and arts coordinator Jonathan Colin. This process led to the construction of the Chocó Base, designed by Atelier Van Lieshout and supported by Arts Collaboratory. MAMA’s core team includes the two founders, Ana Garzón and Alejandra Rojas. It has worked with the Goethe Institutes in Bogotá and São Paulo and participated in the São Paulo Biennial (2014), the New York Independent Film and Video Festival (2021), and ArtCop21 (2015) in Paris, among others.

Majális is part of the Living Room event-series.

Living Room in Budapest is a precursory event to OFF’s participation, in the frame of lumbung inter-lokal, in documenta fifteen. Living Room is realized with the generous support of Goethe-Institut.