- Lectorate Art Theory & Practice
- Royal Academy of Art (KABK)
- Prinsessegracht 4
- NL – 2514 AN Den Haag
- +31 (0)70 3154755
Soren Rokx Nellemann, Lover on a Kilim, 2018, 100x100 cm, mixed media. | /1 |
“Everyone is an artist. Everyone possesses creative faculties that must be identified and developed.”
Shah Jahan was well acquainted with the work of other artists, both historical and contemporary. One of the most important historical figures for Shah was Joseph Beuys. He showed particular interest in ‘everyone is an artist’, ‘social sculpture’ and ‘Energy Plan for Western Man’ and intended to build these ideas as became apparent in his application to De Ateliers with the title ‘Energy Plan for Western Man Exhausted?’.
Beuys also was a source of inspiration for many other artists working against the logics of modernism at the time. In this session we will begin by exploring the meaning of these particular concepts and their relevance for today’s artistic practice – with a focus on artistic research and social sculpture. Shelley Sacks – who has spent many years working with such concepts and developing interdisciplinary ‘connective practices’ – will look at the importance of art education in enabling us to work from what Beuys described as ‘inner necessity’ and with the ‘invisible materials’ of speech, discussion and thought. In addition to this approach that is an antidote to getting lost in the work of others, she will outline her perspective on the significant differences between social commentary, art and activism, socially engaged art practice and contemporary social sculpture.
Speaker Shelley Sacks is a social sculpture practitioner, cultural activist and researcher-teacher-writer. Like her teacher Joseph Beuys, with whom she collaborated for many years, she is interested in exploring what Beuys’ statement ‘every human being is an artist’ means, and how understanding this can help us in shaping a humane and ecological society. Shelley sees her long-term projects like Exchange Values, University of the Trees: Lab for New Knowledge and an Eco-Social Future and Earth Forum as ‘instruments of consciousness’ for mind-shift work and reconfiguring our relationship to the world. She is Professor in Social Sculpture and Connective Practice and Director of the Social Sculpture Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
Workshop moderated by Ludmila Rodrigues, artist, designer, researcher and guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague. Some questions to kick-off exchange of thoughts:
Soren Rokx Nellemann, 123 likes, 2018, 100x140 cm, acrlyic and oil painting. | /1 |