Plotting Knowledge Flows – Art Schools

2023 ZHdK Fonds für internationale und interkulturelle Studierenden-Projekte

Departement Kulturanalysen und Vermittlung

Plotting Knowledge Flows, Engy Sarhan | School of Intrusions (Ramallah), Photo Onassis Foundation, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste

This project concentrates on tracking down self-organized, independent “art schools” that currently exist in the Arab-speaking world or existed temporarily in recent years. Engy Sarhan begins with the question of how, for whom and in what form the mobility of the involved individuals enables them to shape knowledge in these contexts of art education, practice and research.

Case studies that are to be examined and processed in more detail:
Ashkal Alwan: Home Workspace Programme (Beirut, 2011 – ongoing)
Imaginary School Programme (Cairo, 2014 – 2015)
School of Intrusions (Ramallah, 2019 – ongoing)
Malhoun Art Space: Laboratory (Marrakesh, 2023 – ongoing)
Winter School Middle East (Dubai, 2008 – 2011)

Engy intends to work on two components in this research project: one analytical component (experience report) and one speculative one (protocol of findings). The artist wishes to examine the effects of mobility on cultural and socio-economic transitions while simultaneously incorporating individual narratives on international exchange, from transnational reports through to the dynamics of translation and untranslatability, and find new ways to learn from different models of self-organized learning spaces in the context of contemporary art practices.

In the process, the artist will consider the two moments of “arrival” at the art schools as a student/participant and “return” as a teacher/mentor in order to ensure that the knowledge created in this space is preserved and passed on through the generations. By following the paths of these individuals and finding out what influences their thinking and practice between these two moments, you get an idea of what Engy himself calls “knowledge flow”. How are knowledge flows realized in self-organized art schools through the continuous movement of individuals, improvised strategies and continuous exchange?

The experience report will be based on an analytical evaluation of five selected case studies and the movement of the individuals involved in drawing it up. In the process, the focus will be on understanding the broader contexts, schools of thought, financing systems and urgent current issues that are at the basis of each case study. The protocol will then concentrate more on the branches of mobility and the politics of crossing borders, and how these things can be a step towards cultural self-determination. It will also examine how knowledge flows and is negotiated with already established forms of self-administration and by education systems.

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