The artist Luiz Camnitzer has suggested: “Education and art are not different things, they are different features of a single activity.” This suggests an experimental and constructive praxis that offers an understanding of art and education as a kind of inside/outside praxis; each folds into and out of the other, similar to the Moebuis Strip, making possible a freedom from fixed positions and enabling a more creative, critical and hybrid approach to both.
This mutability of art and education and an experimental and constructive practice were key principles of the Experimental Nucleus of Education & Art at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and the Gordian knot of the Nucleus’s work, which strove to create a dialogue with the museum’s institutional history and site specificity. The Nucleus aimed to draw on MAM’s history and geography as well as new practices engaging the frontiers of aesthetic practice, critical pedagogy and socio-cultural agency to energize and affect new relations, possibilities and dialogues between the museum, the city and diverse publics. The Nucleus began its activities in 2009 in conjunction with the exhibition Carlos Vergara: the graphic dimension, a silent energy. Returning in September 2010 and active until May 2013, the Nucleus was guided by the philosophy of promoting MAM Rio as a place of creation and of expanding this poetic possibility outside of the museum within the city of Rio de Janeiro. Alongside the activities related to exhibitions, the Nucleus developed programs such as “DouAções,” experimental initiatives with diverse publics and invited artists; Dialogues, exploring topics in art, culture and education; Museum/School, creating a study group with teachers and special collaborations; and Multi-sensorial Encounters, an initiative of accessibility in collaboration with the Research Cognition and Collectives Group at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
For more information
http://nucleoexperimental.wordpress.com/ (Portuguese only)
Experimental of Nucleus Education & Art, MAM Rio
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro
November 2009 – March 2010 & September 2010 – May 2013
Team
Over the three years of the project’s existence at MAM, the Nucleus comprised a team of artists, educators and cultural producers, which at different moments dedicated their time and energy and significantly contributed to the development and growth of the project:
Adriana Fontes, Ana Chaves, Ana Clarissa Fernandes, Anderson Araújo, Anita Sobar, Beatriz Lahora, Bebel Kastrup, Bernardo Zabalaga, Bianca Bernardo, Eduardo Machado, Elielton Rocha, Felisa Perez, Gabriela Gusmão, Gleyce Kelly Heitor, Graziela Mello, Hugo Richard, Ignês Albuquerque, Jessica Gogan, Keyna Eleison, Leonardo Campos (AoLeo), Luiz Guilherme Vergara, Luna Leal, Maíra Dias, Mara Pereira, Renata Montechiare, Sabrina Curi, Sabrina Rosas, Taisa Moreno, Thiago Ortiz e Virgínia Mota.
Presenter
Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro
Coordination
Instituto MESA
Sponsorship
Vale
Petrobras
Unimed
Collaboration
Instituto Benjamin Constant
Research Cognition & Collectives/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Instituto MESA
Federal Fluminense University (UFF)
