8-10 September 2016

The first retreat in the second year of the Syllabus with artists selected from an Open Call: Mira Calix, Faye Claridge, Mike Harvey, E. Jackson, Tyler Mallison, Nika Neelova, Tom Smith, Dylan Spencer-Davidson, Thomas Whittle and Laura Wilson. The retreat is devised and lead by curator George Vasey, who is one of the programme leads throughout the year alongside artist Milly Thompson.

Thursday 8 Sep
Welcome and introduction from each of the Syllabus partners; Eastside Projects, New Contemporaries, S1 Artspace, Spike Island, Studio Voltaire and Wysing Arts Centre followed by artists' presentations about their work and concerns around their practice, drawing out shared themes and overriding questions. During the evening we will be joined for dinner by past Syllabus artists. 

Friday 9 Sep 
“What is the Academy (Syllabus) for? Who does it belong to? How is it organised?”

The day will be focused on planning the curriculum for Syllabus II. The above series of questions are taken from Tom Vandeputte's interview with Sidsel Meineche Hansen in the recent educational reader published by Open Editions. Replacing Academy with Syllabus, we will think through what the programme means for the artists and partners this year. 

As a group, we will use the questions collated from the previous day and start to map thematics and overlapping interests with possible speakers to formulate a curriculum for the rest of the programme.

Saturday 10 Sep
The morning will consist of a workshop in our structure, Amphis, inspired by Oulipo writing techniques. 

Looking at texts by Thierry De Duve and Antony Huberman, the afternoon will focus on peer-led learning and working ‘outside’ institutional structures. How do we replace forms of competition with care? Is it possible to create entirely horizontal institutions? Who is responsible for what and when? How do we, to quote Chantel Mouffe, become “friendly enemies” to each other? What do we expect from our peers?

With a broad interest in alternate forms of pedagogy it would be good to think about ideas of unlearning as much as learning. How do we articulate knowledge in a world that seems governed by too much information? We will then extend the conversation out from peer-groups to thinking about larger networks and relationships by exploring “There is no alternative: THE FUTURE IS SELF-ORGANISED” by Stephan Dillemuth, Anthony Davies and Jakob Jakobsen. 

We aim to consider the assumed role of radical ‘outside,’ particularly in relation to neo-liberal agendas, zero-hour contracts etc.

The evening will be finished off with film screenings of Redmond Entwistle's Walk-Through (2012) which explores the pedagogy of Cal-Art’s famous post-studio crits led by Michael Asher and Harry Meadley’s Artist’s Talk (2016).

Please note that we have selected the artists for this year's Syllabus II programme.

To receive information on the next round of Open Calls for this and other programmes at Wysing, please subscribe to our e-bulletin, click here.