Witches Out

In one way or another, the flow of subconscious and the exercises to let the witches out have been practiced in all classes that have started this week. I was passing by Sanem Okudzeto’s Unorthodox Approaches to Drawing and the artist was talking about “doing exercises for subconscious”. Aaron Aangel’s ceramics class Radical Handbuilding flirt with clay, a material that most of them have never worked with before. As one of the artist-students said to me, what's unique about the Summer Academy is the fact that you can start from the scratch, learn a totally new technique intensely to be able to use in your own practice. Now, the exercise to overcome the fear of the blank page is taking place in Kimberley Bradley’s Images into Words: Writing About Art. It is based on writing freely; the rule is to let go and keep the fingers moving without stopping and correcting yourself.

I’ve spent the whole yesterday and this morning with Kimberly Bradley’s writing class. Bradley gave an introduction to forms of art writing and the practice of looking at something. For instance, the renowned writer asked what the students focus on when they are visiting an exhibition. Is it the feeling, the space, the choreography; or the content, purpose of the exhibition or materiality? "What is it? What does it mean? Why do we care right now?"