Workshop CREATIVE STRATEGIES: How We Met: Co-Creation in Art by Dr. An Paenhuysen
General Course Description
What can you do together that you can’t do on your own? In the workshop we explore co-creation as a way to open up new possibilities for making art.
Our main inspiration is Fluxus, a movement in which a collaborative, playful approach and friendship were central. Take, for instance, the Instructions by Yoko Ono or the Me-and-You-Shops of Takiko Saito. One artist in particular, Robert Filliou, will inspire us to think, write and create collectively. We will take his game book “Games At The Cedilla, or The Cedilla Takes Off” (1967) and his multi-book “Teaching and Learning as Performing Arts” (1970) as a lead.
About Robert Filliou (1926-1987): he was a self-taught artist who, coming from economics, merged art with philosophy, linguistics, Buddhism. His output took on many forms and was experimental, including a gallery in a hat, a non-shop and a gong lecture. Filliou favoured using simple materials such as cardboard and found objects, and co-creation was his favourite way to go about.
Duration: November 12 – 13, 2024
Hours: Each day from 10 AM – 12:30 PM
Seats: Max. 20 | Language: English
Fees: The participation fee is €90 per person including material (without accommodation).
The fee is VAT-exempt by the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery Higher Education and Research pursuant to Paragraph 4 No. (21) (a)(bb) UStG (German Value Added Tax Act).
Learning outcomes
To open up for collaborative processes in thinking and art making. To acquire strategies to work creatively in a group. To trigger your creativity and heighten your playfulness.
Program Structure with Daily Lesson Plan
Day 1
10.00 – 10.20 am
We start with an introduction to Fluxus, with a special focus on the works that were created in collaboration with fellow artists or with the audience.
10.20 – 10.40 am
Then we will zoom in on the concepts and ideas behind the art work of Robert Filliou, also known as the Filliousophy.
10.40 am – 11.30 pm
In the practical part we try out Filliou’s exercises, games and instructions for collaboration.
11.30 – 12.10
We invent some games ourselves.
12.10 – 12.30 pm
At the end of the first day, we will look at our experiments with co-creation and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of making work together.
Day 2
10.00 – 10.30 am
During this second part of the workshop, we will focus on the transmission of collective ideas into art works. Special attention will go to the multiples and editions that were made by Fluxus artists with the aim to create something that could circulate internationally (often adaptable for mailing) and was, furthermore, quite affordable.
10.30 – 11.15 am
Filliou’s art works and multiples were often made with cheap materials, such as cardboard. We will follow his steps.
11.15 am – 12.10 pm
We will come up with our own ideas for possible editions.
12.10 – 12.30 pm
Group discussion of the results, and discussion about the insights gained in the workshop.
Your Workshop Instructor
An Paenhuysen is an independent curator, writer and art critic based in Berlin. From 2019 to 2022 she was the director of ‘The House of The Deadly Doris’, where she organised events to activate its 1980s punk archive. Recently, An curated ‘Hotel Belgrade’, the main venue for Belgrade Art Week 2021 and in 2022 ‘Sign and Arts. Deaf Culture / Hearing Culture’ at Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art. An wrote her PhD about the cultural criticism of the Belgian artistic avant-garde. She was a post-doc researcher at UC Berkeley, Columbia University New York and Humboldt University Berlin. An has published her writing in Spike Magazine, Contemporary And, Sotheby’s, Berlin Art Link, etc. She also writes poetry: Silly Poems (Arthur Cravan Foundation) and Island Life (Quince Ediciones). In 2020 she founded the publishing project AAAAA PPPPP Publishing for short format art writing.
More information on the An Paenhuysen Website.
