Critic: Taeyoon Choi
I've been telling my friends that NEW INC, the New Museum's incubator for art, design, and technology, feels like a postgraduate program. Despite visiting numerous times as a mentor since it opened in 2014, it’s only recently, after participating as a resident in the 2016–2017 cohort, that I realized the depth of the program’s focus on education.
Since education and social justice advocacy are common threads for many of the members at NEW INC, I'd like to share what I learned at a remarkable gathering of alternative educators that happened a few months ago.
Last November, Brooklyn-based non-profit Pioneer Works hosted the first Alternative Art School Fair. Catherine Despont, the fair's lead organizer and co-director of education, invited me to present two of my pedagogic collaborations: School for Poetic Computation and Uncertainty School.
With fifty schools in attendance, many of which arrived from out of town or from overseas, the event featured information booths, lectures, and workshops along with stimulating conversations, provocations, and community-building moments.
Pioneer Works' giant gallery space was filled with an energy similar to an Art Book Fair, and featured an array of flags representing the participating organizations that were reminiscent of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, I met with practitioners in alternative education that inspired me to dig deeper.
Read the full editorial on NEW INC STREAM.