FOREWORD
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Allan Siegel SPACES OF UNCERTAINTY- PRACTICES AND ROAD MAPS
Throughout Europe, there are upwards of 300,000 students in various fine and applied arts academies and universities engaged in diverse artistic practices. Yet, students often find themselves in a precarious relationship with their‘ real world’ surroundings: standing with one leg in an institutional environment and the other in Spaces of Uncertainty.
Uncertainty is a marked feature of knowledge making and research in many disciplinary fields; it is intrinsic to inspired, innovative, and socially engaging forms of discourse and research. However, increasingly, educational institutions and resources for artists and teachers are often marginalised or underfunded. Consequently: arts programmes at primary or secondary schools are defunded or with diminished resources; within a changing economic climate, graduates wonder about how they will survive, what funding sources will be available, and which of their skills will be economically beneficial;
the shadows of economic uncertainty exist alongside the anxieties fostered by under – currents of foreboding that have entered into the rhythms of daily life. In the context of the above framework, the institutional partners in the Spaces of Uncertainty project have initiated a‘ summer institute’ that will take place in Stuttgart, Germany hosted by the Württembergische Kunstverein between the dates of September 05 and 15, 2016.
The academy is an additional link in the development of sustainable, collaborative, teaching and learning processes that links students and teachers from the seven participating schools and other learning environments throughout Europe. The objectives of the interdisciplinary discussions and workshops of‘ Practices and Road Maps’ includes: defining possible solutions to problems involving individual and collaborative processes; building a practice-based network that fosters the sharing of ideas and information; and, enabling the formulation of innovative artistic concepts and articulating methods for their realisation.