THE OTHER CLASSROOM

Shaped by our diverse institutional learning experiences in recent years, and by the lack of spaces dedicated to experimentation and chance, we want to create a shared place for learning, teaching, and meeting, which we call “The Other Classroom”. We imagine a space where exchange can happen collectively through practical exercises, by doing and being together, in which artistic practice can become the starting point for shared exploration.

As students affected by struggles and confronted with limited spaces to openly discuss them, we also witness how art and cultural institutions silence critical voices. We feel the urgency to build spaces of gathering and exchange, and to establish a regular context within the field of art where dialogue and shared practice remain possible.

The Other Classroom is a participatory framework that focuses on collective learning and experimentation with artistic means. Participants work with the context, the room, materials, and one another, exploring how these elements shape artistic experience and understanding. Within this space, we work with the idea of potential as the capacity to act when different bodies, materials, and contexts come into relation. When scissors meet paper, when a camera meets a hand, when an ear meets the surrounding environment, but also when people encounter each other in action, creating something that neither could alone. Exercises are framed with clear but flexible boundaries, turning constraints into conditions for experimentation. A drawing may become a conversation, a question may take the form of an artwork, and an artwork may turn into a way of listening. The class encourages attentiveness, openness to the unexpected, and sensitivity to how context transforms perception, while emphasizing that everyone involved is both teaching and learning, contributing to the collective experience.

with Paloma Schnitzer (b. 1988, Buenos Aires) Working with film, video-sculpture, objects, and print, she investigates how memory, language, and media overlap across personal and collective dimensions. Beyond the production of artworks, she is interested in practices such as publishing, teaching, and curating. More information on www.palomaschnitzer.com.

Part of the Studium Generale Program of University of Arts Berlin
Link: The Other Classroom
Contact: theotherclassroom@proton.me