#artistskill

On the occasion of the opening of the Free International School of Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research, in 1973, Joseph Beuys and Henrich Böll, published their manifesto, in which they established as a principle that everyone is an artist. Creativity is no limited to those who practice it - be they artists, architects or performers. Everyone is an artist, as long as they explore those skills.

‘Creativity is not limited to people practicing one of the traditional forms of art, and even in the case of artists creativity is not confined to the exercise of their art. Each one of us has a creative potential which is hidden by competitiveness and success-aggression. To recognize, exlore and develop this potential is the task of the school’ (Beuys and Böll, 1973)

Similarly, there is no distinction between those who teach and those who are taught. The separation between student and teacher is artificial, because knowledge is loop, in which everyone feeds each other continuously. 

Another very important contribution of the Beuys school was the perception that art/knowledge is interdisciplinary by nature - science, arts and humanism are part of the same process, and cannot be disconnected. That is a very obvious conception, if we understand who we grow up. Any activity requires a complex set of skills, which we master naturally, and grab spontaneously. Every time we need to learn a new process, we add one more action/skill - even to learn how to tie the lace shoes, we need to combine balance, observation and dexterity. What separated the different spheres of knowledge was capitalism, as it created the need for specialisation, to be more effective, to produce more in less time. If we consider human development in general, we understand that this is obvious. Similarly, in less industrialised societies, everyone is a multidisciplinary professional/student. There are no borders when it comes to knowledge. 

A good example of this philosophy is the curriculum of the school, which included classes in verbal articulation, critical criticism, graphic techniques or theory of knowledge. The school also created the institute of ecology, as well as of evolutionary science. 

‘Artist pair-up skill’ is a project launched by Ana Mendes, part of ‘Project School’, which aims to help artists acquiring new skills, strengthen the bond between them and support artists financially. Through this project, one artist will be paid to teach a new skill to another one. The artists are matched according to skill/sensibility. The artist-giver is paid hourly by the receiver, following international standards. The project starts online, in an inaugural phase at the online community of Somerset House Exchange (London), before landing at real spaces (i.e., galleries, studios, etc.) later on. All the sessions are individual and personalised to the skill/individuality of each artist. If you want to be the artist-giver or receiver, get in touch. We do the match for you: artistpairupskill(a)gmail.com