The Summer Institute 2009

The Summer Institute 2009 takes place at Tate Modern.

27th July 2009 - 31st July 2009

INTRODUCTION

THIS BLOG IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - A TRACE OF A PROCESS

This is a blog that captures the ideas, communications and process of planning for The Summer Institute 2009 at Tate Modern. It contains remnents of conversations, diagrams, lists and thinking that all went in to planning The Summer Institute 2009. The blog contains ideas that never made it into the final programme and it contains information which needs to be elucidated and supplemented by our live actions during the week. It is a trace of our process, and importantly the blog will change to reveal your processes once you start adding to it.

The Summer Institute 2009 is being programmed by artists Emma Hart and Harun Morrison, working closely with the the Tate Modern Schools curators (Leanne Turvey and Susan Sheddan. We are interested in expanding the potential of the classroom (or place of learning) as a site of process, and minimizing it being a site of outcomes in relation to artistic activity. We want to encourage engagement with process based practices (artists and artworks whose process and manufacture of the work, is the artwork) with the aim of increasing the prominence of such practice among students of art. We want to engender a different kind of mindset about artwork produced in the classroom environment, so that a dialogue between teacher and pupil is one of mutual curiosity in which the dialogue about the production of the artwork is a co-discovery for both parties.

Make sure you look for the "Debate Spots" within the blog - places for you to tell us what you think and about your experiences in relation to the ideas presented. These are questions in RED throughout the blog which you can reply to - there are four questions

Why is process important in art?

Does the school system allow for and recognise process in art to be assessed?

Is there space for "live art" practice in your teaching?

How could a conceptual tool influence your methods?

My name is Emma Hart and I am working with Harun Morrison to programme the week’s events. We are working with Leanne Turvey and Susan Sheddan, the Tate Modern's Schools Curators.

My interest in working on this project stems from another project, completed this year - a 6 month residency at a London secondary School for Camden Arts Centre. I had studio in the school and was working with the new Year 7’s who had recently made the transition from primary school. This was my initial focus for the residency. I went on though, to research through my practice broader questions.

What can an artist do within a school?

Who is making art for whom, to be seen where?

I ended up producing “ Four performances for a Classroom”, which later got worked on and brought into Camden Arts Centre,
My time at the school has influenced my ambitions for The Summer Institute. I am an artist who makes my process explicit in my work and further makes my process often the subject of my work (an artist that aims to produce and present simultaneously) Witnessing and taking art lessons within the school demonstrated to me how process within art can be difficult to track and assess in an art lesson. Outcomes, results and getting things finished are often the focus in the classroom.