Verlernen by: Paulo Licona & Juan Peláez Imagine a school where the classes are given by students and the pupils are the teachers; a school were the chalkboard, (the strongest of all educators) isn’t just an element inside a classroom but instead the structure of the whole school, allowing not only teachers to write on it but opening its surface to students, secretaries and janitors giving all of them the power to teach and to learn indistinctly. Knowledge isnt’ taught, it is lived. Education isn’t hierarchized, we, the students posses the information. Recreation is subversion,
subversion is recreation and recreation is the most powerful educating tool. Ever since we were little boys/girls we were taught that when we were learning we shouldn’t be playing, and we felt free during “play time” probably because we didn’t feel as if we where being judged or under pressure. Education and play, instruction and party, civilization and barbarism and teaching and learning are some of the dualities that we intend to focus on. These dualities will be represented by a chalkboard and a piñata.
The project is divided in two parts:
The Boat We want to create a platform where the limits between the teaching and the learning or the messages and the messing around merge. This platform is a chalkboard boat. The ship can be abandoned, deserted, unuseful, sponsored, but ideally fully covered in chalkboard paint (green or black). During the art exhibition it will be put on land next to a box full of chalk. The boat will be open to all the public for them to write
or draw on (love messages, landscapes, band requests for future concerts, thoughts about education, the city’s history or strories about the Elbe river for example). The boat’s hull will later be varnished so that once put on water the messages on the bottom remain visible. The idea is that during the days of the concerts the intervened boat can be seen on water around the festival.
The Workshop While the chalkboard will be an open, free and fun space for dialogue our workshop will try to teach young and mature assistants, in the most traditional scholar manner a less scholar, or less serious technique usually used in party or festivities, how to make piñatas. The interesting thing about the piñata constructing is the form they’ll
have, they won’t be stars or donkeys, instead we will be making boats, specifically the boats found or seen around the festival’s area. With this we intend to learn from our students in the process a little about the river’s history, the city’s problems or virtues, the architecture of boats, and why not, a little German while we’re at it. Once the workshop with the kids is over we will fill the piñata boats with various treats and the kids will be able to destroy them.
On the other hand the ship built with the older assistants will be used to do a happening during the concert days. Once the bands start to play, we will put the large pi単ata boat on top of the audience letting it flow over the river of people just like a vocalist would do on a stagedive, the pi単ata will be crowd surfing crowd surfing till it sinks.
Paulo Licona was born in Tunja, Colombia. He studied fine arts in the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Bogota, Colombia (2002) and has a masters degree in fine arts from the Universidad Nacional, Bogota, Colombia (2008). His most recent individual exhibitions are, Todopipas HH in El Bodegon Gallery (Bogota,Colombia, 2008) and El Tizodromo in L.A. Gallery (Bogota, Colombia, 2009) and has also participated in several collective shows in El Museo Gallery (Bogota), Cuarto Nivel Gallery (Bogota), Ex-situ In-situ (Medellin) Salon BBVA (Cali) and Muca -Roma (Mexico D.F.) amog others. He has also won the Arte y Naturaleza Prize (Bogota, 2002) and the first prize in third ASAB bienal, Urban Spaces (Bogota, 2007) amog others. At this moment he lives and works between Bogota and Medellin, Colombia where he works as an fine arts teacher at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (Bogota) and is in charge of the Morros Social Club (Medellin). See more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulolicona
Juan Pelaez was born in Medellin, Colombia. He studied fine arts in the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Bogota, Colombia (2003). His most recent individual exhibitions are, Lugares Comunes (Bogota 2009) Starbucks en Cali (Lugar a Dudas, Cali, 2008) and has also participated in several collective shows in Taller 7 (Medellin) Gilberto Alzate Foundation (Bogota) Lugar a Dudas (Cali) and El Bodegon (Bogota) among others. He has also been worthy of an artist residency at MDE 2007 (Medellin) and Lugar a Dudas (Cali) and has also won first prize in E.N.S.’s photograph salon (2004) amog others. At this moment he lives and works between Bogota and Miami (USA) where he works as an independent artist and graphic designer. See more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/flamboyante or at http://issuu.com/confidenceartist/docs/juanpelaez-2009
Playing with chalkboards and learning from pi単atas