How does one become an artist?
Why should one become an artist?
What is art today and what role does it play in society?
We aren’t sure that we have ready answers for these and other urgent questions, and this is why we started the school—to meet the younger generation and work out together what is happening with art and the subjectivity of artists here and now, in contemporary Russia.
What do we want from an art school?
First of all, we have no illusions about the miserable situation in which contemporary art finds itself today. Least of all are we inclined to indulge the free play of “differences” (of little concern to anyone), which provides an excuse for withdrawing from any kind of responsible position. We want to go against the grain of things and insist that art remains essential for human becoming, that art is always a gesture of negation and a call for the world (and oneself) to become other. This is what defines the engaged position of the artist in society. Art, like philosophy, has always been and still remains a special space in which debates about truth can occur.
But how can one defend this position today, when all talk of truth is suspect, interesting only the marginalized, and the borders between art and life, art and media, art and the social sciences, art and activism have been effaced to such an extent that any desire or opportunity to redefine the meaning of art is blocked?
What knowledge should an artist possess?
How should such knowledge be evaluated?
Who has the power to judge whether an artwork is good or bad?