Working principles

The IAE ...

  • …is cross-disciplinary and characterized by an openness to and a permeability for artistically-informed approaches and methods.

    These potentials are implemented on the level of knowledge production and the representation of data.


    “Does cross-disciplinary also mean multilingual? In Art.School.Differences sociology, cultural theory, art practice and action research from different language regions converge. In order for the potential of this diversity to unfold, the team needs to have sufficient time and space for reflection on power structures in collaborations and between the disciplines – in the same way that understanding one another beyond language boundaries presupposes a common ground or a translation.”

    Sophie Vögele (Art.School.Differences)

    “The ‘scores' are a discovery – these instructions based on conceptual art seem to have been expressly made for research. They might appear like school assignments, but amount to something else. When we started to write scores, thinking about the dimensions of contingency in teaching became much clearer.”

    Anna Schürch (Project: Between Calculation and Contingency)

  • …is self-reflective and communicates its positions and interests.

    “I am sitting in a job interview for the project ‘die Kunstnäher_innen’ (Art Affiliators) and am formulating one of my concerns relating to the conception of the project. I put it more or less as follows:

    If at the end of the project the youths receive a certificate of participation which they can, for example, include in their application folders, does one not risk becoming just another ‘art for...’ project that instrumentalizes artistic processes in order to constantly pursue a goal which has been pinned down from the start?

    Upon this, I am confronted with the question whether I can imagine working in a project which is explicitly also designed for youths who only participate because they receive payment and a certificate. After questioning the ulterior motives for this set-up, the explanation I receive is that those responsible for the project do not wish to stipulate the – respectively, the one valid – motivation that makes participation possible. This explanation makes perfect sense to me.

    Five months later I am facing a school class in a workshop situation and present the project ‘Art Affiliators’. Because of my concern that it will not be possible to motivate a sufficient number of youths for our project, I try more or less realistically, while overly cautious and purring ingratiatingly, to describe all the brilliant things we will be doing together and how much free space for active participation in the decision-making we wish to allow. I have not broached the subject of payment, but just before the end I manage a quick mention that we can reimburse the transportation costs and entry fees. I do not know how I should talk about the payment; I do not quite see the need for paying the youths for visiting events and participating in workshops. I feel that I must find a clever formulation so that the money is not remembered as the only incentive.

    At one and the same workshop I am confronted by the question whether we could include a group visit to a football game or a Bushido concert.

    I hem and haw and try to avoid having to give a definitive response. Bushido somehow can’t be done, but I had just promised the youths that they could decide which cultural events they would like to visit.

    A few days later we convene for our monthly team review meeting. The question comes up on how the youths are reacting to the money issue. Katarina (who has tried out a similar principle of not saying and just sort of hinting in her workshops) and I once again end up floundering in an attempt at justification and both of us feel that we have been caught out. There are no long discussions about handling the subject of payment any more. By the end of the meeting it was agreed that we would use a more direct approach with the youths in future workshops.

    In the following workshops we describe ourselves as a research project; one that is looking for youths for collaborative work and that they will of course be paid a wage. We describe our interests and that we will provide the framework, explaining that within this framework there is both space and a need for active participation. The expected outcry by the youths about the mentioned money never came. This does not seem to be an issue for them.

    I am amazed at how much scope for action this new form of disclosure of our interests has given me.”

    Frederike Dengler (Project: art affiliators)


    “We at Art.School.Differences understand art schools as relatively autonomous fields, which are pervaded the constraints and opportunities of other social spheres like the labour market, the worlds of art and the political system. Art schools are part of the field of power and cannot claim political neutrality; instead, they are ensnared in a cultural, economic and social dependency relation. In the case of the admission procedures this means that, in the sense of a reflective indecisiveness, we opt neither for the current elitist system with strict selection processes, nor for eliminating admissions exams of any kind, but would rather analyse the respective scopes of action, in- and exclusions, which are manifested through the contingencies characterising this field.”

    Philippe Saner (Project: Art.School.Differences)

  • … represents a constructivist concept of culture.

    ‘Culture’ is understood as a complex, constantly changing process of the production of meanings and as a level of negotiation of meaning within the framework of power relations.


    “This means to continuously raise objections at events on arts education when, yet again, it seems all too clear where ‘the culture’ which is to be taught is located, and who the target groups are whose ‘cultures’ (in the plural) are construed as problems.”

    Nora Landkammer



    “Whether football is also art? Yes, was the answer from several youths participating in the project ‘art affiliators’. I am not sure. ‘But of course, just watch them dribble!’ I ask myself where the limits are within my own concepts of art and culture. Theoretically, it knows no limits. Practically, I cannot grasp the infinite. So if I wish to have a conversation about art and culture with these young people, then both sides need to expand their own concepts of art and culture by that of the other party. The aim is that everyone talk of the same, not about everything at the same time.”

    Katarina Tereh (Project: die Kunstnäher_innen)

  • … is anti-essentialist and designs alternatives to common gender-connoting oppositions in terminology, such as ‘theory – practice’, ‘applied – free’ or oppositions in the disciplines such as ‘cultural studies’ versus ‘didactics’.

    “If it is necessary to fight for something here at the university, then one example would be for the recognition of ‘didactics' as a terminus technicus.”

    Anna Schürch


    “Within the framework of a cooperative project between several theatres and schools (Jump&Run), it was my aim to provide research-based support in a collaboration between artists and teachers. During the assessment of the interviews I noticed that ‘art’ was connected to terms like ‘to produce’ and ‘to create’. School, on the other hand, to terms that connote reproduction – for example, ‘repeat’, ‘practice’, train, or ‘reconstruct’. From the statements made by the respondents there emerged a socially widespread hierarchisation with regard to the oppositions of production and reproduction, which sees being productive as more valuable than reproduction. The logic of this language game suggests a view of art as positively connoted ‘progressive dislimitation’ and schools as negatively connoted ‘limitation of the individual’. In other words: school stands for ‘order’ and art for ‘order’s other’.

    During my work on the interviews I was able to ascertain that the respective views of the individuals, shaped by experience, as well as the evaluations connected with this, as a rule remain unreasonable. Therefor the existing ‘essentialising’ ascriptions are carried forward; ones that specify the other as ‘being so or so’: school is standardising, art is liberating or: school avoids risks, art seeks risk or: school is important for later in life, art is the creative balance. But in this it is possible (and takes place in practice) to offset the habitual ascriptions and to make these comprehensible as that what they are: social, culture-forming constructs of reality.

    For me the claim to want to work anti-essentialistically had – my education was in the arts – in this particular project the consequence that, in assessing the interview material, I also became aware of my own essentialising ascriptions.”

    Sascha Willenbacher (Project: Jump&Run)

  • … is not heteronormative.

    The research at the IAE takes current gender studies research into consideration and is therefor never heteronormative.

    “To resist heteronormative thinking in my view involves the assumption that our gendered erotic experience, our ‘private’ intimate life influences other areas of life and work and must be taken into consideration. Queer thinking can mean maintaining a critical view on what is accepted as normal, that which seems to require no explanations. It can mean proceeding counter-intuitively and to question modes of thinking that have always been goal oriented. To be on the lookout for what is missing, for those who are not present, and to ask whose future is being referred to in university practices ‘oriented towards the future’. It can mean revealing differences and – in the sense of a strategic essentialism – make these useful. Or denaturalise logics of identity, to place these in historical and geopolitical connections, to reduce these to an absurdity. To think against the current can mean to first let something which is considered negative and unproductive stand, and to appropriate the unease, the conflictual, without having a ready solution.”

    Serena Dankwa


    “In sources from the 70s there is mention of ‘Zeichenlehrer’ or drawing teachers (In German nouns are marked for gender, and here it is only masculine). Female drawing teachers evidently existed at the time, but were they also implied? From what point on is the form ‘ZeichenlehrerInnen’ (designates both female and male drawing teachers) possible, from when ‘Zeichenlehrer_innen’ (the current inclusive form)?”

    Anna Schürch (Project: Histories of art education, dissertation)

… is critical of dominant structures.

The work takes into account power relations and hierarchies that have developed historically, and which pervade the fields of art and education by means of, amongst others, eurocentrism and measures to economise worldwide, and with its methods and questions develops suggestions on how to shift these.

“The project, ‘Another Roadmap School’ is concerned with colonial histories, such as how ideas on education and art travelled across the globe and were appropriated. Research groups in 22 cities work together in the network to study the history, politics and alternatives of cultural education in a global context. Eurocentrism and the hierarchies between academic and practical knowledge as well as the ‘geopolitics of knowledge’ cannot just be seen as an isolated research subject, as these are the core problems of the project organization itself, which, despite the efforts of the participants to counter these, keep recurring. For example, in communication: English as the only language of communication produces exclusions and reifies the imperialist structure. But how does one hold videoconferences in several languages at the same time? How can one hold the collective attention in such a far-flung network and in precarious conditions, so that, when one is in a hurry, the translation does not suffer? The network is managed by a committee of members of different research groups in order to avoid a recurrence of the prevailing power structures between those who have easier access to resources (those who are situated at universities and in the global north) and such members who have limited access (freelancers, those working in the precariat and in the global south). How can a decentralized structure and rotating management be maintained when the project is dependent on support from funding bodies, which are extensively shaped by the described hierarchies?” Nora Landkammer (Project: Another Roadmap School) “Discover the source of domination first, and then to question it. Reversing the process is not possible. This is why the project ‘Art Affiliators’ allows itself the time to discover the Zurich arts and culture landscape, to try it out and see what it feels like. With this, youth arrive at a reflected relationship to art and culture. The goal is for the young people to be able to decide and give reasons on exactly where and how they wish to negotiate the field of art, or, how they could respond to what already exists.”


Katarina Tereh (Project: Die Kunstnäher_innen)

  • Is committed to anti-racist and anti-sexist perspectives.

    The research at the IAE, in its methods and problem-setting, is biased in favour of political anti-racism and anti-sexism.

     



    “During the co-research process of Art.School.Differences, in discussions on texts and in workshops, some problematic statements with somewhat racist and/or sexist content have been made. Such statements are less an expression of individual ignorance or narrow-mindedness, but instead witnesses of a political and institutional acceptance of sexism and racism which we would like to challenge with the Art.School.Differences project. Bringing these to the fore during an ongoing work process creates a potential for conflict and leads to frictions, which complicates further collaborations. Nevertheless, it is important to raise the subject in connection with the actual case since only in this way can our personal entanglement with structures and practices of exclusion and discrimination be revealed. Thus, in the course of our research work we became aware that Art.School.Differences, in addition to writing a recommendation booklet, and, reporting on what took place, must also contribute to awareness-building through discussions and collaborative work in future events.”

    Philippe Saner (Project: Art.School.Differences)


    “In dem Projekt mit der Nürtingen-Grundschule Berlin soll die Schule als ein Ort begriffen werden, der sich in die Gesellschaft hinein öffnet. Konkret bedeutet das, dass Künstler_innen und Kulturschaffende in die Schule einziehen werden. Wer das sein wird, soll gemeinsam mit der Schulgemeinschaft entschieden werden. Diesen Prozess begleite ich als Mitarbeiterin des IAE. Die Schulgemeinschaft ist heterogen, wobei 40% der Schüler_innenschaft migrantischer Herkunft sind. Das ist deswegen bedeutend, weil die Kategorien „Herkunft, religiöse Zugehörigkeit und Ethnie“ die machtvollsten sind, die eine Ordnung in der Schule herstellen – sowohl in der Elternschaft, bei den Schüler_innen als auch bei den Lehrenden. Mein Anliegen wäre es jene Akteure in die Schule zu holen, die für eine Unterbrechung dieser Ordnung sorgen. Doch schon allein bei der Zusammenstellung eines Gremiums, was entscheiden soll, wer einziehen wird und wer nicht, wird die Kategorie Migrant_in – Nicht-Migrant_in auch für mich leitend. So wie bei der Idee zu einer Kooperation mit einer internationalen Musikschule, die sich auf die Vermittlung traditioneller türkischer Instrumente spezialisiert hat. Der Grat zwischen einer Reproduktion der herrschenden Ordnung und ihrer Unterbrechung in der konkreten Projektumsetzung ist sehr, sehr schmal.”

    Anna Chrusciel (Projekt: Tür an Tür: Ausweitung der Schulzone)

  • …is sensitised to the mechanisms of self-exploitation – and pays attention to fair working conditions.

    “It is Saturday 1:13 a.m., should I read these new emails now? One is from an assisting research group, one is from a colleague of a team, one is a call for papers from a queer-feminist magazine, invitations to performances and concerts, newsletter. 1 very high priority, 2 important, 5 not important. Or should I do this the following day – on Sunday? Or better on Monday? At least have a quick look at what might be important...

    Situations like this are familiar to many people who work in projects in the arts and sciences. The boundaries between work and leisure time are blurred, communication and information technology make it possible to work at all hours and from many locations – and today this means, above all, being available, connected. It is a communal space, which is supposed to liberate us from the institutional hierarchies, repetitive tasks and strict regulations on working hours. Creative work after all requires freedom.

    The neoliberal ideology of the capability and motivation to deliver, ability, is particularly effective in the arts and sciences. As a young and healthy person without care responsibilities, my only duty is to work on a project which appears to provide me with the greatest possible freedom. While other people are travelling to work in the mornings I have the option to go on sleeping. When the sun is shining and my friends and colleagues are sitting in their offices, I could go for a swim in the river. But when there is a project deadline, then I work through the night and on weekends.

    So, what does it mean to be sensitised to the mechanisms of self-exploitation in the arts and sciences sectors? From what point on am I exploiting myself, and from what point on am I being exploited by the ruling structures?”

    Philippe Saner

… is sensitized to the fact that care work carried out by employees means rethinking the structures and organization of work processes.

“I can make time, can arrange for core time and longer meetings in the evenings, can also plan for hours of work on the weekends. So I am flexible. Because of the care duties that I have, I also need time for this flexibility: time to organize, for negotiations, discussions with my partner, additional carers and institutions. Also time to manage trade-offs and time to prioritize and reach decisions. Thus, it is a flexibility which does not come about spontaneously.”

Sophie Vögele


“In early 2009 I applied for a position at the IAE in Zurich. The advertised job – supporting research in the Pro Helvetia culture education programme – seems perfect. I wanted this job and was contacted by Carmen Mörsch. I was thrilled. Then, just before I was to fly to Zurich from Berlin, where I live, I reminded myself of the fact that, while I was setting up my application, I had simply ignored the fact that I have three children in Berlin. I realized that I had to cancel the job interview so as not to waste my time, or that of the others. I wrote to Carmen Mörsch that working in Zurich would be impossible given my present situation and apologized for having ignored this in the moment of my excitement about the job opportunity. She wrote back to say that I should come nevertheless. We would then look at the rest. I flew to Zurich and got the job. We looked at the responsibility of having three children and planned the project processes accordingly. We successfully completed the project in March 2013. Carmen Mörsch decided at that time to head an institute in which the personal situations of the staff should not be disregarded. Especially in challenging moments during the last six years – not only with regard to the balancing act between family and work – I was able to experience this repeatedly, and I very much appreciate it.”

Anna Chrusciel

What the IAE is not

The IAE ...
 

  • will not take on work which, instead of a critical analysis of the practice, exclusively foregrounds academic legitimation.
     
  • due to infrastructure limitations, does not carry out large-scale, quantitative research.
     
  • does not work with the research tools of the cognitive and neurosciences, as these are not part of the theoretical reference frame of the work carried out at the IAE, and consequently the institute does not have the necessary expertise.