The School of Critical Engagement presents MADE IN CHINA, Early Summer 2012
The effect of the Chinese economy is ubiquitous to our daily lives. Most likely, we encounter at least one article manufactured in China going about living. This connection to a geography, and one that hides inside subtlety our objects of daily life, plays a significant role in our encounter with making. Best seen as a proliferation of material produced in China, our relationship to this production is culturally unidentifiable and seemingly disconnected from its origins. Moreover, the shear magnitude of manufacturing in China, in products ranging in scale from the iphone to the housing developments being built for future inhabitation to contain the workers of these products—vacant and lying dormant in anticipation of populous(1)—surpasses our comprehension. It is the fastest urbanization in world history.(2)
How as makers can we begin to understand political and economic infrastructures that effect and influence us on a global scale? As production has left western geographies in pursuit of cheaper and more expedient production in Asia, can we challenge our role as passive consumers of the fruits of these labors? In contrast, the west is infatuated with the Chinese art scene—it is propagating it. The juxtaposition of industries of making in China serve as a point of entrance for our work and project base.
For three weeks in the summer of 2012 (May 13 through May 31), we will base ourselves in Beijing at the China Central Academy of Fine Art and learn from Chinese students, artists, architects and local crafters about the nature of making in China. We will also travel to factories and rural villages to understand the range in scale and production.
Application deadline is February 15, 2012.
Please email beijing@schoolofcriticalengagement.org for more information.
MADE IN CHINA is open to graduate and post-graduate level students and practitioners in art, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, planning, film, sociology, economics, community developers, anthropology, cultural geography - to people that have a critical interest in the interaction between humans and the spaces they occupy.
Cost of the program is 2500 Euro. Program fees include housing, some internal transportation, use of workshop/seminar meeting space and some funding for the production of the exhibition. Program fees do not include transportation from your home base, insurance, visa's to China, food and any additional personal expenses. Housing will be two per room and single rooms are available for additional cost. Currently we do not have individual grants available, however we will provide letters of support for participants seeking funding from other organizations.
Important Dates:
Application due February 15
Selections will be made March 1
Contract and 500 Euro deposit due March 15
Remaining program fee balance (2000 Euro) due April 15