The Plum Academy

An Institute for Situated Practices
September 11–October 23, 2009
Co-curators: Julia Christensen and Saul Ostrow
Venue: SPACES, Cleveland, OH
Participating artist(s): bbob Drake, Elaine Hullihen, Tom Orange, Sarah Paul, Lucy Raven, Eric Rippert, Kristin Rogers, Maria Samuelson, Deborah Stratman, Peter Tabor, and Laila Voss

Throw away the canvas. Let the brushes dry out. Grab a #2 pencil (but you may not need it). This fall, SPACES will be host to The Plum Academy: An Institute for Situated Practices, an experimental school. Rather than house a traditional exhibition of objects, SPACES is choosing to organize a school-as-exhibition. Concepts and ideas will take the forefront, rather than materials, styles and conventional aesthetics. Specially selected facilitators from the regional community and beyond will lead forums that approach topics obliquely, find unique entry points to ideas and challenge the established structures of education. (To assist in taking a different look at education, we use the terms “forum” and “facilitator” rather than “class” and “teacher”, respectively.)

The Plum Academy title wall, and circuit-bending workshop
The Plum Academy title wall and bbob Drake’s circuit-bending workshop, 2009

Forum subjects will be unexpected. The student-teacher relationship will be questioned and the school itself will function as a large, collaborative performance. Forum subjects will be unexpected. The student-teacher relationship will be questioned and the school itself will function as a large, collaborative performance.

This is not an “art school” per se. We are not offering art classes. We do offer a variety of forums that tackle contemporary thought on a number of topics and disciplines-that challenge traditional educational systems, are out-of-the-ordinary, outrageous, educational and entertaining. Forums will be solo presentations, workshops, open discussions, field trips, etc.

Elaine Hullihen, Float, 2009
Elaine Hullihen
Float, 2009
As part of Thee Plum Academy
The Plum Academy, Frosting Graffiti Workshop with Maria Samuelson
The Plum Academy, Frosting Graffiti workshop with Maria Samuelson
The Plum Academy, Paradigm Race competition with Laila Voss. Competitors had to race stationary biicycles while reading from dense rat theory texts. Any long pauses resulted in disqualification.
The Plum Academy, Paradigm Race competition with Laila Voss. Competitors had to race stationary bicycles while reading from dense rat theory texts. Any long pauses resulted in disqualification.
The Plum Academy's sound forum with Eric Rippert
The Plum Academy‘s sound forum with Eric Rippert