CAMPUS independent study programme

CAMPUS is a yearlong and city-wide independent study programme in curatorial, visual and cultural studies, based on collaborative knowledge production and innovative research practices. CAMPUS is a free-to-attend programme of monthly closed-door gatherings and free public talks. Taking place in different locations in Nottingham (Nottingham Contemporary, Primary, Bonington), CAMPUS welcomes participants from different backgrounds who wish to engage in conversations about contemporary debates and further explore interdisciplinary practices. CAMPUS is a space of encounter between researchers, practitioners, activists, scholars, institutions and organizations.

The forum is open to 20 participants, selected via an open call (January–March 2019). The programme stars in October and runs for 9 months. As part of CAMPUS, participants will devise and deliver a collective curatorial project throughout the year at Nottingham Contemporary, with the support of a guest artist, the guest speakers, and Nottingham Contemporary curators. Alongside the closed seminars and public lectures, guest artist Celine Condorelli supports the participants deliver the collective project in response to the year-long conversations and reflections.

In 2019–20, CAMPUS looks at critical pedagogy and explores questions around alternative modes of education and how we learn and produce knowledge collectively. It takes the centenary of the Bauhaus as a prompt to investigate the educational role of cultural organisations and to experiment new ideas. Given the disinvestment in creative subjects in schools, cultural education and consequently creativity and critical thinking need to find new fora and space for refuge. CAMPUS invites colleagues and participants to join us in asking questions about education, its role and legacies, as well as proposing and preforming new models.

See how to apply here.

Director of Studies
Carolina Rito is CAMPUS director of studies, head of public programmes and research at Nottingham Contemporary and research fellow at NOVA University of Lisbon.

Visiting lecturers

Gurminder K Bhambra is Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in the Department of International Relations in the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex.

Tina Campt is Claire Tow and Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Africana and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women at Barnard.

Celine Condorelli is an artist living in London and Lisbon.

Elvira Dyangani Ose is director of The Showroom and lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths.

Anselm Franke is the head of visual arts and film at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW).

Quinsy Gario is a visual and performance artist from the Dutch Caribbean living in the Netherlands.

Nora Sternfeld is an educator and curator. Sternfeld is a documenta Professor at the Kunsthochschule Kassel and a Professor of Curating and Mediating Art at Aalto University in Helsinki.

Sam Thorne is the director of Nottingham Contemporary and co-founder of Open School East.

For whom
CAMPUS is a porous, non-homogeneous, polyvocal forum for debate and the sharing of ideas and practices. This free programme is designed to welcome participants from different backgrounds and disciplines, ages and interest areas (from artists to curators, historians and sociologists, economists and geographers, writers and dramaturgs, archivists and tutors, performers and architects, etc.) who wish to engage in conversations about contemporary debates, critical thinking and cultural studies. We are looking for an intergenerational group who share an interest in collective knowledge production and feel drawn to projects that bring together artistic, research, and curatorial practices as well as socio-political urgencies to respond to our complex cultural context. There are no age limits or academic prerequisites. The level of the programme is equivalent to a postgraduate degree.

When
October 2019 to June 2020

CAMPUS meets monthly in 3-day gatherings with seminars, group tutorials, walks, communal meals, and presentations in an experimental learning environment. Participants are expected to continue developing their independent research while simultaneously engaging with Nottingham Contemporary discursive input and support structure.

Monthly seminars, Thursday to Saturday, 10am–9pm (except January and May).

Contact
Carolina Rito, Head of Public Programmes and Research, Nottingham Contemporary, info [​at​] nottinghamcontemporary.org