The School of Shying a Way at the Venice Biennale

Events at 2pm in person and 4pm online at the CCA Lagos Passengers in Transit exhibition in the Bisi Silva Library, hosted by 193 Gallery. Part of the Collateral Programme of the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. 

How can shyness hold space for not knowing and a pedagogy of wondering alongside?  How can study offer an escape from the individual/collective dichotomy, shying away from the completion of the self as autonomous subject?  What kind of a space does curatorial shyness open?  How to ‘shy a way’ towards educational transformations that attend to the complexities of institutional power and privileges?  

The School of Shying a Way is an invitation to take part in an ongoing conversation and study initiated by CCA Lagos and the University of the Arts Helsinki. We began our investigation of shyness from the ecological phenomenon known as crown shyness, whereby trees of similar and differing species, under certain conditions, exhibit an awareness of each other, restricting their own growth to allow space for light to travel between them. Shyness is an often-maligned contemporary character trait, when used with reference to humans, and yet one that is commonly found in art and artists. In a presentation society, we gather to wonder, what ways of knowing, and not knowing, might we find trapped in the resistant posture of shyness? 

The event brings together artists, curators, teachers and researchers from the African continent and the Nordics. The School of Shying a Way is one part of a multi-year collaboration focused on experimental artist pedagogies between Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts and the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos. The collaboration, part of the Finland-Africa Platform for Innovation, is currently funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The project is co-directed by Oyindamola Faithful (Executive and Artistic Director, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Lagos) and Daniel Peltz (Artist and Professor of Time and Space Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki).  

The event coincides with the release of one of two publications coming out of the project: On Place-based Artist Pedagogies: Àsìkò Art School and the Nordic/Baltic Studio for Continued Engagement, co-edited by Nana Ama Bentsi-Enchill and Daniel Peltz. A forthcoming publication, that collects artifacts from The School of Shying a Way development processes in Lagos and Helsinki, will be released in December.

Presenters include: Nana Ama Bentsi-Enchill, Washington, D.C., USA / Taru Elfving, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland / Nontobeko Ntombela, Wits University, South Africa / Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, blaxTARLINES (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana / Amilcar Packer, São Paulo, Brazil / Daniel Peltz, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland / Ama Ofeibea Tetteh, CCA Lagos / Àsìkò Art School Programme Manager, Accra, Ghana / Oyindamola Faithful, CCA Lagos, Nigeria. 

The event is free by registration.