Empathic Pedagogies
A pluriversal organism against fascism
Various pedagogical models were created as antifascist tools and bearing hopes for emancipation. Both in the global South and in the North, thinkers, teachers, artists and other groups have seen in educational practices a possibility for political action and for social and spiritual liberation. However, the adoption of these models by governments and private organisations is always a contradiction: is it possible to activate radical models within cultural institutions that are linked to the sectors of factual power? In order to explore this question, try to design alternatives and imagine a possible cultural institution of the future. Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, together with the International Network of Empathic Pedagogies [Red Internacional de Pedagogias Empaticas], have organised a series of events for 2019 and 2020, including the international seminar Re–Directing: East 2020 dedicated to radical pedagogies. These will bring together researchers from various countries, to enter into dialogue and build a framework of thought and action from where to rethink together the radical pedagogies of the present.
The International Network of Empathic Pedagogies is formed by cultural institutions and independent agents from Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Norway and Poland. Together they share a common welfare perspective for social change, and are dedicated to explore the hybridisations and liminal practices between artistic and educational fields. They hold international and local meetings, create study groups and laboratories for the development of community strategies, analysis tools, self-criticism methods and practices to implement in their work spaces and public programmes.
On 18 and 19 October, members of the International Network of Empathic Pedagogies will share their practices and talk about their contexts with the Warsaw public. Through a public presentation and a day of workshops, they will address the urgent need to build alliances between agents of various disciplines – curating, education, art, activism – from across the globe. These encounters aim to imagine ways in which creative collaborations that come from both within and outside art institutions can serve as a powerful tool to fight against fascist-driven forces and the systematic violence they instil.
