ONLINE COURSES

Art, philosophy & politics

Art Programme (AP) online courses are designed to discuss contemporary issues as they intersect with art, film and curatorial practices. Our interest is in divining new ways of thinking and making and bringing these into the course design. The courses will cover different media, including cinema and other screen-based mediums, painting, installation and sculptural practices.

AP course designers and teachers have extensive experience in designing and delivering university level courses in art schools and university theory departments.



Antoine Vollon, Mound of Butter, 1875–85, oil on canvas, 50.2 x 61cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

CURRENT

Filmmaking workshops for artists who work with moving image and screen technologies.

Practical workshops on filmmaking production, facilitated by Ruth Höfflich and guests.

The workshop is aimed at artists working at any stage of production, from developing the conceptual framework, shooting new footage or editing existing, postproduction. Critical feedback on the technical and conceptual aspects of the film/project will also form part of the workshop.

Themes covered—the effects of different recording technologies (analogue, video tape, digital), narrative and voice, theories of duration and place (time and space), montage/editing strategies, the pursuit of sensation, absorption (cinema) versus distraction (gallery or public space context), absorption versus rupture to produce intellectual and/or political effects, and the demands of installing film in a gallery context.

Critical feedback on the technical and conceptual aspects of the film/project will form an important part of the workshop.

“Thank you for organising all these eye-opening and thought-provoking presentations.”
— Ellen Ferrier (Artist)

“Incursions, plants, art practices, added a depth and richness to the educational offering for Bundanon’s Siteworks (2022/23).”
— Sophie O’Brien (Curator)

“I found Contemporary Sculptural Practice really interesting and valuable hearing directly from all of the participating artists and the group discussions.”
— Isabella Loudon (Artist)

“Such a wonderful group of artists in Contemporary Sculpture. Each artist was so generous in the sharing of their practice and Jan’s expertise as a facilitator and knowledge of art theory and history, guided the conversations with great consideration, rigour, humour and openness.” 
— Katie Stackhouse (Artist)

“On Painting, Philip Guston’s Studio was the highlight of my month and has enriched my own painting practice.”
— Eleanor Louise Butt (Artist)

“Just to say how much I enjoyed the sculpture course ... It was really valuable, and made me consider /reconsider many ideas and notions beyond my usual ruminations ... Great selection of artists and working methodologies.’
— Chris de Rosa (Artist)

<Tie One, The Spell’s Begun> August 2024

A short series with guest specialist and co-facilitator, Jen Alexandra from Christchurch, Aotearea

(i) Tarot (in studio)
(ii) Witchy Archetypes (online)
(iii) Habitats for mystic encounters (online)


Respecting the unknowable in intuition /Jumping into the unknown/ Divining methodologies for seeking and creating 
Contemplating spaces and habitats for mysticism.

Drawing Series
March/April 2024 

3 Online Sessions (recorded)

• Immediacy soul expression / trauma
  

• Anatomy, astronomy, cartography, documenting
  

• Artist’s Projects
  

3  Studio Pracs (streamed live)

• Katie Lee (drawing for installation design) 
• Jacquie Stockdale (drawing from life—bones)
• Katie Lee/Jan Bryant (drawing from poetry, translation)

Muhammad al-Idrisi [1100­–1165]
Antoine Artuad [1896–1948]
Angela Brennan
Vija Celmins
Françoise Gilot [1921–2023]
Susan Kahurangi
Lucas van Leyden [c1494–1533]
Percival Lowell [1855–1916]
Stéphane Mandelbaum [1961–1986]
Matrakçı Nasuh [1480–1564]
Shady El-Noshokaty
Jans Wellens de Cock [1490–1527]

Art + Political Economy 
Sept/Oct 2023

A 6-week online course facilitated by artist and economist, Dr Azza Zein, and art writer, Dr Jan Bryant, whose work focuses on political aesthetics.

Wk 1. Political Economy / Time and Moods

Wk 2. Enclosure and Loss / Planetary Commoning

Wk 3. Circulating Bodies, Debt and Exchange Value

Wk 4. Racial Capitalism, Colonialism and Exhaustion

Wk 5. Resistances and Porous Spaces

Wk 6. Bureaucratic Capitalism and Precarious Labour

(with guest Madeleine-Thornton Smith).

Art + Political Economy engages with the work of artists, filmmakers, writers and philosophers who respond to the political and economic conditions of modernity.

Over the 6 weeks, we will select a central quote from one or two readings as the basis for discussion. We understand that people's time is limited, so it allows for as much reading as each participant can deal with, but with a large archive of writings to take away.July–August 2023

Art+Poetry
July 2023

Art + Poetry was a five week online course run by artist and writer, Mel Deerson. 

Each week focused on a different pairing of artwork and poetry, and included simple prompts for low-pressure, in-class writing exercises.

Contemporary Sculptural Practices

April–May 2023

Art Programme ran a 6-week course on contemporary sculptural practice (considered in its expanded form to include not only objects but installations, texts, films, paintings, etc.). Guests :

• Susan Jacobs 
  
• Dan Arps
  
• Nabilah Norden
• Elizabeth Presa
  
• Emily Floyd
  
• Nicholas Mangan
  

More information ︎︎︎

February 2023
Incursions, plants, art practices

Using fiction, poetry, films, and artworks as the bases for discussion, we will investigate some theoretical concepts sparked by Bundanon’s Siteworks 2022, such as:

• humans’ relationships with plants;
  
• capitalism and drugs;
  
• colonialism and decolonising strategies;
  
• climate change and art;
  
• critique of historical earthworks;
  
• philosophical and political themes around life/nature/capitalism.
  

More information ︎︎︎

Breaking in. Broaching.
Nov 2022

Breaking in. Broaching. is a spatially themed studio-prac devised for graduate (or equivalent) artists to explore ways of thinking about space via the catalysts of fiction, poetry, philosophy and music.

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Post-Conceptual Painting
August–September 2022

A discussion on contemporary painting, featured a different guest artist each week:

• Angela Brennan
  
• Emmanuel Rodriguez Chavez
  
• Fu-on Chung
  
• Sarah Hillary
  
• Julie Irving
• Clare Longely
  
• Helen Johnson
  
• Patrick Lundberg
  
• Mathilde Rossier
  
• Sam Rountree Williams
  
• Kate Smith

More information ︎︎︎

Bodies Without Organs

August 2022

Body Without Organs was a five-part course led by Ruth Höflich with guest presentations by New York-based artist H.A Halpert, the collaborative duo, Mel Deerson & Briony Galligan, and artist/filmmaker Allison Gibbs.

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On Painting Philip Guston’s Studio

May 2022

On Painting was a collaboration between AP and The Melbourne School of Contemporary Art.

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