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.





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<Tie One, The Spell’s Begun>


Announcing a short series with guest specialist and co-facilitator, Jen Alexandra (NZ)  Bio below*

Commencing 10 August, 2024
x 3 sessions

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

With specialist guest and co-facilitator, Jen Alexandra from NZ.

Tie One, The Spell’s Begun brings a mode of knowledge together, like a spell, to explore technologies of intuition and notions of spirit through art practice.

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


 
Link to payment page
$150 
      If you are experiencing financial stress of any kind, please contact Jan directly by email: @artprogramme68@gmail.com. 

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* Jen Alexander bio

Jen Alexandra’s practice combines sculpture, installation and performance to explore the position of the artist as querent (seeker), establishing real and imagined relationships between people, objects, materials and space. 

It proposes that art can be a way to connect with other realms of experience, interpret a vision – or the idea of a vision – or be a mode of knowledge in itself.  Objects, ontologically floating as artefacts and channels for intention, are offered as transitional objects between one place and another.

Jen lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch / website




Mid-August, 2024

Series of practical workshops on art film production facilitated by Ruth Höfflich.



ENDORSEMENTS

“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)


PAST COURSES

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.

More information ︎︎︎

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.

More information ︎︎︎

On Painting Philip Guston’s Studio

May 2022


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

More information ︎︎︎



Art Programme operates on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri of the Kulin Alliance and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders past and present.

We offer our ongoing support for the Victorian State Government's Treaty process and for Yarra City’s working group who is implementing the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for the Council.