UNFROZEN EDUCATION – Or How To Relearn

The art exhibition Frozen Education, that took place in October 2018 in Basel, Switzerland, became a working laboratory, where artists and public reflected on the past, present and future of the Greek educational system throughout the recent decades, and moreover researched the effect of art – visual arts, poetry and music among other forms of expression – as an active tool and platform for pedagogy. 
Based on the interesting discussions and exchange that Frozen Education initiated, and after the kind invitation of the Museum for Education of the University of Crete in Rethymno, Greece, a continuation art project on the topic of education has been conceived. Under the title Unfrozen Education - Or How To Relearn an art exhibition and a symposium will be realised at different locations in Rethymno with artists and lectures from Greece, Switzerland, Holland and Italy.
Our ways of learning and teaching, of passing on and making use of knowledge has directly led to our current state. “We find ourselves in a time tunnel of onrushing and irreversible extinction, that’s simply a fact“, Donna Haraway declares. In the Anthropocene, the geological epoch where humans have become a geological force and transformation of the landscape surrounding us happens with an accelerated rate, what is still natural and what is anthropogenic? How can we not get hopelessly lost in the complexity of the issues of our time and instead get the needed tools to have a positive impact on future developments? How can we avoid whitewashing on the one, and falling into the trap of being to abstract to be understood on the other hand?

There is a big necessity to get away from the moto: “The less you know, the better you will sleep”. We must know and be aware of what is happening around us and take responsibility.  In times of virtual reality, a huge range of blurred fake news and unbelievable facts like the ongoing denial of climate change, it is even more important to not freeze in powerlessness and to ask: How and why are we trapped and so often not capable to act? New educational tools are needed in order to awake our instincts, recover our innocence, and become present – and like this relearn multiple forms of curiosity.

Anna Tsing proposes to open our ears to the whisper tales and ghosts of the many pasts and study the landscapes that surround us. However, how can we face the new complex challenges these landscapes escalate, how can we navigate ourselves in between the modified nature and the overtaking technology? What should be on an educational agenda, which skills need to be developed? Instead of refusing tradition and folk knowledge or demonizing technology and science, we could let them come together, collide and collaborate in order to show us ways towards new sustainable futures.

With UNFROZEN EDUCATION – Or How To Relearn the engaging artists want to explore the interplay of these theoretical fields and the space of experience that can be opened through the sensual quality of art. More than ever it is essential to unlearn the patterns of a masculinely molded capitalistic society and to think in a more inclusive way: To sharpen our sensibility and to develop an autonomous approach to the issues of our present – and what is yet to come.