A Placement for Everyone

‘A Placement for Everyone’ outlines an emergent project in which staff and students collaborate to envision a transformation in their university/art school. Rather than convey pre-existing knowledge and expertise from tutor to students, we are working together as equal but different participants in a reflexive experiment with the institutional conditions and social purpose of learning.

A primary influence has been the Artist Placement Group (APG), which from 1966—1979 negotiated for artists to be placed in business, industry and governmental organizations. These placements were not framed as commissions or contracts between the artist and the host, but were developed around the APG concept of ‘the open brief’, with no prescriptions, and no outcomes agreed in advance.

In December 2012, I designated my academic post at University of the Arts London (UAL) as an artist’s placement, with a remit to promote creative engagement with the ecological and social-economic crisis. I aimed to connect artistic research with pedagogy, by involving staff and students in aligning our university’s operations with its stated values.