Event: Open House – presentation of a creative process by the children and pedagogues at Bondens pre-school, (Nytorgets förskoleenhet) in collaboration with Andrea Creutz (visual artist) and Elizabeth Ward (choreographer)
Time: Tuesday April 18, 3 pm – 6 pm
Place: The Nordic Guest Studio, Malongen, Nytorget 15A, Stockholm.
This event is part of, The Rhythm of Now, an ongoing collaboration between Elizabeth Ward (choreographer) and Andrea Creutz (visual artist) involving children, preschool teachers and other professionals within visual arts and pedagogy.
The project aims to lift children and pedagogy as mutual constructors of culture and knowledge in society as a whole. We see a clear parallel between the contextual participatory art that we are invested in and the notions within pedagogy that we are interested in investigating. We sense that both fields want to bring forward particular, fragmented and marginalized experiences. There is great potential in listening to children and to let them express themselves on their own terms, not just within the preschools, but within society at large.
From February – April 2017 we have worked with the teachers and children of Nytorgets förskoleenhet. As part of Elizabeth’s residency at Malongen (1 April – 21 April) sessions have been made in collaboration with preschool teachers Lena Fredriksson and Bella Falk and their group of children. We have invited the children to the NKF studio as well as accompanying them on their regular outdoor pedagogy trips to the Vitabergsparken and Rudan forest. Working with the idea to intensify and expand on the preschool’s existing focus on movement and dance, we have worked in these sessions with structures that amplify the special dynamics and creative processes that are already ongoing.
Many thanks to the children at the Bonden preschool, the teachers Lena Fredriksson and Bella Falk, as well as Ann Svensson, pedagogista, and Jurate Correa, ateljerista, all at Nytorgets förskoleenhet.
Coming from the worlds of visual arts and performance Andrea Creutz and Elizabeth Ward have both respectively worked with social relations of production of knowledge, exposing dominating power structures and collectively proposing alternative temporalities and spaces. Together they work with participatory methods of art production and interdisciplinary process orientated art with interests in aspects of performativity as well as collaborative strategies and multiple authorship methods. The overall aim of The Rhythm of Now is to create a platform of exchange for professionals in visual art and pedagogy who work and engage in aesthetic processes with children. April 19, there will be held a dinner with invited guests from the arts and pedagogy to begin this exchange.