The Painting 2 Studio has no agenda other than openness – openness to all themes and all perspectives, whether conservative or radical. Openness regarding media and art forms. Students are free to paint, work on videos or music projects, or create participatory art projects. They are not restricted by any particular medium. We strive to be as open as possible even during final examinations and to present ‘unconventional’ projects that test the boundaries of the institution. We also take an open approach to those interested in internships – we accept all applicants for internships from other studios and other universities. Openness regarding gender, ethnicity and religion goes without saying.
The ZMR teaching team (Zapletal, Mikuláštík, Reichel) works in the Painting 2 studio, operating under a concept of collective and, at the same time, ‘non-hierarchical studio management’. With this approach, we are explicitly building on the previous work of Vladimír Skrepl and Jiří Kovanda (and later Jan Šerých) in the Painting 2 studio. The foundation of this approach is freedom and equality. Students are not forced to do anything. We endeavour to foster their development without resorting to traditional studio assignments. Above all, students work on their own artistic programmes – this is the core of the course – to develop the student’s authentic personality, to create a safe and creative environment for the development of a wide variety of student approaches, and, above all, to engage in dialogue. Discussion of the works produced is key, as is discussion of attitudes, ethics and other aspects of engaging with art, as well as the role of the artist in society. In doing so, we do not seek to mould students in our own image. Our aim is to encourage students to find their own authentic path. It is important to involve students in the teaching process itself. At the start of the semester, we encourage students to suggest for themselves what will take place during the term; they can propose topics for discussion, their own projects involving all students, and we encourage them to organise their own workshops and lectures from the world of art and beyond. Our aim is to encourage students to reflect on their own perspectives and to improve their ability to explain and comment on their work. Our sessions are characterised by ongoing discussion.
Although we declare and, in practice, uphold complete openness with regard to media, it is nevertheless possible to speak of a certain focus and identity within the studio. This is determined, in principle, by the current students, but also by the applicants who apply to join the studio. The image remains at the heart of our discussions. Also significant is the emphasis on experimentation and attempts to push the boundaries of the image, which we observe among our students (compared with other studios). We consider the current name ‘Painting’ to be too restrictive. We therefore propose the name ‘EXPERIMENT IN IMAGE’ for future use.
Generative topics, teacher-facilitator
The weekly studio session takes the form of a circle, a spatial arrangement that embodies the principles of equality and reciprocity. Students are encouraged to give each other feedback. In our studio, we learn from one another. Some topics are proposed by the tutor, others by the students. Recently, we have run several themed programmes organised by the students themselves, where a student would identify a topic of interest to them, then select a guest speaker on that topic, and the session would conclude with a workshop or lecture. The emphasis is therefore on so-called ‘generative topics’ (P. Freire), where the students themselves bring forward topics for discussion and artistic exploration. The teacher’s role is primarily to listen to the topics raised for discussion, expand upon them, and present them back to the students in a structured form. This applies to both individual topics and decisions regarding the studio’s collective programme. A democratic discussion takes place on shared topics; the students themselves are encouraged to
propose objectives for joint excursions, group projects, studio guests, methods of installing joint exhibitions and other activities.
