April 2012

ARTISTS GATHER FROM AROUND THE WORLD FOR WIDE OPEN SCHOOL AT THE HAYWARD GALLERY

This summer, for one month only from 11 June to 11 July, the Hayward Gallery is being transformed into Wide Open School – a school with a programme devised and fuelled by the imaginations of more than 80 leading artists from over 40 different countries. It will be the first time that a public gallery has undertaken a project on this scale. Wide Open School is a highlight of Southbank Centre’s summer-long Festival of the World with MasterCard.

Anything but a traditional art school, it will be a wide-ranging forum where artists choose a subject they are passionately interested in and lead seminars, workshops, collaborative projects, lectures and performances. Wide Open School will create an energetic atmosphere for exchanging ideas, so that all participants gain a direct experience of different ways of thinking, questioning and solving problems. Events include Cao Fei hosting an evening based on a cultural gathering from the Six Dynasties era in China (16 and 17 June); Susan Hillerassembling and studying dreams relating to recent political, social and economic events (16 and 17 June); two sessions with Susan Philipsz exploring how sounds can trigger memory and redefine a place (7 and 8 July); a three-day practical workshop involving sculpture and dance with Ernesto Neto(6, 7 and 8 July); a demonstration about art and sushi with Shimabukuand Daisuke Hayashi (1 July);Mark Wallinger teaching a history of drawing, from Alberti to Pixar (23 and 24 June); and Gillian Wearingleading a class exploring Method acting (30 June and 1 July).

In an evening lecture series, artists choose a topic and invite an expert from another field to discuss it with them. Artists and topics include Tracey Emin discussing the uses of autobiographical material in art and literature with novelist Jeanette Winterson (26 June);Jeppe Hein discussing the topic of invisibility and sensory perception with scientist and scent specialist Robert Müller-Grünow (14 June);Yinka Shonibare MBE and Richard Phillips, Professor of Geography, University of Sheffield, exploring the history of British sexual behaviour in the colonies (17 June); Jane and Louise Wilson speaking to Caroline WilkinsonProfessor of Craniofacial Identification, University of Dundee, in a conversation about the forensic sciences and forensic tendencies in art (13 June); and Wolfgang Tillmans discussing the scientific fundamentals of photography with Professor Peter Török (3 and 4 July).

As part of Wide Open School, artist Fritz Haeg’sSundown Schoolhouse of Queer Home Economics, a drop-in centre for classes, demonstrations, seminars and workshops related to LGBT homemaking, inspired by the 19th-century development of home economics, will open. Housed in a 6mdiameter all-weather geodesic dome tent on the rooftop terrace of the Hayward Gallery it will be open from 11 June and then open daily Tues to Sunday until 11 July. Fritz Haeg will be in residence from 11-17 June.

Other events include:

  • Mark Allen instructing participants to create their own lie-detector (7 & 8 July)
  • Cullinan & Richardsdiscovering why this artist duo think we should apply styles of boxing to making paintings (19 & 20 June, 10 & 11 July)
  • Jeremy Deller hosting a banner making workshop with long-term collaborator Ed Hall (19 June)
  • Tracey Emin talking to Jeanette Winterson about autobiography in art and literature (26 June)
  • Fritz Haeg’s Sundown Schoolhouse of Queer Home Economics, a drop-in centre for classes, demonstrations, seminars and workshops related to LGBT homemaking inspired by the 19th-century development of home economics (11-17 June)
  • Thomas Hirschhorn teaching the skills of positive judgement using his criteria of ‘Energy: Yes! Quality: No!’ (3 & 4 July)
  • Michael Landy’s workshop on ideas and practices related to destruction (16 & 17 June)
  • Mark Leckey working with participants to create a never-ending artwork for distribution via the internet (6 & 7 July)
  • Aleksandra Mir presenting a lecture on the connection between rock legend Freddie Mercury and Czech sculptor Irena Sedlecka, who created a bronze sculpture of the musician (11 & 12 June)
  • Artists and Activists Tim Rollins + K.O.S. (23 + 24 June) hosting workshops designed for young people aged 13-17, Tim Rollins & K.O.S. will lead discussions about two classic works of art, exploring the themes and ideas of each
  • Kateřina Šedá leads a marathon 24 hour long lecture over the final two days of Wide Open School – given in Czech with simultaneous English translation.
  • Bob and Roberta Smith speaking about the importance of public space (16 & 17 June)
  • Margaret Wertheim hosting an intensive theoretical and practical one-day course on the history of Western scientific thinking about space, from Descartes to string theory (12, 13 & 14 June)
  • Bedwyr Williams delivering a lecture-performance he describes as a ‘kind of gumball rally through Welsh culture’ (6 July)
  • Haegue Yang hosts a day-long workshop of knitting and origami (7 July)

Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery said:“At a moment when education is a subject of far-ranging debate, Wide Open School provides a platform for people to engage directly with artists from all over the world, and to actively participate in courses whose subjects are often off the radar of conventional institutions. This is a school fuelled by the imaginations of an extraordinary group of artists and ultimately it offers a chance not only to engage with the things that artists are passionately interested in, but also to learn about different ways of thinking, questioning and working.”

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre said: “The first time a gallery has undertaken a project of this scale and complexity, Wide Open School will be an extraordinary gathering of artists from around the globe as part of Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World. It will be a place where people can explore and learn alongside the artists, and where audiences will experience the concept of school in a completely new way.”

Artists include:

Georges Adéagbo (Benin); Mark Allen (USA); Yto Barrada (Morocco); Yael Bartana (Israel);Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie, and Wilma Johnson (UK); Tania Bruguera (Cuba): Bonnie Camplin (UK); Cao Fei (China); Anthony Caro (UK); Adam Chodzko (UK); Martin Creed (UK);Dorothy Cross (Ireland); Cullinan Richards (UK); Jochen Dehn (France); Jeremy Deller (UK); Marlene Dumas (South Africa); Yara El-Sherbini (UK); Tracey Emin (UK); Harrell Fletcher (USA); Stephen Fowler (UK); Meschac Gaba (Benin);Dora García (Spain); Gelitin (Austria); Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (France); Antony Gormley (UK); Fritz Haeg (USA); Romuald Hazoumè (Benin); Jeanne van Heeswijk (The Netherlands); Jeppe Hein (Denmark); Susan Hiller (USA); Roger Hiorns (UK); Thomas Hirschhorn (Switzerland); Tehching Hsieh (Taiwan);Isaac Julien (UK); Bouchra Khalili (France/Morocco); Elena Kovylina (Russia); Jompet Kuswidananto (Indonesia); Suzanne Lacy (USA); Michael Landy (UK); Pedro Lasch (Mexico);Xavier Le Roy (France); Mark Leckey (UK);Lee Bul (South Korea); Lee Mingwei (USA); Lu Jie (China); Bjarne Melgaard (Norway); Nathaniel Mellors (UK); Darius Mikšys (Lithuania); Aleksandra Mir (Sweden); Ernesto Neto (Brazil);Olaf Nicolai (Germany); Makoto Nomura (Japan); Yoshua Okón (Mexico); João Onofre (Portugal); Lucy + Jorge Orta (Argentina); Dan and Lia Perjovschi (Romania); Susan Philipsz (UK); Amalia Pica (Argentina); Cesare Pietroiusti (Italy); Marjetica Potrč (Slovenia); The Public School (USA); Tobias Putrih (Slovenia); Raqs Media Collective (India); Pedro Reyes (Mexico); Tim Rollins + K.O.S. (USA);Tomás Saraceno (Argentina): Kateřina Šedá (Czech Republic); Wael Shawky (Egypt); Shimabuku (Japan); Yinka Shonibare MBE (UK); Alexandre Singh (France); Bob and Roberta Smith (UK); Song Dong (China); Kidlat Tahimik (Philippines); PascaleMarthine Tayou (Cameroon); Wolfgang Tillmans (Germany); Jalal Toufic (Lebanon); Jessica Voorsanger (USA); Mark Wallinger (UK); Gillian Wearing (UK); Margaret Wertheim (Australia); Bedwyr Williams (UK); Jane and Louise Wilson (UK);Haegue Yang (South Korea); Carey Young (UK); David Zink Yi (Peru).

Wide Open School will be open from Monday 11 June and then for six days a week, Tuesday to Sunday, until 11 July. Classes will take place in three sessions – morning, afternoon and evening – and vary from one hour sessions to short courses of three or more days.

Wide Open School has been made possible with additional support from Arts Council England.

Select events are currently on sale, with a full course catalogue available 11 May.

Tickets £10 per session (please note some courses require booking multiple sessions). Concessions available. Advance booking recommended.

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For further PRESS information (not for publication) please contact: Sarah Ragsdale, Press Manager, Tel: 020 7921 0887 or email: or Helena Zedig, Press Manager, Tel: 020 7921 0847 or email:

Notes to Editors

Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World

1 June to 9 September 2012

Southbank Centre’s summer 2012 site-wide Festival of the World with MasterCard opens on 1 June 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee Weekend, and closes on 9 September 2012. As London welcomes the world this summer, Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World will include inspirational projects from the UK and around the world, which showcase the power of the arts to change the lives of individuals, communities and whole societies. The site will be transformed with art installations including a giant ‘robot’ sculpture; a colossal baobab tree made from fabric; ‘Rainbow Park’, a multi-coloured beach; and an exhibition in the Royal Festival Hall of the thinkers, artists and communities who have inspired and contributed to the Festival. The reopening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden, weekly food markets, and a pop-up cafe complete the Festival landscape.

Southbank Centre

Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection.

About MasterCard

MasterCard cardholders can enjoy exclusive experiences and privileged access to the very best the Festival of the World has to offer by visiting southbankcentre.co.uk/MasterCard.

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Arts Council England

Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.