It’s Thursday!

Last night, I joined Hildegund and the most recent batch of teachers and co-teachers for a final meal at Gasthof Hinterbrühl. We ate ridiculously calorific Austrian desserts and talked about everything from whether we thought Elizabeth Peyton – who has a show on right now at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac – was a good painter, to what to do when you have creative block (fishing? kickboxing? Nintendo? Swiming?) We mused about what teenagers say these days instead of cool (hip? mint? rad?) and why Justin Bieber’s documentary is so good. That is to say, it was a very nice evening and fun was had by all.

Today, with everyone in the castle busy finishing off their work for tomorrow’s open studios, I felt a little bit like a spare part. I decided to try to conquer my fear of getting in the way by wandering around each classroom one, by one, and striking up conversations with students and teachers alike. I wasn’t the only one feeling a bit out of place: there seemed to be a mix between the students that had finished their pieces and were reading or catching some rays outside and those who were furiously painting, printing or drawing away at their desks. As ever, I was bowled over by how much work has been produced in the last few weeks, and I’m intrigued to see how the things I saw today are going to be hung tomorrow.

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I made a stupid mistake and forgot to actually post Thursday’s blog entry until just now so please check it out here.

You can also read the article I wrote about Global Academy II, which is organised by the Summer Academy and took place 11-12 August. It’s called “Finding the Right Words to Decolonize Art’s Mores, Canons and Practices” and is about the work artists, writers and curators are doing when it comes to decolonisation.