Learning and Unlearning began as a series of discussions held from 2017-19 at Art in General. Throughout the discussions and the volume, we ask questions about the relationship between alternative pedagogies and world-making. By unlearning our relationship to the places and temporalities we occupy, can we learn new ways of inhabiting the world? And by reconsidering our relation to work and well-being, can we find new ways to see, feel and understand the world? This recalibration of how we see the world and consequently how we live our lives is the central concern of the artists, educators, and thinkers whose writings follow.

Unlearning, for us, is not a reactionary opposition to intellectualism and the academy. While learning is a broad category that includes the basic transmission of information and skills, we use the word unlearning to describe approaches to learning that bring into question the norms that structure learning itself. It is to fundamentally rethink, and thus transform, how we critically engage with the world while remaining open to the differences that shape it. Unlearning is to question not only what must be learned, but also how and from whom.

Contributors:
Abou Farman, Adrian Williams, Alessandra Pomarico, Alexis Wilkinson & Ander Mikalson, Annette Krauss & Casco Art Institute, Anthea Behm & Luke Stettner, Binna Choi & Yolande van der Heide , Bruce Robbins, Danilo Correale & Sandro Mezzadra, Eric Cazdyn, Huong Ngô & Hông-Ân Truong , KK de La Vida, Livia Alexander & Richard Jochum, Lou Cantor, Marco Passaro, Maria Pia Bevilacqua, Marianna Fazzi & Sara Maria d’Onofrio of ALAGroup, Maria Rosa Sossai, Marina van Zuylen, Mushkhar Butt, Nora Sternfeld, Samantha Ozer, Susan Jahoda & Caroline Woolard    of BFAMFAPhd, Terike Haapoja, Tiago de Abreu Pinto

Editors:
Avi Alpert and Sreshta Rit Premnath

Shifter is a topical publication that lies at the intersection between contemporary art, politics and philosophy. Shifter remains malleable and responsive in its form and activities, and represents a diversity of positions and backgrounds in its contributors.

Originally conceived as an online magazine in order to create an inter-continental “commons,” Shifter now engages in a variety of formats including print publications, public dialogues and exhibitions. This has allowed for extended discourse and additional access to Shifter’s content by diverse audiences.

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