Noah Simblist

How can alternative organizations and traditional institutions learn from one another? How have exhibition platforms created space for artists to generate learning environments? How have these practices changed assumptions about art institutions and artistic production? How can we think about the economic, ecological, and institutional sustainability of all of these practices?

Living to Learn, edited by Noah Simblist of Virginia Commonwealth University, presents the work of over seventy artists, curators, collectives, and scholars who address contemporary art as a site of learning in the twenty-first century. Building on earlier histories of education as civic service for the common good, it focuses on the last twenty-five years while exploring the future of art education as a practice unfolding both in and beyond school. The book’s case studies reveal how innovations in education have a dynamic relationship with artistic practice, alternative arts organizations, universities, museums, and biennials.