No School Manifesto & Wicked Arts Assignments

We are very pleased to have two publications now available in our Slanted Shop from the Dutch publishing house Valiz: No School Manifesto & Wicked Arts Assignments.

No School Manifesto — A Movement of Creative Education wants to open up the meaning of learning and fundamentally questions traditional education, through creativity. Curiosity, experimentation, unrestricted thinking, making, and developing—by yourself and in collaboration with others—are basic elements of all forms of learning and living together. In the current educational system these values are regularly overshadowed by rules, legislation, bureaucracy, a unitary approach, and little attention to the intrinsic inquisitiveness of both the student and the teacher.

No School is a growing movement that together with the creative field wants to provide space for experiment, flexibility, cooperation, “wild” thinking, looking ahead; experimenting off the beaten track with different forms of learning, in which creativity is the key concept.

No School Manifesto opens up possibilities for thinking how to go about this, and to start experimenting. It is not an exhaustive analysis of the approach—this would not be possible, as No School is not static, but constantly evolving and continually reassessing its place vis-à-vis standardized educational frameworks. Key concepts, values and attitudes such as “Curiosity,” “Magnetism,” and “Zigzag” are explored through an A–Z Lexicon, and are complemented by illuminating examples of students’ work. An explanation of the urgency of No School, and an essay on the fundamental value of creativity provide introductory context to the book. The overarching Manifesto summarizes what the No School movement and the book stand for.

In collaboration with Cibap, Zwolle; SintLucas, Eindhoven; ArtEZ Arnhem–Zwolle–Enschede; No School.

No School Manifesto — A Movement of Creative Education

Wicked Arts Assignments are bold, unusual, contrary, funny, poetical, inspiring, socially committed, or otherwise challenging. Everyone who teaches art knows them: the assignment that is seemingly simple but which challenges participants, students and pupils to the max. Many artists and arts teachers have that singular, personal, often-used assignment in which everything comes together: their artistic vision, their pedagogical approach and their love for certain techniques or methods.

The almost hundred arts assignments collected in Wicked Arts Assignments – Practising Creativity in Contemporary Arts Education connect to the visual arts, performance, theatre, music and design, but more importantly: they encourage cross-disciplinarity. They reflect themes and ways of working in contemporary arts, offering opportunities to learn about ourselves, the arts and the world.

The first part of this book provides a theoretical view on arts assignments from historical, artistic and educational perspectives, complemented by interviews with experts in contemporary arts and education. The second part consists of the actual wicked arts assignments. These can be carried out in various contexts: from primary schools to higher education, from home to the (online) community, and from Bogotá to Istanbul. They are meant to spark the imagination of both teachers and students, contributing to new, topical educational and artistic practices.

In cooperation with Amsterdam University of the Arts.

Wicked Arts Assignments — Practising Creativity in Contemporary Arts Education

Publisher: Valiz
Editors: Emiel Heijnen, Melissa Bremmer
Designer: Laura Pappa
Volume: 304 pages
Format in cm (w × h): 15 × 22 cm
Language: English
Bookbinding: Paperback
Release: 2020
ISBN: 978-94-92095-75-6
Price: € 19.90
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Both publications were selected by the student jury as one of the best Dutch book designs 2020.