18th Street Arts Center

Art/Pedagogy: Dee Williams and Ashley Hunt – In their work both as artists and teachers, Dee Williams and Ashley Hunt explore possibilities of knowledge production, question hierarchical models of education, and reflect on the construction of the subject through her education. This panel juxtaposes the practices of two LA based artists.

Dee Williams’ paper A Partial History of Higher Education examines a chronology of changes in higher education in the United States since the 1960′s. Williams investigates to what extent the idea of the individual student receiving education in order to shape a democratic society has been replaced by the idea that the the individual is the sole beneficiary.

Ashley will discuss models of radical pedagogy that he is invested in as an artist. Looking at how they infuse his recent works, he will also discuss his theory that making and teaching are complimentary pedagogical practices.

Dee Williams earned an MFA in Art from Calarts, and was the recipient of a DAAD stipendium in Berlin from 2000-2002. Her work was included in the book We all laughed at Christopher Columbus, published in 2007 by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul. Her work has been exhibited at The Physics Room, New Zealand, Am Nuden Da in London, at Art2102, DNJ Gallery, ESL and Monte Vista Projects in Los Angeles, Artists Space and Gagosian Gallery in New York, Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos in Puebla, Mexico, and The Sweeney Gallery, UC Riverside. She is adjunct faculty at Chapman University.

Ashley Hunt is an artist, activist and writer who engages the ideas of social movements, modes of learning and public discourse. Among his works are the ongoing Corrections Documentary Project (correctionsproject.com), On Movement Thought and Politics, a collaboration with Taisha Paggett, A World Map: In Which We See…, and 9 Scripts From a Nation at War, a collaboration with Andrea Geyer, Sharon Hayes, Katya Sander and David Thorne, commissioned originally for Documenta 12 (9scripts.info). Recent exhibitions include the Nottingham Contemporary, the 18th Street Center for Art in Los Angeles, the Gallery at REDCAT, the Tate Modern, the 3rd Bucharest Biennial, and various community-based venues throughout the United States. Recent publications include, Printed Project (’09), On Knowledge: A Critical Studies Reader (BAK ’08), Radical History Review (’08), Journal of Aesthetics and Protest (’08, ’07, ’05), Art Journal (’07), An Atlas of Radical Cartography (’07) and Rethinking Marxism (’06).