Dear Reader,
let us be honest: we cannot easily put into words why this show is entitled “Lifelong Learning”. For this to become clear, it’s best to start from the beginning since Lifelong Learning is the material manifestation of endless conversations we have had for years.
Almost seven years ago, while we were sharing a studio in art school, we started taking screenshots of every single captcha that we had to solve while surfing the web. We didn’t really know why… all we knew was that we couldn’t agree on how much work it would take —or wouldn’t— to pass those so-called “reverse Turing tests”. Now, years later, you can browse a selection of our archive of captchas as part of this show. Strange how things develop in ways one cannot foresee, isn’t it?
Apart from those three months at the end of 2011, we’ve never lived in the same city or even country. Still, we’ve been collaborating regularly, although remotely. During this time our practices developed by moving into different areas, taking different directions and allowing us to strengthen —or hoping to do so— different skills. For us, making art together has always been a way to meet up, even if only online, in order to share and discuss issues that kept us busy. Hence, it is not a surprise that two of our collaborative pieces are print-on-demand books, objects that neither of us has ever touched before they were shown for the first time in an exhibition.
However, working and learning together has never been an all-smooth process for us. While an invitation to a show in Canada provided us with the rare opportunity to actually spend some IRL time (but not AFK), it resulted in a series of heated discussions about what we thought to have learned since graduation. A bit embarrassing in hindsight.
This show, Lifelong Learning, is yet another way for us to meet up, collaborate and “play around”. In an age when Lifelong Learning has become an economic imperative, we invite you to a playground meant to overcome the need to invest in ourselves, or yourself. While visiting the show you might experience the enthusiasm, inner conflict, and exhaustion that Lifelong Learning, as a regime, a way of coping and a loosely collaborative practice, can bring about.
We’re looking forward to seeing you on the 8th of June at Drugo More in Rijeka (Croatia).
Best,
Silvio Lorusso and Sebastian Schmieg
Sent from a CryptPad
Also published on Medium.