Utopian imagination: An introductory workshop for art students
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
I met Anna Siekierska in the context of The Big Green, where she is a resident artist in 2024–25. She is also a faculty member at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and she and her colleague Małgorzata Gurowska invited me to support their drawing course in the summer semester 2025. Inspired by my conversations with Anna, they were going to ask their students to base their course projects on the utopian imagination. I contributed some ideas, text, and sources to the preparation and course description.
The introductory workshop took place in one of the first weekly studio sessions of the drawing class. After brief introductory talks on utopian imagination and examples of contemporary utopian art from my hosts and me, the students (and their curious instructors) formed small groups, drew cards that determined some properties of their utopian society, and then worked out their vision on large sheets of paper over 90 minutes. This was followed by group presentations, a best-utopia award based on a general vote, and a brief concluding discussion.
I have another visit planned later in the semester. The students' finished artworks will be exhibited publicly for a few days in June.
