We’re a school for debt averse anarchists.
Knowledge and skill is attained through community
We at Constructing the Real are a collective of artists and theorists who are working together to craft a nonhierarchical educational platform that caters to the needs of its members.
Courses Offered to Date
Ongoing
Art Business: Every 1st Tuesday of each month we will meet at 8pm est to discuss ways to tend to your art business. Consider this meeting as more of an accountability group than a top down seminar. We will be discussing specifics of how we are doing our freelance taxes, how we apply to grants, how we write bios/ artist statements etc - all from our experience of what works for us and what doesn’t. Ideally we will be getting these things accomplished as we discuss them, not just writing notes on how to.
Current Course
Blender 3D: We’re meeting to learn all things Blender every other sunday starting February 27th at 8pm est!
Current Course
What is an Art World? We all know when we’ve made it onto a scene, but what are the conditions needed to that make that scene recognizable as an art world? Each participant in this course will be encouraged to research what they consider to be an art world, and present to the group how it came to be. All forms of culture are acceptable as subject matter, from the white cube to the diy zine fair, to music venues, to the art made by sports fans for games.
This course meets every Thursday at 8pm est beginning January 27th. We welcome new members on a rolling basis.
Past Course
Art Commune: This course will explore the history of Art Communes, such as The Roycrofters, New Clairvaux, Ant Farm, The Source Family, The Brotherhood of the Spirit and more. We will read Eileen Borris’ book “Art and Labor”, which follows Arts and Crafts inspired Utopian Craftsmen in the turn of the century America, while also watching documentary films on popular Art Communes from the 60’s to today. The course meets on Thursday evenings from 8-9:90pm, and will run from May 6- July 2nd. The course is free and open to all. However, if inclined, donations can be made to the Art Commune Tier of the Looky Here! Patreon. All donations go towards the overhead costs of our partner space Looky Here! in Greenfield Massachusetts.
Past Course
Break Stuff: Luddism, California Ideology, and How to Make Technology Work for Us
We will be discussing our very recent history as subjects of silicone valley through the lens of Gavin Mueller’s Breaking Things at Work as a root text to gain an overview of the neo-luddite movement. This core text will be supplemented with discussion on how crafting online identity has effected political identity, how the hippies destroyed the internet (that the empire built), and how the tech industry is driving climate change. Because this course relates to current events, we’ll also be welcoming discussion on applicable breaking news.
***This course opens on September 2nd. We will meet on Thursdays at 8pm est. We welcome anyone who’s interested in joining past the start date***
Past Course
From graphic persuasion to material subversion, we will gather to discuss concepts of revolution in the field of art. Each participant is encouraged to research one work with the central question “is or was this art revolutionary? why or why not?” This work can be produced in any medium. Findings will be proposed to the group for analysis.
This course meets every Wednesday at 8pm EST and we welcome new members on a rolling basis.
Past Course
Josef Albers’s classic Interaction of Color is a masterwork in art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this influential book presents Albers’s singular explanation of complex color theory principles.
This course met every Thursday from January 7th to April 15th 2021 to discuss exercises outlined in the primary text. A syllabus may be provided upon enrollment, and we welcome new members on a rolling basis.
Past Course
Through an open discussion format, this group focused on a post-colonial examination of Silvia Federici’s seminal text Caliban and the Witch using the novel I Tutuba by Maryse Condé, and the essay Silencing Sycorax by Abena P. A. Busia as lenses to better understand the biopolitical forces which coalesced to form the witch hunts.
Past Course
“Art and (Bare) Life: A Biopolitical Inquiry analyzes modern and contemporary art's drive to blur with life, and how this is connected to the democratic state's biologized control of life. Art's ambition to transform life intersects in striking ways with modern biopower's aim to normalize, purify, judge, and transform life—rendering it bare. In these intersecting yet different orientations toward life, this book finds the answer to the question: How did autonomous art become such an effective tool of the capitalist state?” - Synopsis from MIT Press
This course centered around discussing the references and examples put forth by Berry in a round table discussion format