Forest free-school at the Meadows Festival

Following on from sentiments suggested in the last post; technology can often become a victim of its own success. That is, it’s own market use and value often dominates and monopolizes its own materiality and potentiality, determining how we approach it and use it. Education, which focuses on the increasing specialisation and self referential system of clarification (inherent in the canonistical system of footnoting rules and regulations in social scientific academia) can suffer a similar fate.

Creative Recycling Technologies acts as a practical way to re-condition materials in different ways to both learn and think about its other possible uses and esthetics, but also to develop a greater sense for the form, structure and identity of the thing produced. Creative Technical Learning, as talks, demonstrations, presentations and workshops in alternative ways to approach and engage with different materials, and ideas, and the physical world, seeks to do a similar thing through education.

I personally feel that I tend to learn best through making, creating or doing something, and understand most clearly through teaching. It is in this way that through teaching in a skill sharing session and through practical interactive demonstration I gather a better sense of the thing I am trying to demonstrate or try out, in the same ways that other participants are interacting and learning in that process. Being able to share a sense of empathy and a similar level of understanding through the educational experience is very important.

To use an old analogy, if education is not treated as a method to fill an empty glass, but rather a way to ignite a spark then we can all share some skill, idea, craft or game with potential to light the fire of someone else’s curiosity, thoughts, inspiration, and engaged learning.

From Joesph Beuys Free International University, to the Da Galleries Temporary School of Thought, PS122 Galleries summer school, The Edu-factory collective, The Treehouse Gallery in London, and Edinburgh’s own ‘Don’t DIY Alone’ and Outdoor Skillshare events, these happenings are occuring all over in a multiple number of different styles, environments and approaches. What is shared and learnt is not just dependent upon the content, but the space and the environment this occurs within is also absolutely integral to how the whole matter is broached and experienced.

Through temporary integrated learning environments or educational happenings the space is created through which different ways of learning as a form of deep social and personal experience, can evolve and take place in bespoke and unique settings. It is in this vain that the Forest Free-school will be hoping to extend the workshops and activities from the Free-fair outwards from the Forest Hall to the new and different spaces.

With the fine and fair Meadows festival soon to be upon us, it is a perfect chance to get out of cavernous studies and into the open to share our winters work, thoughts and practices. This is an opportunity to help try to foster one of these active Creative Technical Learning environments through which anyone can take part on any sort of topic, skill, craft, art or idea. We will have 1 hour slots for people to come to run a session on anything they would like or have hidden in their pouch. To coincide with Scotland’s 1st ‘Pass-it-on’ day on Saturday we would like to have workshops specifically themed around crafts where participants can make something themselves and take it home to give to someone or pass-it-on if possible.

We seem to learn best by teaching, so why not try and share one of your passionate obsessions with others, or even try teaching something completely new you have never tried before.

There are a limited number of slots to do workshops so please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested, what day and time you can do, and what general, or specific, theme you would like to unleash on the meadows.