Why to make
2017 Short course with Olafur Eliasson
Why to make (Almost) Anything
In 2017, acclaimed artist Olafur Eliasson collaborated with the Academany network to offer a course focused on the WHY of making instead of giving people command of the tools for making or growing (almost) anything.
Olafur Eliasson:
“Why is key. An artwork is not an autonomous object and the question of why is the glue which ties together an idea, an object, a space, a user, and the world. In the context of the three recitations of Why Make (Almost) Anything, I will address inspiration and aspiration, both vital in developing the skills needed to give ideas shape – skills for thinking and doing, feeling and transforming, rendering, shaping, creating; skills for turning an idea or a proposition into a (physical) artwork or space. I will discuss consideration of the consequences of engagement with the world as constitutive of the creative process. And I will address the question of agency – of everyone and everything. This idea of the agency of things, inspired by object-oriented ontology (‘OOO’), is important to my practice. Another key concept to my work is that of hospitality, as I always strive to create artistic spaces that can host difference, spaces that are open to acknowledging a shared perspective, in which disagreeing with one another is not a conflictual encounter but a relational one.
I strongly believe that culture can inspire people to move from thinking to doing, and it holds the potential to inspire change. In the FabLab presentations, I would like to discuss with the participants how one can activate behavioural change. Where and how do we detect civic trust in our societies and how can we generate engagement and action based on trust to instigate change?”
2017 Projects
The course consisted of a series of lectures, programs and projects all revolving around the subject of Why to Make, and resulted in the series #smilingworks:
