TITLE NARRATIVE

At the center of each manifestation of Surplus Seminar there was Anywhere/Anyplace Academy(A/AA). A/AA served as a hub to bring people together and dream up the myriad possibilities inherent in the repurposing of knowledge viewed in the same manner that we do surplus materials.

A/AA existed through the shared skills, know-how, and collaboration of each person who chose to help construct it. Taking different forms depending on the location in which it was built, a A/AA schoolhouse was constructed through the utilization of excess, cast-off materials from the area wherein that manifestation of Surplus Seminar took place and the surplus knowledge and experience of those who encountered it in process.

In this regard each A/AA bore the visual markings of its area, its economy, and its residents skill-sets and interests. A A/AA schoolhouse constructed in Columbus, Ohio was predominantly fashioned through the retro-fitting of the chassis of an old rusted out trailer, sheet metal, and deconstructed shipping pallets.

No matter the structure, or the materials with which it was built, all manifestations of A/AA aimed to promote experiential, active thinking, improvisation, and collaborative action, creating an anarchic center for generative thought. A/AA promoted the notion that learning and knowledge exists all around us, as well as within us, like surplus goods looking to be retrofitted and utilized rather than seen as trash, useless, a forgotten commodity, ready to be thrown in the dump. And with that, a challenge to the call for us to throw our dreams and ourselves into the dump as well.

COMMENTARY

DOCUMENTS

Over a period of one month in a parking lot of the Columbus College of Art & Design the group gleaned materials and knowledge from the surrounding area, showing up each morning to see who arrived, and what they had brought in terms of ideas or objects to help construct a school house.

Mike Wolf moderately supervising a child at the Walker Art Center in the co-creation of micro-school rooms based on the ideas that visiting children brought with them.

COLOPHON

Conception - Sam Gould

Facilitation - Sam Gould, Gabriel Mindel Saloman, Mike Wolf, Dylan Gauthier, Courtney Dailey, & Zefrey Throwell

Participation - Dan S. Wang, Bill Daniel, Sarah Peters, Waziyatawin, Danimal, Unsettling Minnesota and many others

First Iteration - Columbus, OH through a commission by the Canzani Gallery at the Columbus College of Art & Design and curated by James Voorhies & the Bureau for Open Culture.

Second Iteration - Minneapolis, MN through a commission by the Walker Art Center and curated by Sarah Schultz with the assistance of Sarah Peters and the Walker Art Center Education Dept.