Reina Sofia Museum presents the exhibition “Really useful knowledge”

Reina Sofía Museum presents on Tuesday, October 28 at 12:00 am in Sabatini Auditorium, the exhibition “Really useful knowledge”. The notion of “really useful knowledge” emerged at the beginning of the 19th century alongside the workers’ awareness of the need for self-education. In the 1820s and 1830s, working class organisations in the UK introduced this phrase to describe a body of knowledge that encompassed various “unpractical” disciplines such as politics, economy and philosophy, as opposed to the “useful knowledge” proclaimed by business owners who had previously begun to invest more heavily in their companies’ progress through financing workers’ education in “applicable” disciplines like engineering, physics, chemistry and mathematics. In this reference to the long-forgotten class struggles of early capitalism, the title of the exhibition suggests an inquiry into “really useful knowledge” from a contemporary perspective.

The exhibition stand up for the establishment of new ways of learning and reciprocal teaching, as well as rethinking the forms of political and social organization. In this way, the exhibition investigates various heterodox, spontaneous, and nonacademic educational situations, focusing on the transformative potential of art.

The exhibition shows the work of over thirty artists in multiple formats (painting, photography, video, wallpaper, documents, murals, etc.) as well as 12 facilities produced expressly for the occasion. The exhibition wil count on spanish artists (Subtramas y Nuria Güell) and foreign artists, as Mladen Stilinovic or Cecilia Vicuña and younger creators (Brook Andrew, Catarina Simao o Trevor Paglen) or Hannah Ryggen. "Really useful knowledge”, also, will present some artists and colective activism groups as Victoria Lomasko or Mujeres Públicas group.

Also, "Really useful knowledge”, will have a program of actions to promote the communication with the public and their active participation. Through lectures, discussions and other actions, the program looks for the dialogue about: Feminism, immigration, AIDS, economy, internet security, education, art...

These "public actions", that will be in the exhibition space, try to use the art as a critical practice and induce the reflection to produce knowledge "really useful."

When.- October 28, 2014 - February 2015.
Where.- Reina Sofia Museum (Madrid). Sabatini Building. First Floor.
Curatorship.- WHW (What, How and for Whom): Colective formed by Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić y Sabina Sabolović.
Coordination.- Fernando López y Beatriz Velázquez.