Academia Nuts

The unique Academia Nuts programme was a platform for exploring intellectual and artistic production, as well as new forms of education. In the span of four years, in its start-up phase, it will invite some of the most respected and interesting international thinkers, artists, philosophers, writers, collectors, gallerists, activists, performance artists and all-around nutters to Ljubljana. Its playful title plays on the meaning of the words academia and nut (academia ... macadamia ... crack a nut ... tough nuts to crack ... nuts ... crazy ... work ... research ... unknown ... oil ...) and reimagines how academia and artistic practice can be interpreted through art and critical thought.

The programme, led by Hana Ostan Ožbolt and Dušan Josip Smodej and co-produced by Fotopub and the ULAY Foundation, offered participants two rigorous years of academic sessions composed of public evening lectures and semi-public seminars for a pre-selected group of twelve students and recent Masters’ studies graduates from all of Ljubljana’s art schools and humanist studies’ faculties. They formed the basis of the programme’s thought structure – an indispensable studio, the sole aim of which is to embody learning and to provide a space for an in-depth discussion on the meaning of concepts like art, ecology, philosophy and politics with both international and local experts.

Academia Nuts delved into the issues of understanding, learning and expression in a way that transcends discourse and makes use of all participants’ creativity. In order to grow, they made use of the knowledge, experiences and abilities developed during this critical, multi-faceted, collective learning process. Together, we created a new generation of extraordinary professionals and thinkers, capable of working parallel to established structures of academia and with the help of the powerful base of our organisations and partners to tackle a variety of issues in reality or beyond it, thereby becoming agents for our society’s change.