Doina Petrescu and Kathrin Böhm are co-founders of the Eco Nomadic School, a network of locally-based projects across Europe who have been visiting each other over the last 10 years to learn, teach share and discover knowledge held in their communities. The Eco Nomadic School involved projects, practices and participants from six countries, nine regions, four cities, two towns and six villages. The school reflects the projects that comprise it. It’s informal, self-organised, de-centralised and geographically dispersed; non-hierarchical, peer-led and multi-lingual. Crucially, the roles of learner and teacher are interchangeable.

The Eco Nomadic School emerged from a collective motivation of a number of people across Europe and quickly gained political dimension based on the conviction that pedagogy and education do not exist solely in schools and in institutions, but also within the civic realm: in activist activities; through political struggles; through economic undertakings; and ultimately, in everyday life.

Together with Tom James, Kathrin and Doina have edited the documentary book Learn to Act, with the title being a clear proclamation towards a form of learning which is both an act of commoning and a moment in which knowledge becomes relative, collective and applied. Learn to Act is about the near future, how to act, and how to support each other.

A presentation of the school, its shared motivation, dispersed geography, different ways of learning, a variety of classrooms and curriculums will be followed by a public conversation.

Drinks are being served by the east London based Company Drinks art enterprise. This event is free but we recommend booking a place here.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Kathrin Böhm is a London based artist and founding member of the international artist group Myvillages, the art and architecture group Public Works, art led enterprise Company Drinks and everyday politics collective Keep It Complex – Make It Clear. Her collaborative work focuses on the collective production and use of public realms, trade as a public negotiation space and the everyday as a starting point for culture.

Tom James is a writer and artist, based in London. He creates projects and publications to address the ambivalence he feels about the world that’s coming our way.

Tom’s projects have been featured in the British press, whilst his cult fanzine, Go, is part of the permanent collection of the V&A.

Doina Petrescu is a founding member of the Paris based Atelier d’architecture autogerée and Professor of Architecture and Design Activism, University of Sheffield School of Architecture. She is an activist, architect and educator dealing with commons-based resilience, feminist approaches and participative architecture in her research and practice.

Book Design by An Endless Supply. Published by aaa/peprav as the third publication in the To Actseries, following Urban Act (2007) and Trans Local Act (2010).