School Space as a Science of Democracy

Meeting inaugural new cycle Biennale Warsaw RePrezentacje 

Maciej Siuda is an architect who can listen to the needs of children and youth. Siuda creates spaces that provoke democratic and open relations in the school community, abolishes – in a metaphorical and literal sense – divisions and rigid hierarchies.

In 2012, together with members of the architects’ group he had founded, he began the design process of the Jackmel school in Haiti as part of a competition organized by the Poland-Haiti Foundation and the Chamber of Architects of the Republic of Poland. For the first month of work on the project, the architects did not draw a single line. There were conducted studies of the climate, as well as the social, economic and cultural context to extent of which the school was supposed to function. Some project workshops took place, during which knowledge was being gathered about experimental forms of teaching, developing creativity and imagination of children and reducing the distance between educators and students. Siuda opted for an open form: he resigned from rigid divisions to didactic and communicative spaces and suggested that classes be conducted both inside and outside the building. He designed not only the building and its surroundings but also direct and open relations in the school community.

Similar ideas guided him and his studio during the creation of the school project in Warsaw’s Ursynów in 2017. Also this time the team treated the children seriously and undertook the task diligently – the school is to be a space that allows for deepening relationships within the community and contact with nature.

Currently, the architect and his team are working together with the Razem Pamoja Foundation on the school project in Nairobi in Kenya – and are looking for investors for this project.

RePresentations/NEW EDUCATION  

Założeniem projektu jest oddanie głosu rozmaitym grupom ludzi, niezależnie od ich pochodzenia, statusu społecznego i ekonomicznego, narodowości, wieku, stanu zdrowia. To wizja świata, w którym mogą w pełni wybrzmieć ludzkie potrzeby i marzenia. Jakkolwiek utopijnie brzmi taka wizja rzeczywistości, założeniem projektu RePrezentacje są działania bardzo konkretne, wręcz pozytywistyczne.

Tematem, który wyznaczy pracę nad pierwszą edycją RePrezentacji będzie edukacja. W drugim dziesięcioleciu XXI wieku wciąż mamy nieodrobione lekcje z myśli i praktyki pedagogicznej oraz nierozwiązane kwestie praw dzieci. Dorośli łamią ich prawo do godnego, bezpiecznego, twórczego rozwoju, a państwo realizując program edukacji narodowej, ingeruje w życie dzieci dla celów politycznych. To moment, w którym bardzo poważnie powinniśmy przemyśleć i wdrożyć alternatywne działania edukacyjne poprzez sztukę oraz radykalnie zredefiniować pojęcie edukacji.

Among the creators invited to cooperation are, inter alia: director Anna Smolar in tandem with film operator Rafał Paradowski, choreographer and dancer Kaya Kołodziejczyk, theatre pedagogue and director Justyna Sobczyk, music collective Siksa and Maciej Siuda in tandem with the curator of design Agata Kiedrowicz.

Siuda and Kiedrowicz will carry out a series of workshops with children and teenagers, which will be completed by the creation of a utopian project of the Institution of Citizens’ Affairs/ ICA (Instytucja Spraw Obywatelskich/ISO) [working name].

We operate in various districts of Warsaw (Białołęka, Bemowo, Praga Północ) and we cooperate with local entities – NGOs and public institutions (including centres for foreigners, a children’s home, district cultural centres).