futureacademy

Notes on "The Wee Red Book 2004/05"

The Wee Red Book 2004/05 is an (somewhat) anonymously produced and written A5 pamphlet distributed for free through the Student Representative Council within eca. Subtitled "A book about, certain things that one needs to know, when entereing an unfamiliar environment where people dress ostentatiously", the content (both in design and writing) demonstrates many of the key concepts that I have been reading about with regard to futureacademy and the "University without condition" that Derrida describes.
Whilst haphazard and amateur in presentation - cut and past laster-print text overlaid on ink drawings and frames then photocopied and collated with a simple double staple - the writing is exactly the kind of 'truthful' content that Derrida states must be the aim of the contemporary and future university. Texts frankly tell of the character and position of various workers within the college, from janitors ("the key master, the gatekeeper, Saint Peter; they are before the Law, and they are really big and scary") to management ("Driven by money, fame and banquest at the Balmoral"). The writing also offers useful pointers to the way students ("incidental extras who justify the funding especially if they are foreign") and schools within eca regard each other: at the end of the publication a text describing the actions and character of students of individual schools is counterpoised with a cocktail recipe. Thus the School of Sculpture is represented by the (non-alcoholic) cocktail Bitters Highball with the text:

"Ceramics
Sculpture
Now with its very own ceramics suite so people can make their own coffee cups this department is on the move. Run by Edinburgh's very own Alexander the Great it's a privilege to be on board. There is a fantastic atmosphere in the sculpture department fuelled by job insecurity and its resultant alcoholism, which creates a heady cocktail of artistic creativity. We cultivate metal bending, fire fetishism, wood frottage, and a diverse programme of unnatural feelings toward inanimate objects and their physical properties"

Through such plain language (whether or not written by someone from the department or not) it is apparent the way the school is viewed by others, both the good and the bad.

posted by Chris @ 4:54 pm