Per­form­ing the ed­u­ca­tor

What if we think of mediation not as a tool for the frictionless transportation of information but as a vehicle of transformation? How can art educators obtain a certain (different) kind of faculty of speach and agency yet breaking up common role models? How can education and its subjects become capable of acting without them being subjectivated «that way» for economical causes? I will explore these questions regarding a project that took part shortly after the documenta 12 education experiment: 5th berlin biennial’s Secret Service. The Service aimed to create spaces for a self-contained, reflected, and critical engagement with the exhibition for educators and visitors alike; and in doing so, it raised the question of what the cost is to «function» as an educator on the subject level, regarding attributions of gender, class, race, and other denominations. My article will explore Secret Service’s mimicry to and reluctance towards the contemporary art world, taking into account subjectivating and institutionalising practices and what it takes to subvert them.

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