Education Lab Returns to Menorca

16 June 2022

The creative space results from an engagement project accompanying Rashid Johnson’s exhibition ‘Sodade’

Following an open call to Spanish universities, this year’s Education Lab at Hauser & Wirth Menorca has been created as part of a post-graduate student residency. The participants have worked with the gallery community and local entities to conceptualize a learning space and program that run alongside Rashid Johnson’s exhibition ‘Sodade.’

The Education Lab features an installation of drawings hanging from the ceiling; the result of workshops with over 350 participants from multiple learning institutions, including schools, the local Foundation for People with Disabilities, day care centers. In these workshops, participants were asked to make drawings to represent the emotions they felt when listening to the song ‘Sodade’ by Cesária Évora, after which the exhibition is named.

An active drawing space and an engagement program taking place for the duration of the exhibition encourage visitors to engage with the themes of Johnson’s exhibition.

‘The residency is very much about giving visibility to the ways in which you can learn in a professional context, empowering young creatives to create a space for community cohesion and learning around our artists,’ says Debbie Hillyerd, Senior Director Learning at Hauser & Wirth.

Workshop with local children in the Education Lab. Photo: Daniel Schäfer

Residents and the gallery team building the Education Lab. Photo: Daniel Schäfer

A reading area invites visitors to take a seat and explore the poetry books selected by the artist in relation to his practice. ‘The Education Lab is something that I’m really excited about,’ says Rashid Johnson. ‘It’s quiet, not unlike the exhibition itself, but it’s filled with books of poetry which can provide opportunities for real questioning. I hope the exhibition does that and the education component furthers that narrative.’

The Education Lab is part of Hauser & Wirth’s global learning platform that runs projects for individuals, schools, students, special interest groups and families, to instigate a dialogue between art, artists and a diverse audience. Building on the success of Mark Bradford’s Education Lab in Menorca in 2021, Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles has welcomed 17 students from the Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts based in Downtown Los Angeles, to take part in a series of workshops and discussions. The Education Lab in Los Angeles opens again on 16 July, where students have been working alongside Bradford and his team. Meanwhile, Hauser & Wirth Somerset celebrates its inaugural Education Lab in partnership with Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) open to the public from 28 May to 4 September 2022, inspired by the exhibition ‘Henry Moore. Sharing Form.’

Hauser & Wirth’s ongoing global projects are centered on three core pillars: to engage our communities, to enrich academic programs, and to foster better access to art careers through meaningful partnerships.

The Education Lab at Hauser & Wirth Menorca accompanies Rashid Johnson’s exhibition ‘Sodade,’ on view until 13 Nov 2022. Plan your visit.