What Education for Mars? (2015)

As Bruno Latour, in his book "Laboratory Life" (1979), analyzes scientific discoveries through the study of the interactions between a group of scientists and their families, What Education for Mars? questions the contemporary school-system through the relations among students and between students and teachers. Paraphrasing "Power is not a thing but a relationship" by Michel Foucault, we can interpret education not as a sum of contents but as the interaction between two or more subjects with different roles. So, defining the outspread of knowledge within the school as a dialogue among different individuals, what alternative model can we propose? In 2011 Valerio Rocco Orlando conducted a first series of workshops in a number of high school classes in Rome and produced a video installation composed of portraits, interviews and conversations amongst students imagining how to build a better school. In 2012 this work was exhibited at the XI Havana Biennial and a second production was developed at ISA, The University of Arts of Cuba. In 2013 the third installment of this cycle was produced at The Valley School in Bangalore, India in collaboration with the Krishnamurti Foundation. In 2015, the whole cycle was presented for the first time as a three-channel installation at Museo Marino Marini in Florence. What Education for Mars? is realized with the support of ALA, Nomas Foundation, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Rome; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Bienal de la Habana, Havana; Krishnamurti Foundation, Bangalore.