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The Silent University

Ahmet Öğüt

About the project

Period

ongoing since 2012

Location

Various locations

External links

Project website
Artist website

Proposed by

Pelin Tan

Topics

Pedagogy & Education Social Design Social Justice

Know more

The Silent University is an autonomous knowledge exchange platform by and for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. It is led by a group of lecturers, consultants and research fellows. Each group contributes to the programme in different ways, which include course development, specific research on key themes as well as personal reflections on what it means to be a refugee and asylum seeker. This platform will be presented using the format of an academic program.

Since 2012, Silent University has involved those who have had a professional life and academic training in their home countries, but are unable to use their skills or professional training due to various reasons related to their status. Working together, the participants have developed course topics connected to their qualifications.

By collaborating with the Migrants Resource Centre, Tate and the Delfina Foundation, London, in 2012, a group of lecturers, consultants and research fellows were identified, who have now taken on leading roles in the Silent University. Each group contributes to the Silent University in different ways, through course development and research on specific key themes. The courses are freely accessible on the project website.

The second base of the Silent University is in Stockholm. Through the Visible Award, the Silent University received financial support in order to sustain the continuity of the project in London and Stockholm, as well as introducing and activating it in Berlin and Paris, where the aforementioned communities constitute significant parts of the society and agreements with local partners have been settled.

Project winner of the Visible Award 2013

About the artist

Ahmet Ögüt, born in Diyarbakir, Turkey in 1981, has gained international acclaim for his subtle references to complex topics including religion, social and rural customs, and the spectre of war, often offset by an edge of humour. Winner of the Volkskrant Art Prize 2011 and the Future Generation Art Special Prize 2012, Ahmet's recent solo exhibitions include shows at SALT (Istanbul), Fondazione Giuliani (Rome); Kunsthalle Lissabon (Lisbon), UC Berkeley Art Museum, Museum Villa Stuck (Munich), Artspace Visual Arts.

Contents

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The Silent University at the Showroom London in collaboration with Visible, 2013
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The Silent University at the Showroom London in collaboration with Visible, 2013
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The Silent University at the Showroom London in collaboration with Visible, 2013
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The Silent University at the Showroom London in collaboration with Visible, 2013
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The Silent University at the Showroom London in collaboration with Visible, 2013
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The Silent University at the Showroom London in collaboration with Visible, 2013
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Silent University, Resource room, London 2012
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The Silent University exhibited at the Visible. Office and Project space, Brussels, 2015
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The Silent University exhibited at the Visible. Office and Project space, Brussels, 2015
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Silet University, Campus London, Tate Modern 2012
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The Silent University, lecture at Tate Modern 2012
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Ahmet Ögüt and some of the London Silent University members receives the 2013 Visible Award at the Oxford University
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The Silent University Language Café in Laura Oldfield Ford's exhibition Itinerant Code, Stockholm, 2015/2016
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Silent University, Hamburg 2018, image by Daniel Nide
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Silent University, Campus Ringlok - Ruhr, Image by Justin for the conference on Political Participation, 2018, Copyright Björn Stork | polynice
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Silent University, Campus Ringlok - Ruhr, Image by Justin for the conference on Political Participation, 2018, Copyright Björn Stork | polynice
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The Silent University Language Café at Tensta konsthall. Image by Tensta konsthall, 2017
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The Silent University Language Café at Tensta konsthall. Image by Tensta konsthall, 2017
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Video statement for the 2013 Visible Award
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Ahmet Ögüt in conversation with Matteo Lucchetti for Visible Storytelling: Society of the Many
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Read Alessandra Saviotti's text, New school models implemented by artists, written in the framework of Visible programme #On Pedagogy

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