KAPUTT: The Academy of Destruction – Documentation

KAPUTT: The Academy of Destruction

KAPUTT: The Academy of Destruction was a collaboration between LADA, Sibylle Peters of Theatre of Research and Tate Families & Early Years that took place at Tate Exchange in Tate Modern. London from the 26 to 29 October 2017.

Here you can:

• Watch the video Manifesto of Destruction
• Read Mary Paterson’s response here
• Find documentation of the event and resources to further research into destruction in art
• Download a copy of the Prospectus for the KAPUTT Academy here
• Explore the books on destruction in art that were housed in the KAPUTT library here
• Buy books that relate to destruction in art on a special KAPUTT shelf on Unbound here
• Check out KAPUTT in Germany (24 – 27 May 2018) with Theatre of Research here

We are not supposed to speak too loud, to write on walls, to eat too much sugar, to tear our schoolbooks apart, to smash the china, to cut ourselves, to step out of line. We are not supposed to destroy anything. We are supposed to be productive and creative and safe. Children, adults, all of us. Strangely, while we try hard to be good, we see all kinds of things around us being destroyed. So, who decides what is destruction and what is not? Who has permission to destroy? – Sibylle Peters, Theatre of Research.

KAPUTT asked if we can see destruction in a different way if we look at it through the lens of Live Art. Does Live Art help us see that destruction is not only about violence, hatred and rage, but can be a cultural strategy that is marvellous, manifold, careful and mindful.

KAPUTT explored these questions through a transgenerational team of six children and six adult artists working as equal members. For three days they experimented, thought and acted together and shared their practices, experiences and concepts of destruction in six public sessions at Tate Exchange.

Visitors to KAPUTT were invited to take a trip through the Academy’s facilities: from its Reception to its Library, on to its Assembly Hall where they watched the members of the Academy in action, and finally to the Common Room where they created a research assignment and received their very own KAPUTT diploma.

KAPUTT’s academicians were Sibylle Peters, Heike Roms, Zoe Laughlin, Martin O’Brien, Malik Nashad Sharpe, Ansuman Biswas, Sam (Jazsam), Rubie (Gurrubie), Splendour & Najiba (Splenjiba), Tolu (Principal Tolu the G.O.A.T.), Ruqiya (R.P.H.D.) and Chese (Red Pool). The academicians were supported by the KAPUTT faculty members Hester Chillingworth, Katharina Duve, Zainab (Fidget Zalla) and Tyrell (the acrobatic zombie killer).

Together, they created a Transgenerational Manifesto of Destruction – a film that can be viewed below.

KAPUTT was dedicated to Gustav Metzger (1926-2017)

Credits

KAPUTT forms part of LADA’s contribution to the Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme (CAPP) supported by Creative Europe Programme of the European Union