Page 22 - Studio International - July August 1971

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workshop three years ago. The worksnop is not
an art school, nor even a qualifying part of the
degree course that is wholly theoretical and
historical. Its strictly pedagogical raison
d'être is that it offers those students who are
interested some voluntary and largely self-
acquired insights into the materials and the
techniques of the arts that they are studying.
But there is a deeper plot. The workshop is
open to everyone, and not only to Fine Arts
students. It offers materials and tools and
instructions in their use that is deliberately
held as close to aesthetic neutrality as possible.
We pretend (and it becomes less and less
difficult) not to know what art is.
Everything is done on a shoestring. The
tutor, Herbert Flugelman, is officially available
one day a week—in fact, much more. Experts of
all sorts give their services, for the sake of the
idea. The premises are ramshackle sheds
awaiting demolition, and the official budget for
tools and materials is just $1000 a year.
Everyone begs and borrows, and if anybody
steals he has not yet been found out.
People have been drawn in from many
different academic disciplines; and of course
this was hopefully envisaged. In particular, a
small group of electrical engineers has adopted
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