"To come under the shade of this mango tree with such deliberateness and to experience the fulfillment of solitude emphasize my need for communion. While I am physically alone proves that I understand the essentiality of to be with." Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Heart
The structures of formal education systems are increasingly reaching their limits due to their outmoded and inflexible foundations. However informal and artist-led educational initiatives are taking root. documenta 14's aneducation and ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) organise the gathering of Under the Mango Tree—Sites of Learning, which addresses and presents educational shifts, inviting different artistic initiatives and schools, critically positioned outside and within the Western canon, from multiple geographies.
With a special emphasis on both historical and contemporary accounts as well as examples from non-hierarchical models of learning, the gathering addresses forms of indigenous practices of communal production and preservation of knowledge, as well as initiatives that reflect on postcolonial knowledge production in non-hierarchical settings.
Around 20 contributors work towards new vantage points for a contemporary and broadened understanding of learning and knowledge production, in forms ranging from lectures to performances and workshops, where participants of the gathering are invited to actively participate. With reference to the model of a communal garden as a place of teaching and learning, the gathering takes place at various sites in Kassel during documenta 14.
Programme (PDF)
Registration here
Composed by Elke aus dem Moore (ifa) and Sepake Angiama (documenta). Interview with Elke aus dem Moore and Sepake Angiama.
Under the Mango Tree is a cooperation with "an education" of documenta 14 supported through a partnership with ArtsEverywhere, an online platform by Musagates, which places the arts in relation to all aspects of the world around us.
For more information contact the Under the Mango Tree Coordinator and Producer Sabiha Keyif on underthemangotree(at)documenta.de.