James Elkins (b. 1955, USA)
The Stone Art Theory Institutes

Coming to art school from non-artsy background can be confusing. You listen to a lecturer, you recognise all the words said, but their particular sequences just do not make any sense. At least, not in a way you are used to. Words suddenly appear to have much more ambiguous meanings, philosophical texts get read as poetry, irreconcilable requirements lead to totally contradictory feedback. You ask a question and get a question in return. Is there any way to get it right? Am I going crazy? Or is something very wrong with this particular institution? Don’t they send their lecturers to school?

Then you come across “Why art cannot be taught” by James Elkins and the mystery starts clearing up. Then you want even more clarity and find The Stone Art Theory Institutes series. And gradually you start settling in. If professors from the world’s leading institutions have to arrange conferences trying to figure out what is the nature of artistic knowledge and arrive at conclusion that art cannot be taught, then it cannot be my fault. I am not going crazy. Not in a clinical sense at least. My crazy is totally OK, normal even, or maybe not yet crazy enough. So, better start unlearning everything you’ve learnt until now and see if you can get any wiser – or crazier – or whatever… words are no longer what they used to be…