Exhibits & Events

AUTOMAT is excited to announce our upcoming programming and experimental exhibition, Office Hours. The first event of its kind to take place at an arts organization in Philadelphia, Office Hours aims to open a dialogue about some of the realities and shortcomings of higher education in the arts. Each Saturday, scheduled programming will include opportunities to build connections and share resources within our community of educators, working artists, and students.

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OFFICE HOURS : Events Schedule

Saturday Feb 18

12-5 PM Open Hours
Invitation to begin activating the gallery space as a collective commons, convening for an informal dialogue at 4 PM
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2:00 PM Feeling Explited

Artist-educator Kaitlin Pomerantz will offer brief remarks on the emotional tangle of feeling excited and exploited by academic labor all at once, some context around adjunct labor as a race and gender equity issue, and a nod toward channels of resistance.
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2:25 PM The Adjuncts Are In

A conversation led by AUTOMAT members on the realities of adjuncting, sharing perspectives on professional capacity, possibilities of connection and community, and alternative paths in academia. Discussion hosts: Jacqueline Yvonne Tull, Addison Namnoum, Kate Testa, Mari Elaine Lamp, and Tess Wei
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Saturday Feb 25

10:30AM Workshop: Open Space Technology
A workshop introducing a dynamic, group-moderated method for facilitating complex conversations that can be used both in and out of the classroom. We will use this method to discuss issues of higher education in the arts as proposed by participants. Hosted by Lydia Smith and Addison Namnoum
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1:00 PM Organizing At the Art School
A discussion about the ongoing efforts of the academic labor movement in the arts, with panelists John Woodin, Adjunct Professor and Member of the UArts Faculty Union bargaining team; Zoe Cohen and Ephraim Russell, Staff Organizers with United Academics of Philadelphia, AFT Local 9608; and Brynn Hurlstone and Olivia Fredricks, MFA Candidates at Tyler School of Art and Architecture and Members of TUGSA, AFT Local 6290
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3:00 PM Activity: The Long Table
An “experimental open public forum that is a hybrid performance installation roundtable discussion dinner party designed to facilitate dialogue through the gathering together of people with common interests” developed by Lois Weaver. The Long Table format will be used to continue the conversation on organizing and academic labor through open discussion.
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4:00 PM Reception
Refreshments and time for connection and sharing
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Saturday Mar 4

12-5 PM Open Hours
Invitation to continue using the gallery space as a collective commons, to provide feedback and reflections, and to connect with the higher education community
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3:00 PM Working Conditions/Learning Conditions: A conversation on the contemporary university.

Panel with Shannan Hayes, Andy Hines, and Dennis Hogan analyzing the university in its many guises: as place of education, as employer, as job training provisioner, as engine of class reproduction, as real estate developer, as investment capitalist, as police department and as agent of white supremacy. The panelists will share some of their own experiences in study and struggle within universities today, and invite audience members to do the same.

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