Furia y Poesía. 10 years of Atelier Romo celebrates the first decade of this workshop and its educational methodologies in art, showing playful processes and a deep education pedagogy that transforms daily life
The exhibition Furia y Poesía. 10 years of Atelier Romo is the first exhibition of educational methodologies focused on art.
Furia y Poesía (Fury and Poetry) is a playful exhibition in which priority is given to the spirit of the workshop, of various processes framed by practical and constant learning. An exhibition that highlights the strategies and the constant changes implemented that build a methodology developed over ten years of work.
When entering Fury and Poetry, the visitor is faced with two large facing walls that frame the entrance and display the title of the exhibition in large red and black typography. Inside, visitors can learn about the Atelier Romo project and exhibit works that reflect the work of different generations. The exhibition seeks to experiment and reveal the processes that shape the ideas of the young creators who formed the first 10 generations, how they are refined and pushed to the limit until they become a work or a piece.
This exhibition shows the pedagogical methodology that Atelier Romo has operated —in the artistic and cultural field of our country— under the concept of deep education, understood as all knowledge that accompanies us and improves our daily lives.
I grew up in a wonderful elementary school. There was a cooperative for learning mathematics that funded the camps, which were transformed into mobile classrooms. In the school workshops, they would build playground games (which still exist), bake bread, or crochet. Of course, the carpentry workshop was one of my favorites. We took classes in some neighboring spaces, which meant a couple of weekly walks that were quite an adventure. We enjoyed a great deal of well-managed freedom. Leaving Herminio Almendros School meant an adolescent journey through institutions where I felt I wasn't learning anything. My interest in art seemed to go unheard.
I was fortunate to have great TEACHERS, supportive and committed people. Later, when teaching, I understood and saw the anxiety, the desperation of some children struggling at university to want to materialize their dreams.
The Atelier was founded out of the need of a small group of university students. They were the ones who provided the initial structure; they knew what they wanted to do and how to do it.
After ten years of continuous work, we developed our own methodology, not an imported one, built by the members of Atelier and complemented by a wonderful group of experts in different disciplines who have generously shared their knowledge and experience.
Atelier Romo is a space where action is prioritized over rhetoric, the friction between disciplines, the exchange of ideas and points of view, curiosity and experimentation, self-esteem, empowerment and autonomy.
We went from being a brotherhood, to becoming alternative education, then “Academy of Visual Thinking” and now we want to delve into the idea of deep education, on our own terms.
I want to thank my students for being my teachers and my teachers for sharing their lives.
Sebastián Romo
December 2020
