Pablo Helguera & Nato Thompson

In this August 2012 conversation, Creative Time’s Chief Curator Nato Thompson talks to Pablo Helguera, a museum educator and pioneer of socially engaged artistic practice, about how art and education can foster new forms of participation and intercultural understanding.

In 2003, Helguera embarked upon one of his most notable projects, the School of Panamerican Unrest – a “nomadic think-tank” facilitating discussions, screenings, performances and partnerships with organizations encountered along the way. Distinguished by the yellow schoolhouse that accompanies Helguera’s project, the School traversed over 20,000 miles, making 40 stops on the way from Alaska to Argentina.

In addition to his art practice, Helguera is Director of Adult and Academic Programs at the Museum of Modern Art, and formerly served as the Head of Public Programs in the Education department of the Guggenheim Museum. He is also the author of 2011's Education for Socially Engaged Art.

This program is part of a regular series, Forms of Life, hosted by Creative Time’s Chief Curator, Nato Thompson and produced for their online magazine, Creative Time Reports, in partnership with ARTonAIR.org. Guests are culture makers whose work posits new ways of looking at political realities. By addressing a wide range of issues such as alternative economies, calcified political structures, new forms of collective living, or simply being a thorn in the side of normality, Forms of Life interviews provide an opportunity to think counterintuitively about social conditions people face around the world.

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