In 1818, Joseph Jacotot, a French professor, determined to teach his native language at the University of Louvain in Belgium. Many of his students spoke only Flemish; Jacotot knew only French. How could he teach these students his native language without being able to speak to them?

His solution was to use a text translated into both French and Flemish, and in doing so, he proved that a teacher can teach something that they don’t know. With his pedagogical experiment, Jacotot distinguished the difference between “knowledge replication” and “knowledge production.”

How does this story show us how museums and exhibitions can be sites of knowledge production? Let’s talk about it! We will use Jacque Ranciere’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster and Irit Rogoff’s Turning to bolster our discussion. The talk is free and open to the public, and students, teachers, artists, philosophers, art-enthusiasts, and art-unenthusiasts are welcome to attend.

Read Jacque Ranciere’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster here.
Read Irit Rogoff’s Turning here.

About Halsey Talks
Halsey Talks are an ongoing series of roundtable discussions on intriguing concepts in art. While they may take advantage of exhibitions on view at the Halsey Institute, they are open-ended in nature. As a platform for a deeper understanding and discussion of fascinating ideas in art, Halsey Talks are open to all.

Suggest a topic for the future: GrangerBW@cofc.edu