Fog: School of Ecological Imagination: International summer school

Location: KAFKÁRNA: The Center for Art and Ecology UMPRUM, Buštěhradská 2, Prague 6

Dates: August 24-28, 2026 (9:00-17:00)

Language of Instruction: English

Rates: Standard rate: € 640

Solidarity rate: € 720 / € 800

Supported rate: € 400

Level: Open to all levels (beginners to advanced)

Capacity: 14-18 people

Learning in fog may sound like learning without clarity, stumbling without purpose. But what if fog can help us refocus attention, cultivate other modes of relating, perceiving and experiencing; enable us to see what usually stays hidden, including the fog itself? Let’s immerse ourselves in fog to fundamentally rethink how and what we learn. Join us in collectively cultivating critical and creative ecological knowledge to meaningfully respond to the multiple environmental and social crises of our time.

The international summer school Fog: School of ecological imagination will provide practical engagement with contemporary art, critical pedagogy, transnational ecofeminism and systemic and ecological thinking. Temporarily embracing disorientation, uncertainty and indeterminacy, Fog will incite curiosity, attentiveness and ecological imagination: the capacity to be a critical and responsible part of the network of more-than-human relationships with the intention to co-create a more just world. Fog will proceed primarily through practical experimentation, developing the transformative potential of artistic practice. You will learn to work with the body as a singular sensory ecosystem intertwined with the world around and within us. Through experiential learning activities such as sensory exercises, performance, drawing, material experiments, interactive reading, discussions, and reflections you will engage with the work of artists, activists, and thinkers including Lygia Clark, Pauline Oliveros, Paolo Freire, bell hooks, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Donna Haraway, Robin Wall Kimmerer, or the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective.

The programme will be divided into thematic blocks, or ecospheres, whose content and form will draw from and actively respond to its unique location—the Center for Art and Ecology at KAFKÁRNA. The main tutors of the international summer school will be visual artist and educator Eva Koťátková and visual culture theorist and ecofeminist Lenka Vráblíková, along with contributors from guest tutors. Rather than offering instantly applicable ready-made activities, Fog is a space for joint experimentation and critical and creative exchange, providing impulses for shifts in individual and collective practices and thought. Participants will explore the foundations of critical pedagogy, systemic and ecological thinking, and try out contemporary art methodologies such as deep listening, autofiction, speculative fabulation, bio-imagination, ecosomatic movement, and sensory inventory.

PARTICIPANTS WILL DEVELOP THE FOLLOWING SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES:

➔ practice-based work with the body, imagination, senses, emotions and eco-somatics.

➔ understanding of contemporary art research methodologies and the ability to apply them within the fields of transformative education and ecology.

➔ understanding of the theoretical foundations and practical methodologies of critical pedagogy, and systemic and ecological thinking for critical analysis of interconnected power relations.

➔ unlearning of extractivist and colonial habits in relation to the more-than-human world, art, and other modes of knowledge production.

➔ ability to work with negative emotions, both individually and in a group that may arise when encountering challenging environmental and social issues.

➔ collaborative and participatory practice (e.g., dialogic method, active listening) and work with groups (preparation and facilitation of group activities).

➔ design, development, and facilitation of art-based educational activities focused on eco-social concerns.

➔ civic awareness necessary to promote environmental and social justice.

Who is the summer school intended for?

• You believe in the transformative potential of art and are curious about how it can meaningfully respond to the multiple eco-social crises of our time.
• You are interested in—and want to try out in practice—how to connect art with ecology, critical pedagogy and transformative education.
• You are a student or graduate of an art/humanities programme, such as fine arts, design, art history, curating & museum studies, cultural studies & anthropology, sociology & social work, education, environmental humanities, etc.
• You are an artist, educator, community worker, activist, dreamer and/or professional working in cultural and creative sectors, or any other practitioner who wants to develop critical and creative methodologies in relation to ecology.

LOCATION:

Kafkárna is a century-old sculpture studio and garden that was established in Prague’s residential district Ořechovka for sculptor Bohumil Kafka (1878-1942). Kafka created his monumental works here, including the statue of 14-15th century military leader Jan Žižka now situated on Vítkov Hill. Since the early 1990s, the building has been used as a sculpture studio by the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM), first under the leadership of sculptor Kurt Gebauer, and since 2011 under the leadership of artist and educator Dominik Lang and other co-directors, namely Edith Jeřábková, Isabela Grosseová, Kateřina Vídenová, Tereza Jindrová and Amálie Bulandrová. Since then, Kafkárna has begun to open to the public. Symposia, exhibitions, and other events, such as the Hostina [Feast] series, began to take place here. In 2022, the Center for Art and Ecology was founded at Kafkárna. It continues to implement a programme of activities to provide a "cultivation ground" for the meeting of art and ecology, where the critical and creative potential of the artistic, intellectual and activist spheres are connected in the context of education. Through the hosting of workshops, symposia, screenings, dinners and programmes supporting community development and work with children, Kafkárna provides space to address current ecological and social issues such as degrowth, food politics, migration, and the co-creation of civic community.

Kafkarna’s indoor facilities and equipment include a spacious sculpture studio, fully equipped kitchen, toilet and shower. The garden contains a number of spaces for group work as well as rest, a pizza oven, outdoor kitchen, compost and fire pit. People with reduced mobility require special assistance in the area as the terrain of the garden and the access paths to the studio are uneven and rocky. If you have questions about accessibility, please get in touch via email (sarka.hastrmanova@umprum.cz).