Hyperallergic, December 17, 2018

Published on December 13, 2024

Best of 2018: Our Top 15 Brooklyn Art Shows
December 17, 2018

An excerpt from the article originally published here.

Free Education! The Free University of New York, Alternate U, and Learning Liberation at Interference Archive

October 11–January 27, 2019

Imagine flipping through a course catalogue offering “Social Change in Urban America,” “First Aid for Radicals,” and “Revolutionary Tarot.” These aren’t a utopian dream in 2018 Bushwick, but just some of the 1969 courses at the Alternate U, originally Free University of New York: an institution near Union Square where anyone could propose a class and the public, for a small fee, could enroll. Interference Archive, itself a descendent of such projects, presents the syllabi, posters, audio, books, and films produced by FUNY/AU, and connects it to today’s debt strike, unionization, and decolonial student movements. The ephemera are a treat to read through, a reminder that the debt-free, anti-hierarchical, progressive school we need is not only possible, it’s already happening. Free Education! was curated by Jakob Jakobsen and Interference Archive. —Ryan Wong