Carving Space

Lesley Lokko and Sumayya Vally spoke on pedagogy, architecture, and autonomy for Cooper Union’s annual Eleanore Pettersen Lecture, presenting their work via a performance of four acts: Talking, Teaching, Testing, and Telling. Working in tandem, these “counterparts“ detailed their attempts to transform pedagogy, mirror politics, and carve out the space required to “live out your imagination and not [just] your history.” When asked about framing spaces for learning, Lokko stated that she “aims to provide a Smorgasbord of positions, moving away from a single doctrine, to a space of multiple voices.” Her words were bolstered by Vally, who responded to questions regarding structure and imagination in pedagogy by saying: “Imagination is super political. We need imagination from places of difference rather than just a developmental and problem solving approach.”