Two distance courses open for application now:  Self-Organisation in Contemporary Arts; and On Friendship and the Political Imaginary.

Self-Organisation in Contemporary Arts (FKASOR)
This new course is offered at postgraduate level, is free for EU nationals, delivered in English, and carries 15 credits (ECTS). It is taught via Zoom, including online presentations, seminars, discussion forums, practical workshops, and supervision. The course runs from August 31, 2026 to the end March 2027, primarily on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4–7pm (Central European Time). 

What are the conditions for self-organisation—and its imaginaries — in a world intent on deepening exclusions and divisions, reducing access and justifying extraction and assimilation, whilst revering individualism by celebrating elitism and vindicating those already in positions of domination to consolidate their power further?

With its roots in paradigms of refusal and resistance; independence, alternativity, secession and disassociation; and in practices that foster operative solidarities, how is self-organisation now being imagined, and under what conditions? With its focus on co-working, the sharing of knowledge and resources, and its diversification from traditional artistic skills towards models and structures of organising otherwise, can self-organisation be understood as an artistic practice?

The course will be a platform for participants to co-learn by debating and deliberating on such questions. Participants will explore self-organisational practices and skills by developing and testing a project proposal. The course is convened by Jason E. Bowman with Dr. Kerry Guinan. Guests will include Dr. Dave Beech, Dr. Julie Crawshaw, Dr. James Schofield and The Otolith Group (Dr. Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar), with more to be announced.

A call for expressions of interest will soon open for a related conference and exhibition on self-organisation (at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, 27-29 November 2026) co-organised by Dave Beech, Jason E. Bowman, Julie Crawshaw and James Schofield. Contact: J.P.Schofield@ljmu.ac.uk for info. Course participants can attend at their own cost.

Application universityadmissions.se (for international applicants) and via antagning.se (for Swedish applicants). Deadline April 15.

On Friendship and the Political Imaginary (FKAKPO)
This highly successful, post-graduate level course is taught in English via Zoom, free to EU nationals, 15 credits (ECTS). Includes online lectures, co-reading sessions, seminars, workshops and optional IRL meet-ups: Stockholm, September 25–28, 2026 (attending CAPIm's Annual Symposium); Barcelona, December 7–9, 2026; Gothenburg; and January 13–15, 2027. The course runs August 31, 2026 to January 17, 2027 with online sessions various weekday evenings 4:30–7pm (CET).

The core is an intensive interdisciplinary reading programme (art theory, criticism, curatorial discourse, cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy, literary criticism and political theory) that draws upon CAPIm's research, particularly Mapping the Political Imaginary (2025–27) and Artists’ Organising in Times of Upheaval (2026–27).   

Questions addressed include: What is the significance of social relations (friend, neighbour, comrade, ally, kin, colleague, ancestor) amid ascendant authoritarianism, ethnonationalism, oligarchy and neofascism? Whose social relations matter when genocide and mass violence are simultaneously live-streamed and disavowed? What do state-led internationalisms of the non-aligned and internationalisms-from-below have to teach about current re-distributions of violence and resistance? How do practices of relationship respond to dynamics of censorship and pre-emptive compliance with repressive authority? What are the artistic practices, strategies and infrastructures that in this space? 

Previous guests include: Nick Aikens, Adam Benmaklouf, Kathrin Böhm, Jason E. Bowman, Céline Condorelli, Julie Crawshaw, Gary Farrelly, Quinsey Gario, Deborah Jackson, Steven Henry Madoff (co-founder of the original course), Marie-Anne Mancio, Walter Mignolo, Jota Mombaça, Jyoti Mistry, Ratna Mufida, Sarah Pierce, Bojana Piškur, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Helena Reckitt, Grace Samboh, Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach, Shuddha Sengupta, Thiago de Paula Souza, and Claire Tancons. 

Teaching team comprises: Giulia Menegale, Dr. Michele Masucci, Dr. Nick Aikens, and Prof. Mick Wilson.

Application universityadmissions.se (for international applicants) and via antagning.se (for Swedish applicants). Deadline April 15.

Both courses are associated initiatives of the Centre for Art and Political Imaginary.