Libyan-Italian artist Adelita Husni-Bey describes herself both as an artist and a pedagogue. Her work uses noncompetitive learning models, inspired by pioneers such as the Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal’s participatory theater and workers’ education initiatives.

Often making use of the workshop as a format to engage groups and schools, her work results in a variety of formats: publications, radio broadcasts, archives, exhibitions and films. Her interest is grounded in imagining change in crucial aspects of contemporary society, to analyze the roots of power relations and exclusion. At the same time, her approach reflects on how tools of learning and participation, with their inherent power dynamics, for example in the school system, play an integral function for the state and its economy.

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