Truffling

An intuitive process of exploration using multiple senses and strategies to map a world and locate precious nodes.

Truffling implies being attentive to the full network or mycelium, whilst remaining alert to intensities and points of focus.

The truffler is a detectorist who chooses both landscape and gold, and values both equally.

Noosphere

From Ancient Greek νοῦς (nous) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra) : literally “intellect globe”.

The sum total of thought and culture, envisioned as a sphere of interconnections extending to the full planetary scale.

More than rational intelligence, nous includes other capacities of the mind, such as intuition, extrapolation, play, prehension and lucidity.

Truffling the Noosphere

An open-ended adventure through the mycelium of art and thought
attentive to nature and culture, hands and brains, criticality and dreamings
unearthing wild possibilities of speculation, invention and creation
through looking, feeling, thinking and talking
about matter and what matters

Read on for more on the ethos of the seminar

Postcards: Pictures and Paragraphs

Ten recorded talks per quarter (~45mins) to watch or listen at your leisure. These will comprise:

Five “pictures”, looking at a particular artist, artwork, group or element of wider visual culture.

Five “paragraphs”, starting from a quotation, book or oeuvre. These will most often be philosophy and theory-based, but will also include fiction, poetry, criticism, environmental studies, politics, etc.

Truffle Biscuits

A fortnightly, two-hour seminar taking its initial direction from the latest “Postcards” and exploring how the ideas and expressions relate to our studio practice, contemporary issues and daily lives. (Five per quarter)

One-to-Ones

A 45 minute, one-to-one tutorial on your practice (or anything else), once per quarter.

Group Crits

Structured group discussions once per quarter of each member's creative practice.

Annotated Reading Lists

A growing archive of recommended reading, with brief notes on when and why the book or article came up.

Glossary

A growing, searchable archive of vocabulary and definitions of technical or philosophical terms that we come across in the sessions.

Discussion Board

A 24/7 ongoing conversation about the course, our practices and whatever else needs chatting on.

For prices and full descriptions of what is included at each subscription level
please see the main subscription page, here.

~ Experiment ~ Encounter ~ Metabolise ~ Express ~

The seminar has no pre-defined goals. The prepared content and live sessions will involve experimental and reflective encounters with art and theory. The material will be contextualised historically and clear explanations and interpretations will be provided, but the core value of the sessions is to explore how we can actively incorporate the most relevant material into our practice and beyond.

There are neither assignments nor assessments; the instructor's role is not to judge students, but to inform, challenge and learn alongside them. Together we will pursue explorations of our individual practices and values, challenging ourselves, honing our skills and intentions, and opening up to surprises.

The seminar is open to any artists and creatives who wish to engage in thought and discussion. This said, it is not an introductory-level course, and whilst no particular prior knowledge is required, it is expected that participants will have had some experience of pursuing their interest in art and theory.

The most important thing is to have an open approach to ideas and conversation, and a desire to develop your thinking and practice alongside others.

If you are unsure whether you would find the course suited to your needs and existing knowledge, please do get in touch for a chat by emailing contact@jonkshaw.co.uk

Read on for testimonials from former students

testimonial 1

Lorem ipsum
isn't jon great?
~ S.Ummmone

testimonial 2

Lorem ipsum
isn't jon great?
~ S.Ummmone

testimonial 3

Lorem ipsum
isn't jon great?
~ S.Ummmone

Jon K Shaw

is a writer, editor, educator and irregular farmhand based in Orkney. He teaches in a number of universities and colleges including the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London; and in postgraduate Fine Arts at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation.

With Tom Robinson he founded and edited Rattle: A Journal at the Convergence of Art and Writing, and with Theo Reeves-Evison edited and introduced the book Fiction as Method (Sternberg, 2017). He is commissioning editor of the new Zer0 Books series Zer0 Agri, which aims to reconnect real agricultural practice and progressive politics. The imprint will launch its first books in 2023.

Amongst other writing projects, Jon is currently finishing a book on the ecological thought of dissident Surrealist Antonin Artaud, called Lucid Materialism. His "annotated photo-essay" on the film-philosophy of Pierre Creton and the seaweed-eating sheep of North Ronaldsay will be published by SHIMA journal in 2023.

You can read more about him and his work on his website: jonkshaw.co.uk