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“THEN THE ATTENDEES CLIMBED ONTO THE ROSTRUM AND DEVOURED THE SPEAKERS”

PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITY
UP 2026

Blasco Ibáñez on Calle de San Vicente upon his arrival in Valencia. Ajuntament de València. Imagen: Arxiu Històric.

Directed by: Carmen Aldama

“A new terrain where everyone is welcome, where education dresses up in its finery and science is fun. Every night the Universidad Popular will become a type of free and free-of-charge theatre of education,” wrote Blasco Ibáñez in the newspaper El Pueblo in January 1903. Blasco Ibañez founded the first people’s university in Valencia, which drew far greater numbers of attendees than the students enrolled in the official university. Now, in the present, we fantasise with the idea that the attendees of the “theatre of education” challenged the authority of the well-meaning teachers, who were devoured by popular wisdom. The photograph would have been taken moments before the storming of the rostrum. 

Following model of adult education centres, since 2008 the Museo CA2M has been running the People’s University programme as a space to reflect on the nature of art today. Over the years, the lectures given by art history and philosophy academics have gradually incorporated other forms of learning based on artistic practice, and artists have been invited to share their working methods and processes. The People’s University attendees have always participated vigorously in the discussions and played an active role in the sessions with the artists, to the extent that they have ultimately become the protagonists of the lecture series. For that reason, the research topic for the 2026 edition of the People’s University is the actual learning group that emerges and flourishes around the programme. A group that is always varied, genuine and fluctuating. 

Over the course of five sessions, we’ll experiment with insubordination, anonymity, collective authorship, resistance, radical confidence, power, cannibalism and other heroic fantasies with which to unleash popular energy. 

PROGRAMME

  • Wednesday 22 April. THE ARTIST IS PRESENT. Javier Tirado Ocón 
  • Wednesday 29 April. SEASON FINALE. Cuqui Jerez
  • Wednesday 6 May. DEVOUR ME AGAIN. Aitana Cordero
  • Wednesday 13 May. TEACHING THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW. Carmen Aldama
  • Wednesday 20 May. GRAND FINALE. Ben Attia and María Moncada

The artist is present

Date: Wednesday 22 April – Time: 6.00 pm – 9.00 pm – Venue: CA2M Museum. Maximum capacity: 20 people.

javier

You come prepared for all the elements: cold, heat, emptiness and rain. When you enter the room, you look for signs from the artist, maybe the path in the eyes of the other. Another crouched behind a name, an image-carapace that goes “crack” when it breaks.

(...)

The division between sky and earth

isn’t the right way

to think about the whole.

(...)

Javier Tirado Ocón (Zacatecas, 1992) is a Mexican artist based in Spain. A descendant of a line of painters of ex-votos, his work examines spiritual manifestations as phenomena of collective hysteria. His best-known works propose rituals concerned with the family or sport (Un cisma volcánico; Pepenadoras y otras funestas ironías). As well as group performances, they feature oil paintings, exhibited as part of the experience.

Season finale

Date: Wednesday 29 April - Time: 5.30 pm – 9.30 pm - Venue: Pegaso (5 Calle de Pegaso, Esperanza / Pinar del Rey metro station) - Maximum capacity: 20 people

cuqui

A working session with or without Cuqui Jerez.

Pegaso has turned strange. It’s where I work. I come. Like this. Confused. To find a finale. I’ve thought of you. I’ve thought of you. For a thing without a name. I left. I came back. You’ll come to Pegaso. It’s where I work. It’s turned strange. I’ll leave the keys for you with J. or I’ll open the door. Here. For a thing. Without a name. One finale. Two finale. Three finale.

Cuqui Jerez is a Madrid-based artist, choreographer and performer. She creates a choreographic language through the body in relation to space, time and objects. Her choreographic work is always related to questions about perception, language and emotion. Her latest investigations revolve around observing the behaviour of things/materials in space/time and the suspension of meaning within a performative aesthetic experience, exploring the limits of language. Creation is her main activity but she’s also involved in various research, curatorial, teaching and publication projects.

UP 3

DEVOUR ME AGAIN

Date: Wednesday 6 May - Time: 5.30 pm – 9.30 pm - Venue: CA2M Museum - Maximum capacity: 30 people.

 

What about surrendering? What about doubting? What if you make all the decisions from now on? What if my resistance is accessible? What if I give myself to you and then we see? What if we both get it wrong? What if you don't want to and that's it? What if I resist even though I promised not to? What if we create some discomfort for a while, but then pleasure and unexpected discovery? What if it's not about roles? What if it’s just a gesture? What if we help one another to support and movement and speed and surprises and maybe to exposing ourselves for a while? Confidence is a practice that maybe isn’t at all easy. I’m going to try, I’ll be yours for a while. Or maybe not.

Aitana Cordero is a choreographer, stage director and researcher specialising in the body, encounters and emotions. Her work operates at the interstices between stage creation, physical research, dramaturgy and teaching, exploring the possibilities of the body as a space for thought, friction and connection. In her artistic practice she questions the ways in which we relate to one another, work together and inhabit communal spaces. Her work incorporates her interest in philosophy, literature, gender theory, painting and gastronomy. She adores objects.

TEACHING THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW

Date: Wednesday 13 May - Time: 6.00 pm – 9.00 pm - Venue: CA2M Museum - Maximum capacity: 20 people.

carmen aldama

After the storming of the stage, when the people had taken the university of its pedestal, the attendees doffed their hats as Vicente Blasco Ibañez’s coffin passed through the streets of Valencia.

Carmen Aldama (Madrid, 1991) is a stage artist. With a degree in Political Science, she works on projects related to creation and art education. She is the co-author of Los arándanos (2019) and Les Myrtilles (2021), with the contemporary theatre collective Les Myrtilles, and the author of the urban drifts Vulnerasti il cor mio (2022) and Vulnerasti cor meum (2023), in partnership with the bell ringers of Madrid. The co-director of the performance festival FREE TOUR, she is a member of the cast of Opus cero with the Ben Attia company, which she has collaborated with since 2016.

GRAND FINALE

Date: Wednesday 20 May - Time: 5.30 pm – 9.30 pm - Meeting point: Outside the CA2M Museum - Maximum capacity: 40 people.

liebre

The “Grand Finale” is none other than death. It’s that great moment when the Subject that speaks, the Discourse and the Word are irremediably abolished. And when the Interlocutor is orphaned, because they no longer have anyone from whom to claim desire. Death is therefore the last tool of the revolutionary impulse. These and other mysteries are the secrets guarded by the Great and Very Illustrious Fraternity of Dead Animals.

Ben Attia (Granada, 1991) is a stage creator. He has worked as an actor and has developed his own projects in the fields of theatre, performance and intervention in public space. He is the founder of initiatives like Sostener lo que se cae, the Laboratorio Inestable del Mohín and Box Levante – Centro escénico del Estrecho. His works have been presented in different national and international contexts. Opus 1 (2023) and Opus cero (2024) are two of his most recent pieces. He lives and works in Algeciras.

María Moncada (Algeciras, 1989) is a choreographer, architect and arts administrator. Her work spans spatial design, stage creation and the activation of cultural contexts. The co-founder with Ben Attia of the Laboratorio Inestable del Mohín and Box Levante – Centro Escénico del Estrecho, she develops projects related to performing arts research and territory. She was a member of the art direction team for the Madrid Three Kings Parade (2020) and she is currently the president of the Alcultura Association, through which she promotes contemporary culture initiatives in the Campo de Gibraltar area. At the same time, she collaborates with the Paco de Lucía Foundation and practises as an architect.

Image credit: Liebres muertas, Francisco de Goya, 1808-1812.

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Activity type
Popular University
Target audience
Anyone interested
Duration
Afternoon session (to be confirmed)
Dates
FROM 22 APRIL TO 20 MAY
The artist is present
Event Date
-
Season finale
Event Date
-
DEVOUR ME AGAIN
Event Date
-
TEACHING THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW
Event Date
-
GRAND FINALE
Event Date
-
Access
Enrolment free

Limited capacity

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REGISTRATION FORM
More information and contact
912760225
educacion.ca2m@madrid.org