Gymnasium is an artistic experimentation lab project by casaBranca, aimed at children and young people from the educational community of Lagos.
Each school year, artists from the most diverse backgrounds are invited to work directly in the schools through Laboratories & Workshops, where contemporary artistic creation serves as a tool for fostering sensitive and integrated approaches to learning. These sessions create spaces for action, thought and free experimentation, which are shared horizontally between children, youths, artists and teachers.
Taking the Laboratories & Workshops as its central element, the Gymnasium program then unfolds into a series of parallel activities that seek to put into context and embody the practical laboratorial experience – and also the aesthetic one – including the presentation of performances, informal end-of-process sessions, artistic workshops for teachers, open talks, debates, masterclasses and a school film club.
Starting in 2024, building on the strong foundation developed over the years in close collaboration with the schools, Gymnasium will expand its mediation work by introducing a festival for young audiences – Encontros Gymnasium.
This biennial event will focus on the presentation of works by the artists who were invited to collaborate with the schools.