RND_000
Workshops are a staple in my teaching and they are a great opportunity to confront ideas, especially with a new group of students. Recently I was invited to ESA Saint-Luc in Brussels to give the second-year graphic design students an introduction to working with code and generative strategies. That may read as rather grand and pretentious. A three-day workshop is a short time to learn about code and generative art and design. Consequently, I had initially thought about sharing some of my thoughts on the finer details of how this workshop was organised and of how it turned out. While attempting to draw up a first draft of this idea, I found myself more drawn to sharing something else.
Some Common Sense Sentences On Workshops.
a). The purpose of a workshop is to explore and learn together. It is a time and place to exchange and simply try things out. Sharing is an essential common goal. It is equally about what you give to others as it is what you take from the experience.
b). The person conducting a workshop is a facilitator. This is directly linked with the above statement. Workshops should not be used as a means for communication or the advertising of a person or entity. The person or persons leading are there to open doors, not to put up posters of themselves.
c). There is no pre-defined end. The objective or objectives are a pretext for motivation. The true goal is in the process of learning, not in some pre-thought finality.
d). The process is intrinsically linked to the sharing of the common and this is in direct relation to the amount one learns.
e). The more one gives, the more one can learn.
f). Workshops start with the individual and progress to the group.
g). The facilitator should organise moments for exchange throughout the workshop.
h). Workshops instigate further inquiry and research.
i). Research is what all creatives occupy themselves with whenever they are not dealing with some fixed idea.
j). Finish a workshop with simple observations. In the end, everyone can learn something. And that something is invariably from others and in the understanding that all ideas have something to gain from the sharing of one’s thoughts with others.
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RND_000 was a three-day workshop where students explored some loosely defined ideas around generative tools written in Processing, instigating a time to experiment, share, and discuss. As a bonus, we printed out our work and made a website, attempting to derive some understanding of what we made using a system of classification - an approach that remained open and flexible.
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Esa Saint-Luc Workshop 2026 Website
https://rnd000.netlify.app/
For further notes about my pedagogical approach to teaching code to graphic designers, you can learn more at the links below.
Designing Programs
https://designingprograms.bitbucket.io/
Off The Grid
https://mwebster.online/dev/journal/offthegrid
Some student work
https://www.are.na/mark-webster-1526199907/designing-programs-student-work
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You may well know that I recently published a book on two of my artistic works. Hyper & Cosmic is published by Vetro Editions and can be ordered here. Please consider supporting. Kind regards.