The Locksmithing Graduate Institute of CA53776V2.gallery
Lesson #15: Student as Authority, Gatekeeper, and Curator
On September 17, 2022 and June 4, 2023, students were taught Lesson #15 of The Locksmithing Graduate Institute. Alex Lukas converted the dashboard of his 2007 Ford Ranger into a gallery that can travel anywhere in the United States called the CA53776V2.gallery. Anyone interested was be taught how to use a “slim jim” to open the door lock of the truck. Next, students were invited to leave behind a small piece of themselves and contribute to a group sculpture that was displayed in the gallery’s main exhibition space. As always, the class is free and open to students of all ages, abilities, status’, and backgrounds. Full lesson plan below:
The Locksmithing Graduate Institute of CA53776V2.gallery
Lesson #15: Student as Authority, Gatekeeper, and Curator
The faculty and staff of The Locksmithing Graduate Institute are pleased to announce its first class in over five years. In Lesson #15, students will first be taught how to use a “slim jim” to open the door lock of the CA53776V2.gallery. Next, students will be invited to leave behind a small piece of themselves and contribute to a group sculpture that is being displayed in the gallery’s main exhibition space.
Over the years, we at The Locksmithing Graduate Institute have noticed that many students don’t initially feel like they have the aptitude or the background to learn how to be a locksmith. Many of the lessons of The Locksmithing Graduate Institute have sought to empower students by showing them that they too have the skills, agency, and intellect to understand the mechanical and conceptual functions of the tangible and conceptual locking devices that we are all subjected to. The classes have attempted to pull the veil away and reveal to students that much of the prestige and power that we endow our locks with –and the authorities that have installed them– are little more the a shared illusion or at best a complicated set of social agreements that propagates and perpetuates a specific history and narrative.
The lessons of The Locksmithing Graduate Institute have attempted to show students the “backdoor” and that they can gain access to the social wealth that is at times kept physically and symbolically locked away by people in positions of expertise and authority. These gatekeepers often define what is considered powerful, important, intelligent, and historically significant. In Lesson #15, students will be shown that they too have the power to open up the institutionalized power contained within the CA53776V2.gallery and in turn can become their own authority, gatekeeper, and curator by contributing to a shared artistic gesture.
Although The Locksmithing Graudate Institute has always insisted that its students abide by all local, state, and federal laws, the faculty and staff have composed a code of ethics that we hope each student will sincerely follow.
The Locksmithing Graduate Institute Ethical Promise:
I do solemnly swear, that from this day forward,
I will use the lessons that are being gifted to me in this class,
As research to inform my personal growth and the healing of our world.
I will behave in a way that protects the interests,
Of my community, my family, my teacher, and this institution.
I will never use this knowledge to break any local, state, or federal laws.
I understand that the lessons of this class,
Are not designed to teach me how to break into places or how to steal things.
The lessons of this class are designed to empower me and effect positive change.
As always, the class is free and open to students of all ages, abilities, status’, and backgrounds. Today’s lunch will be an assortment of chewing gum of all flavors, ingredients, colors, and varieties.
