Astro-travelling in a space between art, design and activism, the aim of the Dirty Art Department is to support the development of singular practices, both individual and collective, that can operate as 'agents' for a possible planet or multi-verse to come. Regardless of medium or subject, it intends to give an insight into how to place these practices into the existing contexts of art, design, activism, performance, writing, pizza making, brick throwing etc. The final challenge is to create new context, that is, the transformation of reality, or, the revolution in contemporary terms. The Dirty Art Department promotes a strong theoretical and philosophical agenda and is open to dangerous attempts and spectacular failures in practice. It sees itself as a journey, and wherever it stops off, it remembers that Any Space is the Place.

Following the tenet of a non-pedagogic pedagogy, the department see its role as creating situations for things to happen: from buying one way tickets on the road to nowhere, initiating the occupation of Papaverweg in 2014, and the creation of the autonomous living and project space Post-Norma.

Our long term collaboration with the Macao Collective includes the Wandering School (2016), a collective living and social sculpture that was nominated for the inaugural Milan Design Prize in 2017, followed by the Wandering School Part 2: Revolution or Bust! (2018), a dérive that included meeting Franco “Bifo” Berardi as the oracle of Delphi, walking through the wilderness to Athens, clashes with Titans, a peace offering to the gods, helping to rebuild a refugee centre, regular encounters with tear gas, and just simply being there. The collective film Revolution or Bust! was presented at the third Youth Biennale of Bolzano (2018), curated by Christian Jankowski.

In 2022, the department collaborated with the children of Banana Mountain, an off-grid, anarchist, free school located at the base off the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain. While living off the basic and sustainable resources at hand, together we discussed, conceived, and presented a “Festival for the Planet to Come.” In 2023 the department supported and participated in the first ever World Congress for Climate Justice in Milan. Where we get to next depends on you, looking forward!