Practical Fridays was a workshop series, founded and coordinated by artist Philip Matesic from 2013 until 2019. The series expanded practically on Theory Tuesdays, a nonacademic platform for theoretical discussion. Instead of discussing a theoretical text, participants had a hands-on, collective experience of learning something practical from a non-professional. Each workshop was run by a different person at various locations in Zurich, Switzerland.
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During this Practical Fridays workshop, Philip demonstrated how to mix three unique drinks, along with a series of bartending tricks that one could use at home or in a party situation. After the demonstration everyone participated in bottle flipping, cucumber garnishing, orange flaming, cocktail mixing and tasting.
Location: Corner College (Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During this Practical Fridays workshop, Christina Zimmermann performed a collective experiment in “ambiguity perception”. Ambiguity presents a perfect test case for the investigation of the self-organizing processes in the brain.
Departing from experimental practices in Gestalt psychology and Cognitive Science, participants were asked to react to, create and manipulate Rorschach inkblot images, which are commonly used in personality tests: “Do something not to see anything”.
Location: Corner College (Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
This Practical Fridays workshop took place in Dan Krusi’s attic, where he built and installed a fully featured two-seat cockpit and flight simulator. There was a short introduction to flight theory, followed by a practical landing attempt, flown by participants in the cockpit of his homemade simulator.
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
What goes into a compost, and what should not? How do you build a compost? What exactly happens inside it? And how many worms should you ideally find in a handful of compost? During this Practical Fridays session, which took place in Daniel Morgenthaler’s Schrebergarten, Daniel provided answers to these and other questions on compost, also known as the «gold of every biological garden».
Location: Daniel’s Schrebergarten (urban garden)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During this Practical Fridays workshop, Alice McCabe and Linda Furrer workshopped how to assemble a hand-held bouquet and wrap it in a professional manner. Two types of bouquet making were taught, the forward facing and the rounded bunch, which are very popular in Switzerland.
Location: Corner College (Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During Ingrid’s artist residency in Iceland, she was taught the viking way of knitting. After her return to Switzerland, Ingrid was looking forward to teach others this unique art of knitting. During this Practical Fridays workshop, Ingrid supplied the appropriate needles, sheep wool, Fisherman’s Friend mints (to aid in felting) and soothing whale sounds.
Location: Corner College (Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
Anhand von optischen Gläsern und euren mitgebrachten Kameras, Dias, Bildern, werden Sehgeschichten in Form von Zerstreuung (Minuslinse), Konzentration (Pluslinse) und Verzerrung (zylindrische Linse) erzählt.
Im Vordergrund des Workshops stehen die Fragen:
1. Was sehen wir?
2. Wie bewerten, benennen wir das, was wir sehen?
3. Sieht mein Gegenüber dasselbe?
4. Wie verhält sich dazu unserer Sprachgebrauch?
Location: Corner College (Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During this first Practical Fridays workshop, Julia Schwartz taught the basic physical principles of spoken voice use. Each participant, working on a short poem or aphorism and with Julia coaching him/her, ended up speaking the written work in an understandable, clear form.
Location: Corner College (Kochstrasse 1, 8004 Zürich)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During this Practical Fridays workshop, Frank Wittke demonstrated how to create a smooth wall surface with plaster. Specifically for this workshop at Counter Space, architects Stich&Oswald permanently installed an extremely thin plasterboard wall.
During the workshop we put into practice the language of plaster. We collectively explored the specific ways plaster can be mixed with water, resulting in different thicknesses and consistencies. We also paid close attention to the drying times of plaster and used tools to apply it to a vertical surface. By the end of the session we learned the art of making a large wall surface perfectly smooth with plaster.
Location: Counter Space (Röschibachstrasse 24, 8037 Zürich)