RECONSTITUTING TOLSTOY COLLEGE

Assistant Professor Steven Chodoriwsky - Fall 2021

Assistant Professor Steven Chodoriwsky, as part of the working group Collective Question, recently opened the exhibition “F: Reconstituting Tolstoy College” at UB Art Galleries in Buffalo, New York.

The show examines the genesis, lifespan, and eventual dissolution of College F—an anarchist educational community known colloquially as Tolstoy College—which operated within the University at Buffalo between 1969 and 1985. Bringing together the results of archival research, oral history, and a design and construction workshop, the exhibition considers Tolstoy College’s activities and impulses and weighs the possibilities of an anarchist pedagogical experiment today.

F was organized by Collective Question (Steven Chodoriwsky, Chris Lee, and Julie Niemi) and Liz Park, Curator, UB Art Galleries, the exhibition includes a short film, made in collaboration with Ben Balcom; a series of furniture sculptures, built alongside participants from Assembly House 150 (Quincy Koczka, Adrienne Massey, Frances Parson, and Meaghan Rolle-Heldwein); and an installation by Kameelah Janan Rasheed. These interventions are anchored by a selection of archival materials, which together recast Tolstoy College’s project of forming trusting collective groups that take shape around a common goal of honesty, frankness, and informality.

More information about the show, which runs until March 2021, as well as additional in-person and virtual programming, can be found at: https://ubartgalleries.buffalo.edu/exhibitions/f-reconstituting-tolstoy-college/

Photo credit: Nando Alvarez-Perez