#which was largely due to the pandemic and i need an MA to fix that

[alexsmitposts]

Shifting Business Models of Higher Education I suspect some colleges and universities will go under in the wake of COVID 19, as they faced with bankruptcy and are having to deal with lower enrollments too. It might be a good time for military recruiters, at least in the US. The capitalist model is in dire straits, some claim is even falling, especially the business model for higher education. But it is it really worth obtaining higher education, especially now. Tuition and other costs are high and the job market is restricted, and why pay top dollar for distance learning? Against this backdrop, President of Brown University, Christina Paxson, recently wrote in the New York Times that reopening universities in the fall should be a national priority. After all, students face practical, financial, and psychological barriers when it comes to remote learning; the sector provides about 3 million jobs, and education spending pumps near $600 billion into the national GDP. The basic business model for most colleges and universities is simple — tuition comes due twice a year at the beginning of each semester. Most colleges and universities are tuition-dependent. Remaining closed in the fall means losing as much as half of our revenue. Going deep in debt for it! One friend who is completing an MA degree wrote to me, “I am working from home at a Midwestern university has not yet re-opened. Don’t know what the future will hold – the university must take a $5 million budget cut this fiscal year and another $25 million budget cut next fiscal year (beginning July 1st). Don’t know yet how they are going to do it – some talk about early retirements but if they don’t get enough “takers” then probably layoffs.” Recent history, especially in a US presidential election year has many people and policymakers asking hard questions. It is becoming clear that anyone keeping up with U.S. higher education in recent months will see that the sector is bracing for disaster with application dates coming, usually by May. Students and parents are both stressed out over how to pay for it, especially at higher tier universities and in light of the reduction in family incomes due to unemployment and a slowed economy. One article makes it only too clear, A Global View of the Pandemic’s Effect on Higher Education, that university funding model that rely on international students for revenue will now have to brace themselves for tough financial times ahead and some are even in the danger of collapse because of travel restrictions. Nearly one-fifth of all international students study in the United States, and of our total enrollment, they makeup around 5 per cent and contribute over 44 billion to the US economy. These students usually pay full tuition, which can average over 35,000 USD a year and another USD 15,000 to USD 20,000 as living expenses. Many funding models depends largely on foreign students to balance their books as they pay full tuition, and are less likely to be funded by scholarships and other university resources. The paper chase impacts many segments of the economy, for instance, the University of Kentucky, this past year, landlords got big dollar signs in their eyes and jacked up rent twice and triple-fold, as student enrollments were at a record high. Now that they kicked out some of their renters, when their leases were up, demanding higher prices, and now they are losing money; tongue in cheek, it serves the greedy pigs right. Karl Marx Lectures There is hidden karma with capitalism too. Greedy landlords (at least sometimes) get their asses kicked when recession comes from around the corner without warning. One landlord kicked out a friend of mine, who had to move in with his girlfriend at his house. He has two kids. He’s good at repair and even remodeling houses and apartments, so that landlord doesn’t know what he lost…and now I don’t think he’ll be able to get double-rent payers. Just a few weeks before the shutdown, real estate was at a feverish all-time high. Houses prices were sky-high, all 1/4-million-USD in Lexington, and selling immediately. A friend in real estate was trying to push me to buy (but buy what? with what income?)–he said people were snapping them up as soon as they went to market. I knew it was all going to crash and burn and told him that I’ll only buy (and I’ll only be able to afford to buy) when there’s blood on the streets. That may be coming soon if jobs don’t return, and I doubt they will anytime soon. All Things Considered Things could definitely be worse, however for most, despite inconveniences, all things considered with some social benefits and support from government. They have their classes, or work on campus as teaching assistants; they have their stipend, many graduate students, and the supermarkets nearby have plenty to eat. Some have to teach from home, the social life and campus activities have come to an abrupt halt. Many teaching and professional qualification examinations have been cancelled in light of the circumstances, and this may cause extra problems later on when tests results are needed and graduates must come back and sit for them. COVID-19 has indeed hit institutions of higher education unexpectedly, as it has all colleges and universities across the United States and World. It came for many right around spring break – students were asked to consider not returning, and then were told outright that that would be it for the semester, much unexpected, very awkward, and especially worrisome for two populations. One is international students. This came up as an issue across the country. Where could foreigners turn in such circumstances? Some had flown home, and had to accustom themselves to remote participation during uncomfortable time zones. Some received special permissions to stay on campus. And some were not able to come back because of shutdowns in flights and over public health concerns. A lot of creativity has gone into handling this point. The second is graduating students. Unfortunately, their final weeks as students, with all the rituals that entail – from parties to formal ceremonies – all went in another direction. It must be emphasized that universities have been accommodating and have kept the interests of their students at the forefront. Normal job fairs are not being held on campus, as before, and the recruitment of new blood is another issue that will affect the business community. At the same time, there is only so much a university can do if it is constrained by public health concerns, budgetary restrictions, and government orders – more so when one considers public universities, and private universities and colleges of size and a scale. A professor was sharing some thoughts the other day (via Zoom, of course) about the model of the university going forward. It will be a different experience for future generations, he speculated, with mixed methods of teaching and learning. The classic seminar of sitting around a table and discussing may go out of style. Another professor contended that her experience coming into a university and making personal connections around a table was what changed her life. There will be a lot of discussions like this about the trade-offs in style and substance in the coming months, possibly years. Financial models of universities will probably have to be re-imagined, for better or for worse. What is of immediate concern is how to move forward in the fall. Most are working to publish their plans, at least contingency plans by mid-June. Presumably, other universities, other than the earlier examples, are going along the same pace as well in order to give enough lead time to prepare, both for themselves and for their students, faculty, and staff. Students too are reconsidering the opportunity costs of even attending a university. Some are opting to stay closer to home and pursue degrees on a part-time basis and continue with their lives the best they can during uncertain times. Education, like many other institutions, has become nothing but another huge over-bloated scam and the return on investment is not as much as it is touted. The situation that is described here is not limited to the US or a specific region of the world. The main problem when it comes to UK universities is that the crisis had already started years ago, and all of this madness adds up to previous issues. The Oxbridge model is immensely expensive, and the main ways to sustainability – research funders, international students, the endowment, the press, executive education, and commercial activity – will all decline at a time when their costs will increase. As you probably know, in 2017 Oxford exposed itself to 100-year bonds for GBP 1 billion to avoid privatization; it worked, and they raised the debt to 3 billion. However, a shift in conditions will make the interest rate higher – how do you pay when things go wrong? It is just impossible to take on more debt, for students and institutions of higher education alike. Going on the market is a short term fix but not a solution. Conversely, the most flexible and affordable universities in Europe are those like the Open University (or Oxford, which has earned a reputation with online learning, and has even more potential) and will continue and improve their performance. Others are investing a lot in distance learning, such as Exeter. However, the terrible combination of the COVID emergency plus Brexit (ergo, losing the generous EU funds for research as well as the most skilled European students and lecturers) will make British Universities empty, and go bankrupt. UK Universities make money with post-graduate overseas students since Chinese and Asian people come here with very little English (not to say about their study skills) but willing to pay a fortune to get a piece of paper. Once back home, they can spend their qualifications very easily and get high positions. If students don’t come or go somewhere else, the whole system fails. There are several things UK and international universities can do, one is the Nottingham University Modelo, which has opened branches overseas. And instead of running after learners to come to the UK, learners can find branches close to home. Another option is to create partnership with other institutions so that they can add cherry onto the cake. For instance, additional lectures or certificate programmes, or by providing summer programmes around the world. Another one is aiming at blended programs, which is quite hard since the competition from European universities will become unbearable. In countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium or Austria you can find some of the best institutions in the world with a spotless reputation (I am thinking, for instance, to Groningen or Berlin) which are nearly free! How can you compete with that? It’s looking grim on enrolment but to be honest, we are all just waiting to see how many show up. A major challenge is international students – embassies are just not going to process visas. So we will have students who will be stuck here in the US and many who won’t be able to get here. It’s going to be a very large loss on top of lower domestic US numbers. I suspect many students will take a gap year and see what transpires rather than do more online courses. For me, this situation is a real opportunity to radically rethink society. From that, I realize we need to really look at future-proofing and building a truly resilient society. Just like after WW II there was a progressive and radical rebuilding of society, and I think that’s what is needed now- a few bailouts will not be enough It looks that we know what to do but the leadership is lacking. I think the idea that after all of this madness there might be a restart is shared by many, but is misleading at the same time. Provided that giving things another go makes sense, we have to remember that one thing is a contingency and one is the social system we are all in – something that is very difficult to modify in the short term.

[swisscgny]

MEET NEIL ENGGIST

We recently interviewed Swiss-American painter Neil Enggist to talk about his life, work and how he is coping with self-isolation. Neil’s exhibition The Practice of the Wild was supposed to open at the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York last month as the 8th edition of Art@The Consulate but was postponed due to COVID-19. 

Hi Neil, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Where are you right now? It is my pleasure. I’m in New Jersey. I have a backyard studio near Princeton, in the old house where I grew up. I’m staying put as much as I can.

Tell us about yourself, where did you grow up? My mother is from Taiwan and my father was born and raised in Luzern, both coming for graduate studies in 1969 to Buffalo. I was born and raised in Princeton Junction in an old stone house near a small forest and the train station. My father was teaching in the Bronx and Connecticut, then trying his hand at importing Swiss Chocolate, but at some point in the 1970s, he turned to stained glass. I remember him cutting, wrapping, and soldering in the backyard. My mother worked for the state of NJ, and drew from the model in her spare time. I drew dinosaurs like a maniac, not very well I may add, but at some point around age 7, my father asked me to draw a dinosaur that he made into a stained glass panel. As a family we traveled to Luzern about every 2 years, and I still remember the smell of Birenwecken and lightning over the Vierwaldstättersee. I drew all the time but wasn’t precocious, as a youth, I was shy, quiet, hot tempered, diligent with school, perfectionist, and mostly played soccer and saxophone and you know, did my math homework.

When did you know you wanted to become an artist? I went to art school at Washington University in 2000, but it wasn’t until studying abroad in Florence in 02 that I had the feel of becoming an artist. There is a laminated portrait from first grade, age 6, where I put into writing that I wanted to be an ‘Artist.’ But in Florence my life felt like it shifted from art student to artist, 3 dear friends and I shared an apartment on Piazza Independenza, learning photography, printmaking, illustration, bookmaking, Italian and art history at a tiny art school called Santa Reparata. My future Love lived up the street and sometimes the cheap red wine would flow. Behind every door were Renaissance frescos, leaping off the walls were Donatellos, and it was the beginning of my explorations as a painter. I would paint plein-air small landscapes and cityscapes with oils, but by the end my ambition grew into a very large Kandinskyesque abstract rendition of Michelangelo’s Final Judgment fresco from the Sistine wall. A year later, back in St. Louis I declared painting as my major, and in the words of Joe Campbell, began ‘following my bliss.’

Neil Enggist, Sea on Earth, acrylic and stain on wood, 2011

How would you describe your style? Has it changed over the years? I would say it’s an Organic Abstract Expressionism, or Nature Action Painting. Over nearly 20 years, YES it has changed! Like a photon going from point A, painting the Ponte Vecchio, to B, dancing on a piece of steel with turmeric and ocean water, taking every single possible path! To say it’s moved linearly would be wrong, but there is a sequence of transformations or leaps, in the Ozarks, Mysticism, Heartbreak, Dylan, New Mexico, Traveling Europe, The Mir, snow painting, India, Brooklyn, Voice and Veil, Gardening, going cross county, yoga, India again, the dance, steel, the tides, The Tao and the Yellow Mountains, devotion. I’m very interested how Dylan’s work has transformed and shifted, beyond expectation, without calculation, yet somehow almost always in line with his poetic essence. My paintings have changed like dinosaurs and birds, from a common source, many branches, some seemingly from different worlds, some becoming bones and fossils, some soaring through the sky.

Tell us about your artistic practice, where do you paint, what inspires you? Well we can start with Highway 61.. music of the American vernacular, jazz, blues, country, rock, folk, hip hop.. from Louis Armstrong, Strange Fruit, Charlie Parker, to the early Bluesmen of the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson, folksingers like Woody Guthrie, onwards and outwards to Wutang and Nas. Basquiat inspires me. Ana Medieta, DeKooning, Paul Klee, David Hammons, Polke, Mel Chin, James Turrell, Richard Long, Kerry James, Doig, Ofili, Wangechi Mutu, John Akomfrah, Bonnard, Matisse, Puryear too. Gary Snyder's brilliant collection of essays 'The Practice of the Wild,' from where the title of the exhibition comes, has helped me attune to the wild systems at play in nature and within, and continues to evolve my way of thinking, seeing, and creative being. Taking a journey into nature, not just a dip into nature, but really feeling the connections, the web that runs through the forest and is woven into your own nature. The Redwoods, the Swiss Alps, the Coast of California.. I lose and become myself here. In my practice, nature is welcomed into the process of artistic creation. The imagined line between artistic intention and the creative functioning of wilderness is blurred, or more accurately, these spheres merge into a unified moment. It’s a spiritual practice, a kind of Taoist exercise, merging with the changes of the natural world, not holding, not fixing, listening to what the painting wants to become, and finding the color to enable the beholding. I paint outside and on the road, sometimes inside.. anywhere..

Neil Enggist, Odyssey III, acrylic, dye and turmeric on canvas, 2020

What role does Switzerland play in your life/art? My family has a house in Luzern, with a balcony opening to a view of Mount Pilatus that I would call perfect.. at least on the days where it’s not obscured by Nebel! Since 2012, I’ve been spending many springs / summers living there, in the bohemian remodeling of our chalet attic called the Macolette. I have painted and drawn our view of Pilatus so many times, it is ingrained in my mind’s eye. I’ve explored and hiked the mountains surrounding the Vierwaldstättersee, Grindelwald, Engadin, and Zermatt, finding places on and off the path to paint. When I am in the mountains, alone with my pack, in the quietude and breathtaking beauty, I feel something akin to being home, being one with myself, being on my true path. This feeling is fleeting and eternal. Also, during many of the summers, I have worked with my great friend and mentor, garden designer, Andre Ammann, constructing and maintaining gardens around Luzern. Working with him has taught me in so many ways, to notice the minute changes of spring, to work with contrasts of nature and culture, to understand placement of boulders and trees, how to create a riverscape, to dissolve into the consciousness of the river. When we are done with the work, all cleaned, raked, and hosed down, Andre and I look at our work, and he’ll say, ‘Now, the garden starts, try to see how this will look in 10 years, in 50 years..’ This has been a major influence in my own ‘Practice of the Wild’ and painting. It has also taught me how to shovel!

You have traveled all over the world, how has the nomad life shaped your art? As a traveler, painting becomes the act of experiencing and processing place; the painting becomes an archive of experience. Traveling serves to connect the painter with the uncomfortable and uncalculated, which forces a spontaneity and body-memory response. I aim to paint as one would do battle and dance and play jazz at once. In traveling, the painter becomes the abstraction, inhabiting transient and visionary territory. Materials from places of special significance, white gypsum sand from New Mexico, pigment from the Holi festival of India, black sand from Kanyakumari, gravel from Highway 61, layer into the topography, giving the painting a personal geographic context, while opening formal and textural possibilities. On the road, I explore the spiritual territory of color, and natural occurrences of unearthly blues.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, travel is no longer possible, in what ways has the pandemic shaped your practice / life? I just drove from California to NY in 5 days to install the Consulate show, just before the Covid situation hit the fan. I am supposed to be in India right now, doing a residency in the Himalayas! I’ve had a number of shows postponed and it just really doesn’t seem like people are buying many paintings right now.. But, really compared to people who are sick, caring for loved ones, and risking their lives to care for others, my sacrifices are minuscule. And I can most surely still paint! But I’m trying to use this time to do things I would have done in ‘normal’ times, but there are no normal times anymore. I’ve been making sculptures out of half rotten wood using an ax and a handsaw. I’ve been learning some Tai Chi from my Ma. I’ve started reading the Mahabharata. I’ve been texting whole a lot of hearts to California and writing love songs, and staying out of the bar.. 

Neil Enggist, That Great Mysterious Storm, acrylic, ink, oil and sand on canvas, 2010  

What important lessons do you think we can learn from the impact of the pandemic? Well, first and foremost gratitude for life, health, and for the things that we used to take for granted. To be grateful for the people who are dear to us. This may sound cliché, but the pandemic has shown us how connected we are, for better and for worse. We are interdependent, and what affects one region affects the global community. I hope that people can stop and reassess their personal and collective relationship with the planet.  In a profound and dire way, humans and our socio-economic systems have entered an unbalanced, virus-like relationship with this Earth. Humans seem to need wake up calls to affect changes, I hope this pandemic serves as a paradigm shift for enough of us. We are in this together. Yes when this is over, it will be great to go to a yoga class, an Indian restaurant, and to toast with friends, but we each need to use this time to reaffirm our commitments to each other and to all beings of this planet, and not go back to business as usual.  

What advice do you have for people stuck at home? Can you recommend something to read, listen or watch? Well I’m a Liverpool fan, and we were just about to WIN the premier league, so I’ve had to go back and watch Liverpool highlights to cope. There’s a lovely interview with the legendary skipper Steven Gerrard in conversation with Gary Neville on youtube. I’m a very lazy television watcher, meaning I don’t really watch new things, so it’s The Sopranos, and very little else. Peaky Blinders is good, violent, but solid. Kurosawa’s ‘Dreams’ is a ravishing movie.  I just saw ‘Purple Rain’ again, EPIC. When I drove across country I listened to Toni Morrison’s own reading of her novel ‘A Mercy,’ and it took my breath away, literally every sentence .. I don’t know how I even made it!  She’s a true master in telling a harrowing story in pure poetry. Also reading ‘An Indigenous People’s History of the United States’ and Leonard Peltier’s ‘Prison Writings.’  Musically I needed a lil rock, so I went back to the Black Keys ‘Brothers’, Brittany Howard’s solo ‘Jaime’ is good, JS Ondara, Black Pumas, Valerie June’s ‘Love Told a Lie,’ AM!R’s ‘Parachute, ‘ and the syrupy ‘Cigarettes after Sex.’ I’ve been listening as well to Gann Brewer’s most recent ‘Absolution.’ I made the video for his ‘River Song.’ Tracy Chapman’s first album is incredible. Springsteen’s ‘The River’ is like his White Album and sometimes I need to hear the Boss sing ‘Heart and Soul’ over and over.. and hear that ‘Drive All Night’ sax solo by the late great Clarence Clemons. I am from Jersey, don’t forget. Listening to a lot of John Prine too, and with his recent passing, his music shines like a diamond ring. ‘Christmas in Prison’ is one of my favorites of many. Oh and Bob Dylan just released a 17 minute song about the assassination of JFK, and it’s .. indescribable.

Thank you Neil! 

To find out more about Neil Enggist go to www.neilenggist.com, contact Neil at [email protected] and follow him @neilenggist 

Scroll down for more information about the exhibition The Practice of the Wild which will open to the public as soon as it is safe to do so. Please note that all paintings depicted in this article are featured in the exhibition. 

NEIL ENGGIST

THE PRACTICE OF THE WILD 

8TH EDITION OF ART@THE CONSULATE 

THE PRACTICE OF THE WILD by Swiss-American painter Neil Enggist is comprised of a series of abstract mixed media Nature Action Paintings, a method by which nature performs an integral part in the artistic process. 

Neil Enggist, The Storm Ends, acrylic, ink, dye and sand on canvas, 2019

“My work seeks to embody the random precision through which life and spirit intersect. Within a liminal environment, I present set of conditions where the form can be born through an unfolding of natural currents. The nature of water, marks of evaporation, melting, freezing, burning, gravity, animal tracks, traces of dance, time, storms, tides and all manner of seasonal and emotional weather coincide to transform the canvas into a terrain in flux. Whether I am dripping ink into a melting tuft of snow, pouring the ocean on burning ink, or slashing the surface with a fallen pine branch, each action is composed within a system of nature. The result is a site of becoming where oceanic, emotive, and mystical stories interplay” 

Raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Neil Enggist studied fine arts at Washington University in St. Louis and Santa Reparata in Florence. He earned his MFA at San Francisco Art Institute in 2016 where he made paintings on steel in the tidal zones of the Bay Area, searching for a language between art and nature, incorporating ideas of performance and sculpture imbedded in the earth art movement. Enggist has participated in a number of art residencies including the Lucid Art Foundation in Point Reyes, CA, and most recently journeyed to the land of his grandmother to paint the City of Shanghai and the Yellow Mountains of China. Through his extensive travels in Europe, the Americas, and Asia he developed a body of painting and poetry shown in New York, Milan, Mumbai, Luzern, and Paris. Enggist lives and works between New York and Luzern, Switzerland.

Neil Enggist, The Schreckhorn, acrylic, ink, pigment and oil on canvas, 2007 

THE PRACTICE OF THE WILD is the eighth edition of Art @ The Consulate, a curatorial initiative by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York to showcase the work of Swiss artists living in the United States. Follow Art @ The Consulate on Social media #SwissArtNYC

Neil Enggist, A Candle Burns at Night,  Acrylic and ink on canvas, 2008

#SwissArtNYC