Following the success of its initial iteration in Glasgow, Curator Thomas Abercromby led a series of School of Abolition events at Grand Union, Birmingham within Alberta Whittle’s 2022 project, ‘Congregation (Creating Dangerously)’.
The School of Abolition, 2021. Courtesy of Alberta Whittle & The School Of Abolition. Image by Bart Urbanski.
In early 2019, artist and curator Thomas Abercromby worked with the Springburn community council in Glasgow North to help conduct a design charrette. The charrette consisted of a series of hands-on workshops that brought people from different disciplines and backgrounds together over several months to explore the area’s regeneration ambitions. The charrette assembled an interdisciplinary team consisting of city planners, community members, council officials, architects, creative practitioners, parks and recreation officials, and other stakeholders to create a design vision for Springburn. During this time, a community crime and safety meeting took place regarding an announcement by the Scottish Prison Service to build a mega-prison to replace HMP Barlinnie in the area by 2025.
The consensus from the group was that the proposal was counterproductive at tackling crime. Instead, it would only further stigmatise poorer communities and offered those in power an easy ‘solution’ to deal with Scotland’s ever-growing social inequality. The proposal was discussed at length. However, conversations never questioned the expansion of the prison industrial complex or the alarming incarceration rate in Scotland, the highest in Western Europe.
The School of Abolition utilises a pedagogical structure to explore the intersection between abolition work and visual arts. The school fosters a collaborative approach between artists, academics, activists and community groups with the aim of building capacity for abolition work while promoting the vision of an abolitionist future.
Through various activities, including workshops, public art displays, screenings, and publications, the programme provides a space for individuals to share their ideas on abolition praxis while utilising the power of visual arts to engage the public to challenge carceral logics and other forms of societal power structures.
‘The Moon Spins the Dead Prison: An Anthology of Abolition’, School of Abolition publication, 2022.