Lessons in (Conviviality)

Watershed Art&Ecology invites you to an exhibition by the artist Ryan Griffis and collaborators, and a conversation about "conviviality."
About this Event

Watershed Art & Ecology invites you to an exhibition by the artist Ryan Griffis and many collaborators, a glass of something you'd like, and a conversation in the library about philosopher Ivan Illich's notion of "conviviality," as we have spontaneously learned to practice it in our public home.

Ivan Illich was an Austro-Croatian priest in Puerto Rico who became a radical critic of industrial society in the 1960s and 70s. Central to his vision of a possible recovery from the pathologies of modern life was conviviality, which he understood as the autonomous interplay of people among themselves and with their environments. We've just come across this stuff, but it intrigues us tremendously, as it's exactly what happens in the artistic processes and group activities we host. Illich recognized that the particular attitude he upheld was very much part of a social struggle. The struggle to keep our tools from overtaking us.

"Convivial tools," Illich writes, "are those which give each person who uses them the greatest opportunity to enrich the environment with the fruits of his or her vision."

Let's converse together about that.

*Please note that this event is taking place at Watershed Art & Ecology (1821 S Racine Ave, Chicago, IL 60608).

This class has been organized by Laurel Hauge as part of Lessons in (Hospitality) which offers a series of classes during the run of this year’s Ground Floor exhibition (August 9–November 1, 2026).

While each class in this series has been conceived by a different thinker, maker, and/or professional, they are all centered around the subject: hospitality. The project offers the conditions for a multitude of definitions and interpretations of “hospitality” to be shared, enacted, and embodied.