Fotograf Magazine

Visual Studies Workshop (henceforth VSW) is an art-educational institution whose comprehensive mode of working offers a significant inspiration to today’s search for new forms of cultural organization. All VSW activities depend on close community cooperation. Whether it be students, creators, or various public groups, VSW’s communication strategy always presents a sensitive dialogue and an effort for participatory and horizontally planned action. In the American city of Rochester, where VSW has been based since its founding in 1969, the institution stands as a supposed alternative to the local Rochester Institute of Technology, one of the most important schools of visual art and culture in North America. VSW also inevitably interacts with the city’s rich cultural history, which be- came the headquarters of Kodak and Xerox during the twentieth century.