Our team in the Cooper Gallery have been working away over the past year on their final Sit-in #5, Compassionate Rebels in Action staged by award winning British-Kenyan (Maasai Kikuyu) artist, filmmaker and writer Grace Ndiritu. Compassionate Rebels in Action celebrates the culmination of their critically lauded five-chapter exhibition and event project The Ignorant Art School: Five Sit-ins towards Creative Emancipation. This exhibition has also been named as a Top 10 exhibition to visit in the world this Autumn by Ocula Magazine, and has been open to the public from 10 October, running until the 13 December – available to see for your own eyes Tuesday-Saturday 12-5pm.
For Sit-In #5, Ndiritu invites us to reflect together on the transformative power of collective action, building on Ndiritu’s rooted family history in feminist and anti-apartheid movements. She centres radical spirituality, pedagogy, and social justice as compassionate ways to imagine new forms of community in uncertain times. Through meditation, the aesthetics of protest and alternative communities, Ndiritu creates works that encourages deep reflection, shared ‘learning of un-learning’ and revolutionary action within the Cooper Gallery. Sit-in Curriculum #5 will equip individuals and communities with vital tools for fostering empathy and dialogue in a world suffering the rise of multiple fascisms.
The exhibition centres around a new mural that uses mirrors with powerful floor-to-ceiling images from historic protests, inviting viewers to see themselves in both historic movements and the future we’re shaping. You’ll also get to see Ndiritu’s much-loved Protest Carpets, thought-provoking film installations, and a newly commissioned book. Alongside the exhibition is a lively programme of talks, workshops, and special events. Running until Saturday the 13th of December 2025, it’s a chance to step into art, ideas, and community — and below you’ll find the full line-up of events that are still to take place and get involved with. These events are free, open to all and require no prior experience or knowledge to attend. Participants can sign-up via Eventbrite for one, or all, of the one-off sessions.
Sit-in Curriculum #5
A Season of Peace Building – Ongoing
Please click on the following links to book your places and find out event-specific information.
Writing & Decolonising Together
Thursday 20 November (In-person)
Workshop facilitated by Titilayo Farukuoye
ONWARD!
Thursday 27 November (In-person)
70th annual Flaherty Film Seminar hosted by LUX Scotland at Cooper Gallery
Growing & Eating Together
Thursday 4 December (In-person)
Gathering facilitated by Jek McAllister
Sit-in Curriculum #5
A Season of Peace Building – Completed
Please click on the following links to find out event-specific information.
Living Together
Thursday 9 October (In-person)
Book Launch & In-conversation with Grace Ndiritu & Judith Wilkinson
Feeling Together
Thursday 16 October (In-person)
Workshop & In-conversation with Grace Ndiritu & Lama Rinchen Polma
Designing Together COVERSLUT©
Thursday 30 October (V&A Dundee)
Workshop facilitated by Rachel Siobhán Tyler
Sitting Together
Wednesday 5 November (Online)
Reading Group facilitated by Gareth Evans
Writing & Decolonising Together
Monday 17 November (In-person)
Workshop facilitated by Lorna Burns & Zainab Imran
Funding support
The Ignorant Art School at Cooper Gallery, DJCAD is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.