Reconsidering the status and role of contemporary higher education brings with it the examination of the status and role of knowledge itself - how and where it is produced, who has the right to it, what its value is, and so on. In this consideration, it is indispensable to look at the broader socio-economic context, that is, in this case, the cognitive capitalism that rapidly captures all the spheres of life. The fact that higher education is increasingly becoming a necessity affects the changing of values of educational areas. Thus, the value of humanistic and artistic education is increasingly reduced, because the knowledge generated within them does not bring profit. In this minimization of educational areas it is possible to find the potential for moving the established order, as evidenced by the educational turn, the tendency of contemporary art that emerged at the end of the 20th century. When the mechanisms of cognitive capitalism, the current crisis of education, the advantages and disadvantages of the educational turn are examined, the paper considers whether criticism and subversion are possible today at all.