This website uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are used for visitor analysis, others are essential to making our site function properly and improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Click Accept to consent and dismiss this message or Deny to leave this website. Read our Privacy Statement for more.
ELIA BIENNIAL 2022: PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF ARTS EDUCATION
ELIA Biennial Conference 2022
NO STONE UNTURNED
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF ARTS EDUCATION sessions overview
Rethinking Value(s) for Art and Design Schools Michelle Kasprzak + ginger coons, Willem de Kooning Academy, Netherlands Break out Session 1:Thursday 24 November 14:30 - 16:00 (Helsinki Time)
As arts funding shrinks, does becoming a designer or artist necessitate a focus on selling, making money, and participating in mass consumption? In the age of climate crisis, it is urgent to rethink how the arts can take a lead in supplying an ethical framework for future modes of living. This session explores how we might critically re-examine the values we impart to our students in a world that can no longer support constant growth and rampant resource consumption.
The effects of financialization to art education, research, and practice: Risk, volatility, and the unknown unknowns Tero Nauha, Theatre Academy of the Uniarts Helsinki, Finland Break out Session 1: Thursday 24 November 14:30 - 16:00 (Helsinki Time)
This session is part of an inquiry on the effects of finance on the social sphere, collective imaginary, and the circulation of knowledge, particularly in the field of arts, pedagogy, and research. It considers the real-life forms and impacts of the unknown, the volatile, and the risky in both finance and the arts. Not only taking a speculative but also a practical perspective, Tero Nauha inquires how these arrangements manifest in the classroom, the studio, and research.
Art for Futures Lab: Co-Creations for Tomorrow’s World Angelica Böhm + Nicole Loeser, Art for Futures Lab, Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany Break out Session 1: Thursday 24 November 14:30 - 16:00 (Helsinki Time)
The Art for Futures Lab is developing an international online future museum that takes on the challenges of the 21st century in an interactive and interdisciplinary way. They invite participants to co-create positive narratives of envisioned scenarios of 2050. Due to the complex socio-economic, cultural, and ecological issues, strong images and value-based visions are needed to be able to steer towards positive, sustainable futures.
Archipedagogy: Art Education in the Anthropocene Glenn Loughran, TU Dublin, Ireland Break Out Session 1: Thursday 24 November 14:30 - 16:00 (Helsinki Time)
This presentation will expand on archipelagic arts education through the research project ‘What is an Island?’, which aims to develop an artistic research inquiry into the changing nature of islands within the political context of Brexit and the environmental context of the Anthropocene. It will examine the impact of visual arts education on isolated island communities and the value of Archipelagic Thinking in approaches to art education in the Anthropocene.
Interdisciplinary Dialogue with the World in Arts Education Marja-Leena Juntunen + Riku Saastamoinen + Taneli Tuovinen, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland Break out Session 1: Thursday 24 November 14:30 - 16:00 (Helsinki Time)
Based on the course ‘Introduction to Interdisciplinary Arts Pedagogy’, the presenters discuss and demonstrate their recent developmental work (2018–2021), which has examined possibilities offered by interdisciplinary arts education. Challenges and discoveries of past development work as well as the role of arts education in coping with the global and interconnected world will be tackled interactively with participants.
What do students need to prepare for the future? Orlando Budelacci + Jacqueline Holzer, Lucerne School of Art and Design, Switzerland Break out Session 1: Thursday 24 November 14:30 - 16:00 (Helsinki Time)
The world is moving: towards digital spaces and networks. And back to the very human values of proximity and the tangible. The students at the Lucerne School of Art & Design are active within this field of tension. They engage with the unknown and indeterminate and thus prepare themselves for their professional futures. In 2019-2022, the Lucerne School of Design & Art implemented a transformation process to develop the educational programmes for students. This presentation would focuses in particular on the transformation process and its results and present tried and tested instruments and formats.
Ecosystem or eco-structure? Is a global curriculum ecosystem possible? Validating lifewide education, learning, and experience through the UNESCO Cross Cutting Competencies for Educational Sustainability Development Fred Meller + Paul Haywood, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom Break out Session 2: Thursday 24 November 16:30 - 17:30 (Helsinki Time)
Systems Thinking, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Anticipatory, Self-Awareness, Participatory, Normative, Strategic, Integrated Problem Solving—competences UNESCO considers essential in a curriculum with sustainability at its core. As part of a work in progress of curriculum development trying to create just that, participants will join an experimental process, discovering and applying the new and old form of ‘REBEL’, a language toolkit designed for learning recognition.
The culture-cognitive pillar of the fine art higher education institution: The institutional evaluation Linda Sīle, Art Academy of Latvia Break out Session 2: Thursday 24 November 16:30 - 17:30 (Helsinki Time)
COVID-19 left higher arts education institutions insecure about their futures and needing a framework detailing their specific situation in current events. The culture-cognitive pillar does just that. The session starts out with the growing crisis of trust and pressure to set clear goals for higher arts education and goes on to criticise different methodologies for higher education institution evaluation, examining the future role of higher arts education.
Decapitalising Research: Re-articulations for an interversal epistemosophy Catalin Gheorghe, George Enescu National University of Arts, Romania Break out Session 2: Thursday 24 November 16:30 - 17:30 (Helsinki Time)
Starting from the idea that praxis can be understood as thought-reflection-action, this session will focus on the transformational condition of research as an emancipatory art of living. An operational framework is sketched in which an artist-as-researcher can re-articulate decapitalist, decolonial epistemosophies of interdependencies in the language of their practice, also tackling concepts of ‘puriversal autonomies’ and the ‘imaginary of care’.
Motivation of European fashion design students to present their collections at fashion events Aneta Zelenkova, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Czech Republic Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
What are the motivations of European fashion design students’ work at fashion events? And what role does their university play in the self-presentation of students at these events? A two-way communication is key in education, and the information on opportunities for students should be disseminated in a more interesting and likable way. Join the discussion.
Tyres Meet Theatre: A Symbiotic Adventure between Art and Entrepreneurship Demis Quadri, Hugues Chatelain, Emmanuel Pouilly + Susanna Lotz, Accademia Teatro Dimitri, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
Tyres may seem an unattractive sector for artists who want to save the world. At the same time, theatre may seem unattractive to a profit-oriented company. As the Verfremdungseffekt (distancing effect) teaches us, however, it is precisely unexpected perspectives that can contribute to paradigm shifts, bringing artists, entrepreneurs, workers, and employees out of their cognitive bubbles. This lecture-workshop aims to present an innovative collaboration between a university of applied arts specialising in physical theatre and a leading company in the tyre industry. Through the tools of narration, video, and practical exercises, the presenters will illustrate an immersive experience that involves the collaborators of the two partner institutions in the discovery of their respective worlds. The partnership is animated by the desire to contribute with its project ‘pROUEsse’ to developing the potential of an art that meets society again and of an economy that rediscovers humanism and sustainability.
Mind the Gap: Preparing artists for a professional and resilient future Kurt Vanbelleghem, Sint Lucas School of Arts, Belgium; Annie Gérin, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
This workshop is about creating a pedagogical context which is more focused on educating more resilient artists, and more resilient art worlds. We must provide a meaningful education to all students, so we should provide them with professional skills that they can use across 360 degrees in our society. At the moment, almost all educational energy is directed towards developing artistic knowledge and skills, while almost none goes to equipping our students with professional skills that will allow them to manage their artistic career, start their own business, or develop relevant positions in other segments of society. What should an art education provide students? What broad (360 degrees) skills do artists, designers, and cultural producers need to find their place in the art world? What are the challenges our graduates face when creating their professional path? What programmes or solutions are available to meet these challenges, either in art schools or elsewhere? Participants will be encouraged to collectively develop a manifesto gathering guidelines and calling for action.
Play University! Michèle Graf, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
Join this workshop about future skills, expectations of future students, teaching heterogeneous student groups for as yet unknown profiles, and future management and support capacities. Through a card game, participants will simulate new situations that the new study model could bring. Participants are invited to play and explore. The aim is to bring insights into how art universities design their programme portfolio for the future by simulating a future educational setting. Where will we be skating on thin ice? Are there stones we forgot to unturn?
PUNISHED: Alternative research methodologies towards a new economy Godelieve Spaas, Carla Bakker, Isolde Sprenkels, Ine Mols + Kees-Jan Mulder, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
Researching future economies away from the incumbent narrative requires a new perspective on research. Imagination, experiments, design, and subjectivity become integral parts of the research strategy. The focus of the project ‘Punished: Just imagine’ is that the government will criminalise acting in violation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2029. The film Punished investigates what the consequences of that decision might be. Who will go to prison? What have they done? And will punishment help to achieve the goals? Are coercion and rules the best way? How drastic are the changes required of us? And what is needed to tackle the system at its roots? Spaas and Mulder confront the audience with personal and intimate reflections on these questions and, in doing so, offer viewers a mirror to engage in conversation with themselves and with each other. Watch the film, followed by a performance highlighting a specific element of a plausible new economy.
Turning the Page: Art Curriculum should not and can never be written in Stone Taina Erävaara, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland; Mark O’Kelly, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
Join the specially convened Community Conversation titled ‘Turning the Page: Art Curriculum should not and can never be written in Stone’. The Chair of PARADOX, Taina Erävaara, and the monthly Community Conversations Facilitator and PARADOX Steering committee member Mark O’Kelly will convene a panel of prominent contributors drawn from the Community Conversations forum to elucidate the key learnings and a lexicon of keywords to advance new thinking for pedagogy in art education. This specially devised Community Conversation will critically reflect on the opportunities now apparent in the light of potentialities for curriculum development in the aftermath of the pivotal ‘Before and After’ thematic effects articulated in our conversations during this urgent and emergent experience of sustaining innovative and vibrant art education for all our learners.
Throwing a Stone: How new design disciplines will (have to) kill traditional curricula Pawel Pokutycki, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands Break out Session 3: Friday 25 November 9:00 - 11:00 (Helsinki Time)
The presentation aims at provoking a discussion on the insufficient and slow transformation of traditional curricula in art academia towards new models of education in design, of which many are of growing importance and urgency, especially in the context of climate change and rapidly progressing technological innovation.
The Freestyle Orchestra Chanda Vanderhart + Sonja Schebeck, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria Break out Session 4: Friday 25 November 11:30 - 12:30 (Helsinki Time)
The Freestyle Orchestra is a collective of classically trained musicians practicing at becoming a broadly varied, interdisciplinary artistic collective. All had rigorous classical music training, but developed many extracurricular skills core to TFO by studying other musical styles and various circus/movement arts and experimentally integrating them into performance. They push for toppling artistic hierarchies, challenging which formats are expected and where, in order to question hegemonies and challenge the limits and assumptions about what a classical orchestra is. TFO both brings modern circus, movement, and staging into their classical performances and brings classical music into urban space.
From master-apprentice to a learning community Emily Huurdeman + Jan Staes + Carry van Bokhoven, Fontys University of Fine and Performing Arts, Netherlands Break out Session 4: Friday 25 November 11:30 - 12:30 (Helsinki Time)
Can a learning community really teach itself? How does the community experience this new type of supervision? Can we give the students a sense of stability to navigate through their research? How do we avoid superficial research supervision? What are the up- and downsides of the individualistic approach versus a communal approach? Can we extend the learning community through conferences like this? And how can we include an international perspective and international experts in our learning and researching? Join this interactive discussion.
Bridge the Gap: First Steps towards a practice-based PhD Rachel Mader + Axel Vogelsang + Nathalie Oestreicher, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland Break out Session 4: Friday 25 November 11:30 - 12:30 (Helsinki Time)
The gap between MA and PhD studies is still huge for interested students. Based on the experiences with the MOOC ‘Doing a PhD in Fine Art, Design, and Film’, which we therefore produced, we want to discuss the possibilities for a joint international effort to develop further platforms, measures and even policies in order to better prepare artists, designers and filmmakers for the challenges of a PhD.
University-level research assessments in arts universities Riikka Palonkorpi + Aino Alatalo, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland Break out Session 4: Friday 25 November 11:30 - 12:30 (Helsinki Time)
Research assessments have become a widespread practice globally. This is also the case in Finland. Research assessments are typically designed for evaluating scientific research and the assessment formats are standardised to a certain extent. Through the case of the University of the Arts Helsinki Research Assessment 2021–2022, this presentation discusses conducting a research assessment in the context of an arts university. How can artistic research be included in a research assessment format that considers the criteria and rationale of artistic research?
A Knowledge Ecosystem for Creative Thinking Franco Ripa Di Meana, Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Italy Break out Session 4: Friday 25 November 11:30 - 12:30 (Helsinki Time)
Join this participatory session to together test our ecosystem potentialities. Within the communities of our academies we endlessly produce an enormous amount of qualified knowledge. Digital tools allow us today first to categorise, tag, and index this knowledge, then, using authoring criteria, to create different ‘spaces’, and finally, through user interfaces, to make this knowledge accessible. Our community will then have a shared knowledge—a knowledge ecosystem. Such an ecosystem will go beyond the scale of every personal knowledge, allowing new associations and unexpected perspectives to emerge and boosting creative thinking. A knowledge ecosystem will change all didactic relationships from within and open new possibilities for individual research. We will be able to link our ecosystem to other Institutions, inside and outside the arts field, tightening our bonds with society as a whole, thus giving arts education a central role in shaping the uncertainties we are all facing.
Internationalization of the Art Universities: The student involvement of the EU4ART Alliance Christiane Oertel, HfBK Dresden, Germany for EU4ART Allianz Break out Session 4: Friday 25 November 11:30 - 12:30 (Helsinki Time)
Students of the EU4ART Alliance will present their project experiences as active co-creators in a new quality of cooperation. EU4ART (Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Art Academy of Latvia, Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, Dresden University of Fine Arts) is committed to making visible and strengthening the essential importance of art for the development of a European identity and to making Europe’s cultural diversity known to the public. The alliance is also dedicated to the question of what demands the 21st century places on artistic teaching and what solutions can be jointly developed against the background of the respective traditions. The students have a prominent role in building the alliance, and their extensive participation is elementary for its dynamic further development, basically through a bottom-up involvement.
