Christiane Schmidt-Maiwald & Nicola Pauli, Augsburg University, Germany
Exemplary image series on a possible topic: pictures of hybrid creatures and image practices (therianthropy)
The project deals with mediation structures concerning visual art objects in art classes. It asks for new selection parameters beyond the usual chronological guideline based on art-historical stylistic epochs. In order for students to develop skills of visual analysis, research and communication, we propose to dismiss the Western-oriented canon of visual analysis in school and the criteria for selecting arts objects generally prescribed by traditional curricula (in Bavaria), including models and strategies derived primarily from art history and rather than from art pedagogy.
The primary goal is to initiate a categorical change from hierarchical to rhizome-like models. Hierarchical models of collecting, arranging and conveying images are rooted in the 19th century and in the desire for national identity. Current rhizome-like models, on the other hand, reflect dynamic communication and thought patterns and thus profoundly shift the ways of looking at pictures. It is to be shown that mediation processes in and outside school ought to define future- and action-oriented challenges and related subject areas using exemplary pictures, which open up a perspective reaching beyond the European frame of reference.
Exemplary image series on a possible topic: pictures of hybrid creatures and image practices (therianthropy)
We propose using the network metaphor and an array of anthropological-sociological themes such as birth/death, nature/environment, narration/myth, etc. to guide the selection of works of art. Randomly linking and comparing images characterizes the modes of perception of children and young people who grow up with digital media and in particular with the internet. However, it remains all the more important to deal in depth with the past and the present as it is reflected in pictures. Children and young adults should deal with picture practices, their contexts and communication strategies, so as to imagine, create and reflect future life and existence.
The joint panel discussion will seek to find exemplary pictures and objects in order to define anthropologically and sociologically grounded subject areas, practical pictorial strategies and potential future- and action-oriented challenges.
Selected reference literature
- Bering, Kunibert (ed): Kunstunterricht und Bildung. Kulturelles Gedächtnis – Globalität – innovative Perspektiven. Bielefeld: Athena-wbv 2020.
- Deleuze, Gilles/ Guttari, Félix: Rhizom. Berlin: Merve-Verlag 1977.
- Keinz, Anika/ Schönberger, Klaus/ Wolff, Vera (ed): Kulturelle Übersetzungen. Berlin: Reimer 2012
- Nicola, Pauli/ Maiwald, Christiane: Verzweigte Vermittlungswege im Umkreisen von globalen Herausforderungen, unveröffentlichtes Manuskript, 2022.
- Schmidt-Linsenhoff, Viktoria: Ästhetik der Differenz. Marburg: Jonas-Verlag 2010.
- Wagner, Ernst: Decolonizing Formal Art Education in Germany, 2021, unveröffentlichtes Manuskript.