Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The 1980s is seen as a turning point of social transformation and modernisation in China. Avant-garde art produced by artists who were affiliated with art academies had a substantial impact on the development of contemporary Chinese art, while traditional teaching methods designed for Socialist Realism were being questioned. My research aims to investigate debates on art education reforms which resulted from the discrepancy between teaching and learning in the unprecedented time of artistic shifts. It examines experimental courses in three representative art academies during the 85’ Art New Wave. Drawing upon methods such as multiple case studies, qualitative interviews with twenty artists and retired professors, and the analysis of documentary sources, it provides an in-depth investigation on students’ self-learning process, and new teaching methods in contrast with traditional technical training. It argues that the art pedagogy at academies in the 1980s had both limitations and privileges for emerging contemporary artists.