Engagement Matters
Art as Pedagogy: A Multiple Case Study of Participatory Socially Engaged Art
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Eunji J. Lee
In recent decades, contemporary art practices have expanded into social processes as art, and even to educational experiments. Artists create participatory projects combining art with educational activities and goals. Despite the prevalence of these artworks, contemporary art literature continues to focus primarily on the artist, thereby displacing the experiences of participants. Hence, from the stance of an art educator, I carried out qualitative multiple case studies to examine the learning experiences of the participants as well as the pedagogical frameworks of the artists. On-site observations and individual interviews were carried out with the artists, core group members who directly collaborated with the artists, and public audience members of three participatory, socially engaged art works. Through a cross-case thematic analysis, the findings demonstrate the value of intrinsically motivated learning enabled by a learning approach grounded in (art)making. In these works, a critical social consciousness was promoted among the participants by means of an enhanced social imagination provoked by the interplay between political content and artistic means. Essentially, the artworks examined in this study serve as models of transdisciplinary art for learning and teaching social justice issues and civic engagement. Moreover, the results of this study encourage collaboration between artists and educators, as artists’ approaches diversify pedagogy and, conversely, educators play a critical role in enhancing the learning experience of participants.
Relocate within a Blooming Affective Space through Arts
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hsuan Chi Liu
How can affects unfolding through art help people transform their states of subjectivity? Human lives nowadays intertwine with a complicated political, economical and sociocultural background. These impacts penetrate into lives and embody daily affections. It is crucial to see how one can possess these affections and find a way to adapt to different situations. As Braidotti’s theory of “nomadic subject” may serve as a solution for people to keep reforming their subjectivity at their will, this paper explores how arts can stimulate perception and affection, thereby engaging people in practicing their nomadic subjectivity. There are two goals situated in this study: the first is to reappraise posthuman theories that pertain to affects, percepts and subjectivity to construct a landscape of lived network; the second is to discuss how art can impact the meaning-making process with affects and its potential for rehearsing different positioning of subjectivity. This paper also presents a part of an interactive exhibition in Taiwan. The case is used to consider how its materiality engages people to unfold their affects and reflect on their lives. Using this case, the paper discusses how art has the potential for subjects to reflect on their states and undergo the process of becoming, which facilitates subject nomadism and makes people experience it in a reparative and mindful way.
Cross-Cultural Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Danny Dongyeong Lee
This paper presents a series of learning projects and outcomes regarding how design can develop an innovative practice that builds the skills needed to design with cultural sensitivity. It is relevant to educators, designers, researchers, and developers interested in extending the capabilities of innovating in relationship to culture, community and humanity.
