Abstract
In this paper, I examine an emergent trend within contemporary art institutionality’s approach to creating and distributing knowledge—what could be called ‘radical urban pedagogy’. This can be defined as art museum pedagogy in which artists, curators and cultural agents take on a double role, acting as facilitators of urban social activism as well as educators in the arts. Within this formulation, learning takes place from within the context of immediate urban social urgencies (i.e. gentrification, urban diaspora and ‘revanchist urbanism’). Arguably, what occurs in ‘radical urban pedagogy’ is a decolonisation of knowledge transfer as a hegemonic process, both within the context of the art institution and the broader, neo-colonial landscape of contemporary urbanism. Paulo Freire’s ideas around ‘radical pedagogy’ arguably supplement this idea, and were likely a key inspiration for the urban-institutional pedagogy examined in this paper. Brazilian educational theorist, Freire, believed that pedagogy could never truly empower citizens if it treated them paternalistically (as had been the case in times of imperialism and colonialism). Freire instead demanded a pedagogy that would be forged with not for the oppressed—a critical pedagogy cooperatively produced with students, which also supported them in overcoming their social struggles. Inspired by Freire’s progressive Marxist and anti-colonial approaches to education, the ‘radical urban pedagogy’ of contemporary art institutions is not colonising, coming into urban communities to show and tell—or even worse, to civilise or elevate. Rather, it perceivably aims to think and act with communities within the immediate context of their distinctive urban social needs.
Presenters
Amy MeliaSessional Lecturer, Liverpool School of Art and Design (LSAD), Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Pedagogy, Urban, Institutions, Museums, Contemporary Art, Urbanism, Marxism
