There are, as we have seen, multiple ways that art practice and teaching intersect, in an historical as well as a contemporary sense. Here, I want to briely outline some speciic artists and cultural ‘moments’ where the relationship between teaching and practice has been pronounced, as a means of plotting the cultural lineage of the practice-based research processes presented here, and to structure the arguments to be developed in the last part of this thesis, Site 3: Praxis Site. Kristina Lee Podesva’s article, The Pedagogical Turn discusses artists who see education as a form of art and nominates German artist, activist and teacher Josef Beuys (1921-1986), as a key igure based on his teaching practice in the 1970s at
the Academy in Dusseldorf (Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf).54 Beuys built
on the pedagogical practices developed at Bauhaus, but also set the scene for current contemporary practices where teaching becomes an art practice, of a kind now interpreted as a forerunner for the ‘educational turn’ .
Before Beuys, the Bauhaus artists were among the irst to explicitly question the
distinction between life and art (but not exclusively through educational methods).55
However, they did not appropriate pedagogical forms in their artistic production but developed pedagogic methods based on their art work. At the Bauhaus, there was a great interest in pedagogy generally: several of the artists who taught there
were also trained school teachers.56 An artist and teacher like Beuys, by contrast,
appropriated certain educational forms for his artistic production, presenting lectures as artistic performances, and making blackboard drawings/paintings
which were and still are considered as art works.57 His performance-lectures were
intended to be ongoing, prompting discussion that involved the audience as part of the artist’s living sculpture project. Beuys proposed that every one can be an artist, simply through participation in cultural and political life. However, there was a contradiction at the core of his practice: despite seeking art and equality for all, his endeavours hinged entirely on his unique persona and particular political and
54 Kristina Lee Podesva, The Pedagogical Turn: Brief Notes on Education as Art, Fillip 6, 2007, http://www.illip.ca./content/a-pedagogical-turn, (accessed 22.11.11).
55 The Bauhaus teaching method sought to replace the traditional pupil-teacher relationship with an idea of a community of artists working together, aiming to bring art back into contact with everyday life. Design was therefore given as much, if not more, emphasis as ine art. See, Frank Whitford, Bauhaus, London: Thames and Hudson, 1984.
56 For example Johannes Itten, who developed the Foundation Course (Preliminary Course) at Bauhaus, Jeffrey Saletnik, Josef Albers, Eva Hesse, and the Imperative of Teaching, Tate Papers, 2007, http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/07spring/saletnik. htm, (accessed 15.03.10).
57 For example, Ohne Titel (Four Blackboards), Chalk on blackboard 1216 x 914 x 18 mm, 1972, Tate Modern.
cultural motives.58
His work, however, was crucial for later artists whose practices used dematerialised mediums and forms, including lectures and discussions, such as Andrea Fraser,
whose name is generally associated with the emergence of institutional critique.59
For Fraser the medium is the lecture which constitutes the art itself. Beuys’ totalising practice and art as institutional critique can be understood as sowing the seeds for relational aesthetics, where the viewers and the artists co-produce the
meaning of the work by taking Beuys democratising ideas one step further.60
Irit Rogof identiied and outlined this ‘turning’ towards pedagogy in an article of the same name. This was framed as a turning towards art education as a model for art
practice, both for individual artists but also for curators and museums.61 However,
she is not alone in pointing out that there is currently a great deal of interest in ‘the academy’ as a particular site of cultural knowledge production, and as the
main site for recent models of institutional critique.62 However, unlike the forms of
institutional critique operating within the gallery and museum systems, this interest in the academy is happening outside of the art school itself. Pedagogy as Art has, instead, been adopted by museums, galleries and online projects, removed from academic art education. This educational turn is now an ubiquitous feature of contemporary art practices and, interestingly, a plethora of educationally-based arts practices have emerged in parallel with the research discussed here. As I will show later, this recently available pedagogic material from the art world helped to shape the research.
Relevant material from the ‘educational turn’ includes Salon Discussion: ‘You Talkin’ to me? Why art is turning to education’ at the ICA (14 July 2008); exhibitions like A.C.A.D.E.M.Y; the failed Manifesta 6 biennial; unitednationsplaza (Berlin
58 Nicolas Bourriaud in Relational Aesthetics does not, as Clare Bishp has pointed out in
Antagonism and Relational Art, mention Beuys often. When he does, for instance, on p.
70, it is to differentiate Beuys project of ‘social sculpture’ from relational aesthetics. Claire Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October 110 (10), Fall 2004, pp. 51-79. 59 Andrea Fraser (born 1965) is a New York-based performance artist who has become associated with institutional critique. See, Andrea Fraser, Museum Highlights, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2005.
60 The degree to which relational aesthetics is inclusive and participatory (or the problems related to this notion) in the way that for instance Dave Beech has outlined, is not a discussion to have here. Instead I will continue outlining the impact of relational aesthetics in relation to ideas around pedagogy and practice in Site 3: Praxis Site. See, Dave Beech, ‘include me out’, Art Monthly issue 315, April 2008.
61 Irit Rogoff, ‘Turning’, e-lux, 0 (11/08), www.e-lux.com/journal/view/18, (accessed 15.06.09).
62 What Maria Lind refers to as the fourth wave of institutional critique. Maria Lind, ‘When Water is Gushing In’ I Can’t Work Like This, Printed Project Issue 6, eds. Anton Vidokle and Tirdad Zolghadr, published by VAI, Dublin, 2006.
07), Documenta 12 (Kassel 2007); and Night School - New Museum (NY 2008); conferences like Summit Kein (Berlin 07); the work of curators like Anton Vidokle and artist groups like Copenhagen Free University. This interest is echoed in art magazines, such as Art Monthly, Frieze (issue 101/2006), Fillip Review (Issue 6 / 2007), e-lux (#14 03/2010) and others, all of which have published articles or
whole issues devoted to ‘the academy’.63 The irst ‘reader’ published is Curating
the Educational Turn, where many of those contributing to the exhibitions, events
and magazine articles above are included.64 The burgeoning interest in ‘the
academy’ relates speciically to art schools in Europe and the USA, (and is often concerned with their perceived shortcomings), but the real interest lies in the idea of a notional, de-located academy, a site of cultural knowledge production detached from its historical and institutional setting. However, the relationship between the formal, higher educational institution and these utopian ideas around an academy can be seen to be held in tension, a fact which informs this thesis. However, the increasing exteriority of art pedagogic practice can, I think, be read as a missed opportunity by HE institutions, which may have the potential to function as a critical link between art practices inside and outside of the academy. I will return to this observation in the inal praxis site.