In the cluster project Intertwining Hi/stories of Arts Education, working groups in Maseru, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Lubumbashi, Nyanza, Vienna, Kampala/Namulanda and Geneva/Zurich study histories of arts education and their global overlapping within particular case studies. After a first research phase, we share insights into "stories" of Arts Education from our particular perspectives and events relevant to the history of this working field, in narratives and timelines.
Johannesburg Working Group: On Medu Art Ensemble
The Johannesburg Working Group continues to work on broader histories of arts education in southern Africa projects. At the same time, we consider how this work might become part of Pan African histories of “arts education”, given how arts practices transgressed borders in the 1980s (e.g. Medu Art Ensemble’s work connecting with practices in Botswana, Tanzania, Sweden).
Vienna working group: Forsaken (overlapping) Utopias
Forsaken (overlapping) Utopias – Vienna Research Group
Main researchers: Carla Bobadilla, Andrea Hubin, Barbara Mahlknecht, Karin Schneider
Research string(s): models of critical pedagogy; activation of historical experiences
Hong Kong working group: Transportation of German art educational ideas to China: Reconstructing the route
by Yuk Lin Cheng
In early 20th century, the pace of Westernization became faster in China, more and more Chinese intellectuals took an active role in importing Western knowledge. Among the many Western knowledge, German philosophy, aesthetic theories and art educational ideas were also imported and began to play a role in constructing the rationale for Chinese art education. Ideas from Kant, Schopenhauer, Schiller, Volkelt, Weber, Herbert, Pestalozzi, Muensterberg, Lichtwark, Langer, Schalz and Dresdner, etc. could easily be found in many Chinese writings on art education and related areas.
