Contemporary art and education

Abstract

Nowadays it is necessary to rethink the role of art in education at schools, museums, art institutes and foundations. However, we must not forget how difficult is to sustain the idea of formation, derived from the idea of Bildung, as the groundwork of educational ideas and practices. We think that the most important thing is to access the aesthetic experience by getting acquainted with the artists, their attitude and their work. So, how can we conceive and propose strategic mediations that can make compatible the two sides of the equation: education and art? Considering both traditional and modern works of art, such as those created by contemporary aesthetics –even those created within the cultural industry and guaranteed by consumption and the system–, the proposals to connect art and education that not long ago were widely accepted and that are in one way or other linked to a formative ideal, do not meet the expectations for developing an educative process that can deal with the heterogeneity of knowledge, sensitivity and contemporary experience. In this way, we will prove wrong the ideas of talent and creativity that, so far, were hegemonic and that informed about the concepts and practices in art education. However, it is still not clear how can these two concepts relate, in order to overcome current issues.