[mtp-teoria] call for discussion intermedia

Palo Fabuš palo.fabus at gmail.com
Thu Jun 28 17:54:57 CEST 2007


Just a small organizational remark on the fruits of this discussion:
If we are about to criticise the limited foreign language skills of
lecturers - what I deeply agree with - aren't we cutting out the
potential target group as such by the mere fact of language we are
using here?

The international character of discussion has it's indesputable
merits, but I think we should take it in account for it's relevance
and openness to a members of local audience. Foreign language is
important, but it should not be an obstacle in discussing local
questions.

-- 
Palo Fabuš
palofabus.net

On 6/28/07, dusan <dusan at idealnypartner.sk> wrote:
> hi
>
> hard not to agree..
>
> the potential lies also in artistic research, collaborative reading,
> specialised mailing lists, open space discussions, wikis,
> consensual creativity, experimental learning, translation and publishing
> of historical texts SK/CZ<>EN
>
> another issue is the continuity of learning in an open framework -
> non-academic workshops should be organised in collaboration with
> wide spectrum of academies so that support for students can be
> facilitated in a longer period,
>
> and a role of evaluation in learning process is interesting here too.
>
> fruitful collaboration between 'artists' and 'technicians' always
> have been rare, i am aware only of a few more interesting examples from
> recent decades, either we had artists in residences in companies
> (eg. John Whitney in IBM in 60s), or the artists who were banned from
> using traditional techniques by the regime (sculptor Jozef Jankovic thus
> meeting computer scientist Imrich Bertok in 70s), community-educated
> artists coming from technical side (Kluver and EAT since 60s, Murin in 90s)
> and others who enjoyed both artistic context and experimentation with
> technology above art/tech specialisation(s). as long as there will be
> people interested in these things, then both institutional and informal
> education should support them.
>
> tadaa
> dusan
>
>
> > I don&#65533;t know&#65533; but let s figure it out together / third
> grade educational
> > model on inter-media studies in CR
> >
> > This paper is designed to be a conversation. I present it as a loose
> > collection of simple ideas, unwinding from my personal experience with
> > lecturing in art schools. The ideas are organized around a several themes:
> >
> > Why do we believe that mastering new tools and new technologies brings
> > empowerment to Arts and Artists?
> >
> > or
> >
> > Why do we think that mastering new tools and new technologies brings
> > enforcement to Arts and Artists?
> >
> > Can the involvement of new media in culture and education liberate us from
> > something?
> >
> > To what extent are Arts and Digital culture compatible?
> >
> > Is there a realistic discussion going on without involving  ideology,
> > personal preferences, or even belief in the dangerous new brave world, or
> > dawn of techno paradise, where all problems of the mankind will be solved
> > out by developing of  better and stronger apparatus?
> >
> > The impact of new media and audiovisual techno-culture on Fine Art is
> > ubiquitous and is reframing the ongoing discussion among those who welcome
> > digital culture, and those who have doubts about it. New media and
> > inter-media are fields where the ambivalence of values and attitudes is
> > clear to observe, especially in the current system of education. Art
> > education in the Czech Republic in this art discipline is the main subject
> > of this text.
> >
> > I admit I do not have a very clear proposition of how to improve the
> > current situation.Too  many things I frankly don&#65533;t know. I hoped
> to find
> > out from more experienced and educated colleagues. Often the lecturer,
> > suprised by a student&#65533;s unexpected question, is afraid to show his
> > incompetence and say &#65533;I don&#65533;t know&#65533;. But knowledge
> is not something we
> > have&#65533;it is rather something that emerges during conversation.
> >
> > Alongside the expansion of knowledge-carriers and information networks, a
> > growing number of areas appear which disturb the Holy Authority of the
> > Teacher.
> >
> > The sentence &#65533;I don&#65533;t know&#65533; &#65533;perhaps can
> become a new sign of the
> > liberation in education in the next decades.
> >
> > 10 points to Arts and Technology education
> >
> > 1. The systems of the education sector in the Czech Republic - most of the
> > Art academies, Technical universities and humanity faculties, have very
> > little in common. The transition between gymnasiums and high schools and
> > universities is more discontinuous than would be fruitful for students.
> > Those institutions should supposedly be well-oriented in the different
> > aspects and layers of the world today, but it often seems not to be the
> > case. Students can rely on a very limited precedent for mutual interests,
> > knowledge, shared objectives and goals outside of the area of sport and
> > entertainment. Students in technical subjects (with some exceptions) are
> > not taught to be oriented in contemporary culture, literature, theater,
> > visual arts and music, and the courses in humanities are disappearing from
> > the technical schools. Art students are exposed to technology and natural
> > science to a very limited degree, mostly more as users than agents.
> >
> > 2. This gap in the infrastructure and lack of cross-disciplinary
> > discussion in the academic scene is resulting in a low level of artistic
> > methods, especially in the discipline &#65533;new media art&#65533;
> &#65533; a type of
> > professional practice which requires often sophisticated, innovative,
> > unorthodox concepts of thinking and work conditions to succeed.
> >
> > 3. If there is a task for a potential improvement of interdisciplinary
> > education processes and continuous cross-disciplinary practice or
> > research, it can be helpful to draw an outline of a virtual independent
> > platform.
> >
> > 4. To a great extent art education is still defined by a turbulent but
> > rather mild transition period, following the political take-over in 1989;
> > logically so, through the residue of the tradition and habits of the
> > earlier decades of the totalitarian system. Most of visual or fine art is
> > still considered by the majority of universities, schools and teachers as
> > a subject of practice in design, craft, or in the best case the
> &#65533;free
> > expression of Artists&#65533;. Those concepts are preserved in the
> academic art
> > establishment and imprinted on the younger generation.
> >
> > The methodology of learning of individual or team research, which has been
> > an integral part of artistic practice in Europe for several centuries, has
> > been substituted by art management and PR strategic abilities; learning
> > how to penetrate art market.
> >
> > 5. Education in technical disciplines is in large part carried out as a
> > short-minded professional traditionalism aiming to study very specific
> > subject, even gradually adapting to the interests of SW and HW producers
> > and the business sector. Here students are treated more as a possible
> > future employee, than a creative and independently thinking individual.
> > Research is still rather an exclusive section in the academic curriculum.
> >
> > 6. An alternative interdisciplinary education model, reflecting the
> > counter-currents within contemporary policy, science, technology and
> > culture, should reduce the tendency towards fragmentation and professional
> > reductionism. Such a model needs to break through the indrawn and
> > isolationist way of thinking both in the conservative academic and
> > artistic milieus, where the feeling of exclusion in which experts
> > &#65533;newspeak&#65533;, competency to one subject of studies and
> discredit any lay
> > knowledge, is still a standard.
> >
> > 7. The technical, the social, the esthetic, theoretical and practical
> > issues within the Czech university education system are taught with a
> > minimal notion of interference and awareness of coherence of contemporary
> > knowledge. The subjects, thus the students learn to accept and confirm the
> > role of the highly specialized expert. We are taught to exist in the
> > competitive school system, and not taught to act in a conceptual frame of
> > coexistence, cooperation, dialogue, synergy of disciplines and wide
> > specter of individual attitudes.
> >
> > Those institutional conditions and concepts of thinking block any
> > challenges, unconventional thoughts and attempts, leading to potential
> > changes in the subject and in society. This is a conflicting situation,
> > since the debate is not only about abstract ideas and institutions in art
> > education, but about the power and positions.
> >
> > 8. Interdisciplinary or inter-media education in the Czech Republic,
> > inspired by foreign schools, or institutions, needs to be established
> > within the European transnational educational network. The existing
> > connections and exchanges are, even after 15 years, rare. Many lecturers
> > of the middle and older generation working in the Czech high art schools
> > and universities have limited foreign language skills. The consequences of
> > such a disadvantage, to reflect, re-work information, translate and
> > distribute them to pupils, contributes to the distrust and uneven
> > relations between lecturers and students.
> >
> > 9. Increasing the number of the sites and modalities of knowledge and
> > access to information triggers new questions concerning the trust for the
> > authority of knowledge, producers and control systems, establishing and
> > confirming the &#65533;correct&#65533; models. Workshops organized by
> artist and
> > independent technicians initiatives, open universities, and civic
> > educational institutes form a counterbalance to the state establishment.
> > The non-formal, DiY, non-institutional structures can offer a certain
> > correcting factor to the state or private education establishment model,
> > but can never compete with those heavily-funded bodies. Such polarization
> > is not productive for both sides, and for DiY can be even dangerous.
> >
> > We are proposing a model to set up a satellite &#65533;floating&#65533;
> laboratory,
> > related to the university structure, but with some autonomy, non-rigorous
> > scientific-artistic  structure, opened to nontraditional or experimental
> > DiY methods and elements, which emerged during hands-on practice within
> > the alternative teaching and learning context in recent years.
> >
> > 10. Inside such a hybrid model, based on the concept of cooperation or
> > coexistence, not on the ideological presumptions, concerning the critique
> > of alternative or mainstream and that of authority, offers a chance to
> > reanimate the existing pedagogical system and to implement a critical
> > approach and interdisciplinary practices. Learning from the
> > social-cultural non-profit sector can serve as a trigger to move out from
> > the conservative institutional approach prevailing in the Czech
> > educational bodies, both in Arts and Technology. Such a hypothetical
> > platform, related to the loose concepts of &#65533;University of
> Openness&#65533; could
> > inject new spirit into the field of technologically oriented cultural
> > forms such as new media or inter-media Arts. This cross-disciplinary
> > approach and platform would involve all types of creative people,
> > students, researchers, lay-persons, coming from natural science,
> > humanities, engineering, cybernetics, performing arts, visual arts, sound
> > and light design, psychology, environmental science, etc.
> >
> > concept Milos Vojtechovsky, june 2007
> > _______________________________________________
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> > mtp-teoria at 13m3.sk
> > http://13m3.sk/mailman/listinfo/mtp-teoria
> >
>
>
>
>
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