Huono kuvataidekasvattaja? Taiteen merkitystä epäilemässä

In my thesis, I strive to find a space for me and my thoughts in the topography of visual arts education. My reflection stems from the contradiction I realised during my studies: I do not consider art necessary, as I understand visual culture and communication more important. So what kind of person am I, who has done visual, non-artistic work in the commercial field for a long time, as an art educator if other things are more important than art?

I break down my question first through four essays. Often in theses key terms are defined to serve the reader, in my own work, opening up the terms is part of the reflection itself and a central part of the work. I don’t define the terms but I think about my relationship to them and I open my mind which swells like mosquitoes, flies and other little flying bugs around a lamp on a summer’s night. The four essays I have written form four coordinates in the topography of visual arts education and deal with themes that have become central to me through my studies, which are art, visual culture, the scale of competence, and stochastic tinkering.

Reflecting on these written coordinates I outline a space for myself in the topography of art education. My space is made up of three concepts: an interpreter, a language teacher, and the ignorant. In addition to these, three motivations emerge from the reflection: tolerating ambiguity, understanding comparisons and the act of making.

I use writing as the main way of thinking, because writing, like anything else, is a means of understanding. My writing represents my understanding of autoethnographic writing. For me the meaning of the words and the visual presentation of the text, that is the layout and everything that belongs to it, are important. The text is never out of presentation.

In addition to words, I use images to create another level in the thesis—a visual essay. This visual essay creates it’s own kind of body of meaning which offers the reader unique information when working in the in conjunction to the text, but at the same time detached from the hierarchy of the text. The images in the visual essay also contain text that I feel is descriptive, it paints images in the reader’s mind.

I have built my thesis on my understanding of artistic research. The thesis requires a lot from the reader, but I still think it is rewarding. I understand this is taking a risk, but that is the only way to achieve something new.