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EDUCATIONAL TURN

Eszter Lzr

Educational turn describes a tendency in contemporary art prevalent since the second
half of the 1990s, in which different modes of educational forms and structures,
alternative pedagogical methods and programs appeared in/as curatorial and artistic
practices. Initiatives related to the educational turn revolve around the notion of
education, gaining and sharing knowledge, artistic/curatorial research, and knowledge
production. The emphasis is not on the object-based artwork. Instead, the focus of
these projects is in on the process itself, as well as on the use of discursive,
pedagogical methods and situations in and outside of the exhibition
(~discursivity ~exhibition display ~performativity).
The most common aspects of art works, exhibitions, and projects interpreted within the
framework of the educational turn, include developing new methodologies, which allow
for the democratization of the access to knowledge; the use of new genres and
methods of presentation; the transformation of the positions of the artist, the curator,
the artwork, and the viewer, as well as the formative engagement of the participants in
the process of the project. (~authorship ~curatorial ~exhibition display ~participation).
The educational turn can be considered mainly a tendency in art that shapes the
processes of creation, acts as an incentive for self-organization (~collaboration), and it
also concerns the (self-)revision of museums, as well as the transformation of the art
institutions into educational platforms. Furthermore, it reacts to changes in public
education.
In relation to the educational turn, the theories of critical pedagogy are often cited [1],
with regards to, for instance, providing the democratic conditions of education, or the
emergence of anti-hegemonic teaching methods and roles. [2] One of the main goals
of artists and curators working in this field of contemporary art is to establish ways of
sharing knowledge, which besides, or instead of, disseminating the hegemonic value
system, allows for a more flexible and anti-bureaucratic practice that also takes current
issues and the need of the participants into account. Antecedents of the educational
turn in the 1960-1970s can include experimental teaching methodswhich are also
regarded as artistic practice, such as the action teaching of Bazon Brock, or the
performative lectures and the Free International University of Joseph Beuys. Likewise,
in Hungary, architect, philosopher, and artist Mikls Erdly can be mentioned here,
who, similarly to Beuys, focused on creative thinking and interdisciplinary approach,
instead of the traditional education of arts. [3]
In the socialist countries in Eastern Europe, before the political change of 1989,
curricula that were prohibited by state institutions, and hence was taken out ofor
was never a part ofthe educational system, were circulated illegally, during
discussions and lectures at private apartments (free universities, flying universities), as
well as in samizdat forms. In this region, the antecedents of educational projects in
contemporary art are, in part, these educational formats that were forced into illegality.
The number of free universities and self-organized schools have expanded in the last
few years, for instance in Hungary. Although these current instantiations no longer (or
not yet) function as alternatives for an authoritarian cultural policy of a political regime,
they fill in the gaps of public education in a collaboration-based system of practice and
theory. [4]
Formal innovations of the projects interpreted within the framework of the educational
turn encompass mainly, building on art practices of institutional critique, the abandon of
the gallery space (~white cube ~exhibition display). During the course of these projects
new sites were also involved, such as the street, private apartments, schoolstaking
into consideration the socially constructed aspects of site-specificity as well
(~participation). Manifestations of the educational turn in contemporary art range from
free universities to temporary and experimental schools realized in the framework of
biennials. At the same time, various forms of public institutions (library, school,
laboratory) appear in the gallery space (~white cube ~exhibition display ~discursivity).
[5] In these cases curatorial practice may also considered an expanded educational
praxis. [6]
The impact of the educational turn was substantiated by the profile change of art
institutions in Western Europe, the ascendancy of their institutional critique profile, the
self-reflexive projects initiated at various art academies, [7] as well as by exhibitions
around the theme of education. [8] Hence, the educational turn is related to the
endeavors of institutional critique, as it also attempts to change the educational role of
museums and exhibition places. Likewise, it can be connected to practices that
beyond the focus on aesthetic specificities and visual appearanceoffer a platform for
dialogues between the audience, the artists, and the public sphere as well. (~new
museology ~discursivity ~interpretation ~participation ~performativity). Occasionally,
the moderate display of educational projects, evoking, for instance, the classroom,
might put the audience at a distance that is accustomed to more spectacular, visitor-
friendly exhibitions. One might ask if these programs, which are based on the premises
of democratic methods and the voicing of different opinions, exclude, rather then
include outsiders(discursivity ~interpretation ~participation ~performativity).
The discourses of social theory related to the educational turnbesides the issues of
the traditional and hierarchical functioning of art academiesalso critically examines
the general problems of education as such. For instance, the critique of the Bologna
process of the EU member states, which, although, encourages mobility, its modus
operandi, due to the standardizing, administrative rules, are difficult to permeate. By
the same token, the criticism of the educational systems unification (BA, MA, PhD),
which is coupled with the marketization of knowledge, is also analyzed. [9] The
parallels of these discourses in contemporary art are also the basis of problematizing
education as an issue: the critique of the market economy processes of neoliberal
societies. That is, the criticism of the regulation, appropriation, and commodification of
knowledge-based production.
Furthermore, the educational turn can be contextualized within different contemporary
(art) tendencies:
-- Art institutes, following the principles of new institutionalism, besides exhibitions,
initiated research projects, workshops, free universities, and open forums, accentuating
the renewing educational role and responsibility of the institutions. Therefore, the
educational turn can be examined from the perspective of institutional critique and new
institutionalism, as well as from the connection of these two (~performativity).
-- The delineation of the possibilities to adapt the precepts of new institutionalism to
educational institutes (~performativity).
-- The analysis of art and curatorial projects related to the venue, structure, practice,
and the metaphor of education, as well as projects that reflect on the original meaning
of the academy.
-- The examination of the proliferation of performative and discursive art forms, which
are the most typical within the educational tendency. (~discursivity ~performativity).
One might ask whether the educational turn is a turn within contemporary art, or it is
rather the quick (and perhaps non-reflexive) burgeoning of the term. First it was Paul
ONeill and Mick Wilson, [10] as well as Irit Rogoff [11] who used the expression
educational turn in 2008. Rogoff in her text asks if it is a reading strategy when
education is read through a different system, such as the filter of exhibition display
(~exhibition display), or it is rather an interpretive model. [12] In fact, with the
proliferation of discursive practices (~discursivity), the educational turn is a tendency in
contemporary art. As a consequence of the ever-expanding literature on this concept,
art and curatorial projects of the educational turn take their place more and more
steadily within the above-delineated theoretical and historical contexts.

References and Firther Reeadings
Allen, Felicity Ed. 2011 Education. Documents of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel
Gallery. London, MIT Press
Beech, Dave 2010 Weberian Lessons: Art, Pedagogy and Managerialism in: ONeill
Paul s Mick Wilson Ed. Curating and Educational Turn. Amszterdam: Open Editions /
de Appel, 2010
Bishop, Claire 2012 Pedagogic Projects in: Artificial Hells,Participatory Art and the
Politis of Spectatorship. London, New York, Verso
Doherty, Claire 2012 New Institutionalism and the Exhibition as
Situation. situations.org.uk. Situations. Web. 9. Sept.
2012 http://www.situations.org.uk/media/files/New_Institutionalism.pdf
Frimer, Denise 2010Pedagogical Paradigms: Documentas
Reinvention. artendeducation.net Art & Education, Web. 2012. szept.
9. http://www.artandeducation.net/paper/pedagogical-paradigms- %E2%80%99s-
reinvention/
Freire, Paolo 2007(1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York, Continuum
Giroux, A. Henry 2011 On Critical Pedagogy, New York, Bloomsbury Academic
Hornyik Sndor: 2007 Egy megvalsult poszt-neoavantgrd utpia - Erdly Mikls
m!vszetpedaggijrl. exindex.hu Exindex. 2007. okt. 2. Web. 2013. jn.
10. http://exindex.hu/index.php?page=3&id=517
Lee Podesva, Kristina 2007 A Pedagogical Turn: Brief Notes on Education as
Art. Fillip 6/2007; fillip.ca, Fillip. Web. 2012..szept. 9. http://fillip.ca/content/a-
pedagogical-turn
Madoff, Steven Henry 2009 Art School (Proposition for the 21st Century). Camnridge,
Mass., MIT Press
Rancire, Jacques 1991 (1981) The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in
Intellectual Emancipation. Standford University Press
Rogoff, Irit 2008 Turning; e-flux Journal 0/2008, eflux.com, e-flux, Web. 9. Sept.
2012 http://www.e-flux.com/journal/turning/.
Nollert, Angelika Ed.. 2006 A.C.A.D.E.M.Y. (2005-2006). Frankfurt am Main, Revolver
Nora Sternfeld 2010 Unglamorous Tasks: What Can Education Learn from its Political
Traditions? e-flux Journal 14/2010, e-flux.com. e-flux, Web. 2012. nov. 7. http://www.e-
flux.com/journal/unglamorous-tasks-what-can-education-learn-from-its-political-
traditions/
ONeill, Paul Wilson, Mick. eds. 2010 Curating and the Educational Turn. London,
Amsterdam, Open Editions-de Appel
Wilson, Mick 2007 Curatorial Moments and Discursive Turns. In Paul ONeill
ed. Curating Subjects. Amszterdam, Open Editions / de Appel

NOTES
[1] Jacques Rancire 1991 (1981) The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in
Intellectual Emancipation, Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, Nora Sternfeld
2010 Unglamorous Tasks: What Can Education Learn from its Political Traditions? e-
flux Journal 14/2010, e-flux.com. e-flux, Web. 2012. nov. 7. http://www.e-
flux.com/journal/unglamorous-tasks-what-can-education-learn-from-its-political-
traditions/

[2] P aolo Freire 2007 (1970)Pedagogy of Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2007,
Giroux, A Henry 2011 On Critical Pedagogy, New York, Bloomsbury Academic.
[3] The art pedogogical projects of Mikls Erdly between 1975 and 1978 (FAFEJ -
Fantziafejleszt" gyakorlatok, INDIGO - Interdiszciplinris gondolkods), operated an
alternative and a deliberate ciritical oppostion to the offical educational syste. (See
Sndor Sndor 2007 Egy megvalsult poszt-neoavantgrd utpia - Erdly Mikls
m!vszetpedaggijrl exindex.hu Exindex. 2007. okt. 2. Web. 2013. jn. 10. (In
Hungarian) http://exindex.hu/index.php?page=3&id=517. The study groups at the Ganz
MVAG cultural center, even though they were a preparations for entrance to the art
academy, this series of creative exercises led by Dra Maurer and Mikls Erdly,
became an autonomous pedagogical form.
[4] For instance, the tranzit.hu Free School for Art Theory and Practice
(http://hu.tranzit.org/hu/szabadiskola/), a or Fundacja 36,6 that was established in
Krakow in 2003.
[5] Dave Beech 2010 Weberian Lessons: Art, Pedagogy and Managerialism. In: ONeill
Paul and Mick Wilson eds. Curating and Educational Turn. Amsterdam: Open Editions
/ de Appel, 55.
[6] ONeill Paul, Mick Wilson eds 2010 Curating and Educational Turn. Amsterdam,
Open Editions / de Appel, 2010., 12.
[7] Steven Henry Madoff ed. 2009 Art School (Proposition for the 21st Century),
Cambridge, Mass, The MIT Press,
[8] A.C.A.D.E.M.Y. (2005-2006), Siemens Art Program, MuHKA, Van Abbemusuem
an exhibition, discussion, and workshop series, which looked at the academyas a
general term for educational institutionsand its role and possibilities in society. The
project also examined the role of the museum as a site for education.
[9] See for instance, the 2011 exhibition Possible Damage as INIVA, London was on
the student protest of 2010-2011 in London.
http://www.iniva.org/exhibitions_projects/2011/possible_damage/possible_damage.
[10] You Talkin' to me? Why Art is Turning to Education. Nought to Sixty Salon
Discussion, organized by Paul ONeill and Mick Wilson, ICA London, July 14, 2008.
ica.org.uk. ICA. Web. Aug 18. , 2013. aug. (Among others, this discussion was one of
the preparations for the publishing of Curating and the Educational Turn (eds. Paul
ONeill s Mick Wilson).
[11] Rogoff, Irit: 2008 Turning; e-flux Journal 0/2008, eflux.com, e-flux, Web. 9. Sept.
2012 http://www.e-flux.com/journal/turning/.
[12] Ibid.

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