Making Difference Audible
Part 1: Unit Plan
Unit Title:
Contemporary Art and the Global Community: Making Difference Audible Through A Social Mobile Public Pedagogy
Setting: Mobile Learning/Online (Tablet or Smartphone)
Age: 14-Adult
Enduring Idea: Access to studio space for artists is not always available or even practical, especially for those of lower socioeconomic status. However, mobile technology and social media make it possible to create, share and discuss art anywhere, anytime and with anyone on the planet. This unlimited opportunity for public pedagogy expands the concept of space by tearing down the culturally divisive studio walls to reveal our shared humanity through art.
Key Concepts about the Enduring Idea:
- Expanding opportunities for social justice education beyond the classroom
- Moving beyond traditional notions of “What art is.” to “What can be art?”
- Reaching potential learners that exist outside the context of traditional art making
- The art teaches
Key Concepts about Contemporary Art as Public Pedagogy:
- Promoting social justice initiatives through contemporary art (Holzer)
- The change effecting benefits of collaboration (Tim Rollins and KOS)
- Social practice (FLUXUS, Beuys)
- Contemporary new media artists especially those working with sound
Essential Questions:
- Is all art visual?
- Is all art aesthetically pleasing?
- Where can art be made?
- How do artists share their work with other artists? Why?
- How can the art deliver a socially relevant message?
- Can we learn something about the artist’s identity by engaging with their work?
- Can we learn about our own identity by creating art?
- Can we learn about identities of others through critique and/or collaboration?
- How can art deliver its message to the widest possible audience?
Rationale: It is important for students to understand that art takes many forms and its potential for educating and effecting social and personal change doesn’t have to be contained within the 4 walls of a studio, gallery or museum. My philosophy mandates that as an artist you are also educator. And, a public pedagogy can be achieved by putting the art forward as educational tool.
Unit Objectives: Students will come to know that art is multidimensional in its applications and can exist beyond the shiny object. And in relation, the spaces in which art is made and displayed are not confined to studios, galleries and museums. The space that mobile technology allows has a broader cultural reach and so an opportunity to teach someone you may never meet in person something about your identity through art. This way of teaching, through art, is unlimited. It includes creating, showing, discussing, and collaborating. These revelatory social interactions are where the real learning takes place. It’s a form of social practice to educate through this “dynamic system of knowledge” (Castro, 2012, pg. 158). And, so within our interactions of, with and about art we are also creating a collective social sculpture.
Standards: https://www.nationalartsstandards.org
End of Unit Assessment:
EVIDENCE: The students will have collaborated on a sound art piece that was created, shared and discussed on a mobile social application designed for audio. This collaborative sound sculpture will exist and be sharable, downloadable and expandable. Much of the learning will be evidenced in the dialogue throughout and at the end of each of the lessons. As the unit is virtual, a survey will be distributed through a digital survey service with pointed questions to gauge the depth of knowledge attained.
OVERVIEW OF LESSONS:
Lesson 1 – Social Sculpture Through Collaboration: All the Girls and Beuys
Students will be introduced to the concepts of feminist art and social practice and artists who have created and are creating in these frameworks. Including, a discussion of the Fluxus movement’s role in expanding notions of what art can be. Through a discussion board they will share thoughts on the concepts, artists and art to open an introductory dialogue. Then, they will share a personal narrative that can include poems, objects or sounds. These shared narratives will be compiled by the teaching artist/facilitator to create a social sculpture that exists virtually. Students will learn the value of collaboration with those who come from disparate backgrounds and further their understanding of the wide scope of possibilities for contemporary art making and meaning.
Lesson 2 – The Art of Listening: Sound Art for Social Justice
Students will explore contemporary artists working with sound and social justice. They will become familiar with the audio recording/mixing/collaboration application. And make a short (less than 5 minute) sound sculpture and share it on the social media portion of the audio sharing application. Discussions will take place in the comments section. Students will learn that art can be made and shared anywhere, anytime with anyone and that the studio, gallery and museum are only concepts. Further, that art can open doors of understanding about difference and through that, bridge cultural divides.
Lesson 3 – The Sound of Your Day: A Collective Sound Sculpture
Lesson 3 will be the culminating experience of the unit. First, students will be introduced to a few examples of collaborative works by contemporary artists. Next, students will begin to collect sounds to add to the collaborative sound sculpture. The source of the sounds will represent individual moments in the day of the students. Students will post a 3 minute “sound of their day” to their profile on the audio sharing application. The application itself will generate a looping mix of all the sounds collected. Discussions will take place in the comments section. The power of collaboration in sound to embody our shared humanity despite diverse cultural backgrounds will be made apparent through the process of listening to each individual student’s contribution and then the unifying harmony of the collective.
Part 2: Individual Lesson Plan Within Unit
- UNIT TITLE:Contemporary Art and the Global Community: Making Difference Visible Through A Social Mobile Public Pedagogy
- ENDURING IDEA/THEME:Access to studio space for artists is not always available or even practical, especially for those of lower socioeconomic status.However, mobile technology and social media make it possible to create, share and discuss art anywhere, anytime and with anyone on the planet. This unlimited opportunity for public pedagogy expands the concept of space by tearing down the culturally divisive studio walls to reveal our shared humanity through art.
- LESSON NUMBER:2
- LESSON TITLE:The Art of Listening: Sound Art for Social Justice
- GRADE OR CLASS:Mobile/Online (Tablet or Smartphone) age 14-Adult
- TIME ALLOTMENT: 3 weeks
- LESSON SUMMARY:
Week 1: Students will explore contemporary artists working with sound and social justice through readings and listening to recordings and watching performances. They will share their exploration through an online discussion board. They will create a profile and become familiar with the audio recording/mixing/collaboration social media application through a tutorial provided by the application designer.
Week 2: Students will make a short (less than 5 minute) sound sculpture and share it on the social media portion of the audio sharing application. The piece must include at least one field recording of something familiar to the student’s daily life. The piece must not be simply a recording of a particular song.
Week 3: Students will post their finished piece to their profile of the social media portion of the application. Discussions of each individual sound sculpture will be facilitated in the comments section of each post.
- ARTWORKS, ARTISTS and/or ARTIFACTS:
- Antye Greie aka AGF, #unlisteningwhitefeminism (2018)
https://soundcloud.com/ctm-festival/unlisteningwhitefeminism
- Maria Chavez, Between a Gunshot and a Whisper (2017)
https://soundcloud.com/maria-chavez/between-a-gunshot-and-a-whisper-documenta-14-2017
- Lance Rautzhan aka Those Meddling Punk Kids, The Ballad of The Broken Blindness Ray Gadget (2018)
https://soundcloud.com/those-meddling-punk-kids/the-ballad-of-the-broken-blindness-ray-gadget
- KEY CONCEPTS addressed in this lesson:
-
- Expanding opportunities for social justice education beyond the classroom
- Moving beyond traditional notions of “What art is.” to “What can be art?”
- Reaching potential learners that exist outside the context of traditional art making
- The art teaches
- Promoting social justice initiatives through contemporary art
- Contemporary new media artists especially those working with sound
- ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS addressed in this lesson:
- Is all art visual?
- Is all art aesthetically pleasing?
- Where can art be made?
- How do artists share their work with other artists? Why?
- How can the art deliver a socially relevant message?
- Can we learn something about the artist’s identity by engaging with their work?
- Can we learn about our own identity by creating art?
- Can we learn about identities of others through critique and/or collaboration?
- How can art deliver its message to the widest possible audience?
- STANDARDS: https://www.nationalartsstandards.org
- INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS: Social Sciences, Computer Science, History
- LESSON OBJECTIVES: Students will learn that art can be made and shared anywhere, anytime with anyone and that the studio, gallery and museum are only concepts. By making, sharing, and listening to these sound sculptures in a wide-open mobile environment students will come to understand expanded notions of studio and exhibition space thereby breaking down the walls of cultural and socioeconomic difference. Further, they will learn that art in all it’s forms can open doors of understanding about difference and through that, bridge cultural divides.
- ASSESSMENT: The students and I will know that they have learned what is intended in this lesson because I will actively facilitate the dialogue in the comment sections of each individual sound sculpture. I will mindfully direct students toward understanding of the key concepts and answers to the essential questions through the art. The finished sound sculpture and accompanying comment dialogue will count as evidence of student learning and stand as measurement of student achievement.
- PREPARATION
- Teacher Research and Preparation:Explore artists working in sound especially those who promote social justice through their work. Identify/Design audio recording/mixing/collaboration social media application. Be an artist. Make a piece according to the parameters outlined in the lesson.
- Teaching Resources:Soundcloud playlist of relevant works. Video of performances.
- Student Supplies:Tablet or Smartphone. Audio Recording/Miixing/Collaboration Social Media Application
Part 3: Implementation Narrative
Without access to students but with advanced knowledge of the subject matter and necessary technical skills, I implemented Lesson 2 starting in “week 2” by creating and sharing a sound sculpture that falls within the parameters of the assignment. This approach is in line with my re-mixed culturally relevant collaborative mentorship model of art educationand Beuysian philosophy that my studio and pedagogical practices are inextricably intertwined and interactive. Having no “all-in-one” application as described throughout the unit, I applied Sharples et.al (2009), “unpredictability of the mode of use” model by utilizing Garageband as the sound recording and mixing component and Soundcloud as the sharing and comment section dialogue component. Please find below my sound sculpture created for Lesson 2…
https://soundcloud.com/those-meddling-punk-kids/laundry
Having no students, there is no comment section dialogue. I invite any and all to share their thoughts and opinions on the Soundcloud page and help shape a dialogue around Laundry (2018) so as to test at least in small proportion the efficacy of this section of the unit. In my reflections, I will be addressing the piece itself as the embodiment of my explorations in AED 813.
Part 4: Reflection
Without a proper classroom, my unit plan turns to a truly public forum, the virtual mobile classroom. By incorporating the elements of sharing, critique and collaboration, integral parts of growth for artists and students alike, into a usable format beyond the often times exclusionary four walls historically imposed on both art and education, a truly open and inclusive public pedagogy can be achieved. The social mobile environment is also the perfect venue to implement and test Biesta’s post-Beuys posit, “(A)rt is precisely this ongoing, literally never-ending exploration of the encounter with what and who is other, the ongoing and never-ending exploration of what it might mean to exist in and with the world” (2017, pg. 68). My unit plan is situated firmly in the contemporary art ideas of social practice first introduced by the Fluxus movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Beuys and the social justice leanings of Feminist art. I expect, that through the distributive and interactive affordances of social media, a community of learning will develop over the course of the unit plan and will expand notions of diversity and so shrink notions of difference. However, this is a utopian conception for divisive times. The Internet, and by extension social media, was once hailed as the great equalizer and today has become a venue for hate filled rhetoric and looping ideological sound bites. This current virtual dystopia is the roadblock to my public pedagogy efforts through my unit plan. But, if there is a way to break this new pattern of ill communication, it is through art. Whether it is visual, performance or sound based, art is humanity’s first and oldest form of communication. And so, it seems natural to return to those roots in order to repair our shared cultural injuries. I had an idea of what I wanted to explore but despite knowledge gained through experience, inquiry and discussion was struggling with a departure point. Through my philosophical lens, the art leads the pedagogy and as an artist I am inherently an educator. So, my research and preparation for creating and implementing the unit plan began by making art. I have, in my studio practice, incorporated elements of sound sculpture for some time. These sound experiments and implementations have evolved and come to exemplify the socially aware and activist praxis of artists presented throughout not only AED 813, but also, the MPS Art Ed coursework I have explored thus far. In stride with the accessibility, mobility and unconfined nature of the virtual studio, I began with field recordings. Those recordings were fully mixed on mobile and then brought into a more traditional setting to be extended and amplified by live improvisational sampling from vinyl records (well, one record in particular). While there is no critical dialogue around my finished piece occurring yet, as is called for in the lesson, it is what I believe to be a promising potential public pedagogy. Further and in conclusion, Laundry (2019) stands not only as an example of a successful self-implementation of a section of my unit plan but also a potent tribute to the exploratory pedagogy presented in AED 813.
References
Biesta, G. (2017). Letting art teach. Arnhem: ArtEZ Press.
Castro, J. (2012). Learning and Teaching Art Through Social Media. Studies in Art Education, 53(2), 152-169. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24467884
Sharples, M., Arnedillo-Sánchez, I., Milrad, M., & Vavoula, G. (2009). Mobile learning: Small devices, big issues. In N. Balacheff, S. Ludvigsen, et al. (Eds.), Technology-enhanced learning: Principles and products (pp. 233–249). Springer.