How Soon Is Now? Post-Conditions in Art Education

Abstract

This article investigates the concept of change for art education in times when the waning relevancy of postmodernity has brought about a set of competing post-conditions that point to an entanglement between continuity and discontinuity and to where the Now belongs to a future that is not, prima facie, New. This temporal arrangement—the Now without the New—poses a challenge to art education’s historicity of its present practices as well as the ontology of educational thought. The first part of the article explores the temporal conditions for the conceptualization of the Now and the New. Then, visual culture art education is investigated as the latest New thing in North American art education literature that has a particular focus on the Now with an inherent promise for the New. Last, post-Internet art is discussed as a possible example of a Now without a perpetual recourse to the New.

Notes

¹ We purposely capitalize the words “Now” and “New” in order to pay attention to how these etymologically connected terms constitute two differing characterizations of the present. This choice stems from our attempt to approach the present aside from situating it in a chronological relation between the past and the future.

² While we are keenly aware of the problematics of the acronym VCAE to represent the broad range of theories and practices of visual culture in art education, we nevertheless use it throughout the article because of space limitation.

³ Or, to be more precise, we should say histories of European modern thought. See Davis (2008) for a critical discussion of the politics of time in European historiography.

⁴ For a further elaboration on the relation between potentiality and actuality in art education historiography from the perspective of Giorgio Agamben’s philosophy, see Tervo (2018).

⁵ Well before the turn of the millennium, the term visual culture was used by Bob Bersson (1980) to develop the aims for the Caucus for Social Theory in Art Education.

⁶ Although it is beyond the scope of this article to address the broad and ongoing concept of visual culture outside of North American art education, we recognize the concept’s important role in challenging art, history, and education, especially at the turn of the 21st century. See, for example, Barnard (2001), Elkins (2002), Evans and Hall (1999), Krauss and Foster (1996), Mitchell (1995a, 1995b), Mitchell (2002), Mirzoeff (1998, 1999), Shohat and Stam (1998), Sturken and Cartwright (2009), and Walker and Chaplin (1997).

⁷ For a more complete discussion on the role of the Getty Education Institute in the history of art education in the United States, see Wilson (1996).

⁸ There is insufficient space in this article to acknowledge many of the art education scholars who played a key role, in different ways, in the development and support of VCAE. Some examples can be found in Grubbs (2012), Hicks and Freedman (2016), and Tavin (2005a, 2005b).

⁹ There were two special issues of Arts Education Policy Review that focused on visual culture, both edited by Ralph Smith (2004a, 2004b), a leading opponent of VCAE. In those editions, as well as others, visual culture seemed largely framed in a politically negative light.

¹⁰ It is worth pointing out that some critiques were more sympathetic by suggesting expanding the content area (Bolin & Blandy, 2003), being cautious about creating a new canon (Heise, 2004), and considering aesthetics as part of visual culture (Efland, 2004).

¹¹ Despite the enthusiasm and breadth of literature in the field at the time, there was much less inclusion of VCAE at the K–12 level compared with DBAE. This was due in large part to the lack of sustained national, institutional, and financial support (lack of teacher training, pervasive models, and ready-made teacher materials), as well as resistance on many levels.

¹² There are some who seem to hold tight to the same positions from the early 2000s. See, for example, Kamhi (2014) and Pariser (2015).

¹³ These include, but are not nearly limited to, exhibitions and biennales such as the 9th Berlin Biennale; WELT AM DRAHT at Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin; ARS17 at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; and BEING THERE at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

¹⁴ Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/75735816.