Building conversations

The scripts, Aers, v.d.Berg,Lotker (2022)

In short: Building Conversation is a platform for Dialogic Art. For the past 10 years, Building Conversation has been developing performances inspired by existing dialogue practices from around the world. With the book ‘The scripts’, they share their experiences, knowledge and dialogue form. During the PIMDI project, we drew inspiration from ‘The scripts’ to further develop or newly design dialogue spaces. Keywords: dialogue space, rules, facilitator, performative

Encounters: Efforts of being-with a lesvos olive tree

Illeris, H. (2022)

In short: in this multi-modal essay the author experiments with various sensory forms of encounter with an old olive tree near the Metochi Study Center in the Kalloni region of Lesvos. forms of sensory encounters between the human body of the author and her Olive partner. The themes of these encounters are touch, sound, vulnerability, and ageing.

Skregelid, L. (2019). A call for dissensus in art education!, International Journal of Education Through Art, 16:2, pp. 161–176

Skregelid, L. (2019)

In short: this article argues for the relevance of the term dissensus by the French philoso- pher Jacques Rancière in an art educational context in particular and an educa- tional context in general. As dissensus is seen as a premise for subjectivation, the author argues for initiating dissensus by introducing students to both art and educational practices that contrast the norm and disrupt the expected. The article also discusses why dissensus as an educational strategy and an aesthetic turn in education seems to be urgent in a contemporary educational climate.

Ecological awareness with and through human and more-than-human efforts of embracing a former gravel pit

Illeris, H. (2022)

In short: this essay explores the relationship between a human body and a particular geographic place: a former Danish gravel pit that was recently turned into a recreational area. Through a sensory-based, auto-ethnographic approach inspired by a/r/tographic fieldwork and living inquiry, the author experiments with how she can craft connections between her moving body and the former pit; understood not as a landscape, but as Land.

Walking Propositions: Coming to Know A/r/tographically. International Journal of Art & Design Education.

Lee,N., Morimoto, K., Mosavarzadeh M., and Rita L. Irwin R.L. (2019)

In short: This article explores walking as a form of inquiry within a study group. Three propositions are explored and as a result we think more deeply about being present, truly present, to that which we never anticipated. Walking in response to these propositions and coming to think deeply about the impact of being present to presence, became important to us as a community of a/r/tographers.

Performing difference in/through dance: The significance of dialogical, or third spaces in creating conditions for learning and living together. In Thinking Skills and Creativity 31, 209-216

Anttila, E., Svendler Nielsen, Martin R. (2019)

In short: this article discusses identity and difference, and introduces the notion of performing difference. The authors argue that the key condition for students to be able to perform difference and thus, to explore flexible identities, is a dialogical, or third space. Such a space is supportive of variation and exploration, and encourages bending and breaking of norms and habits within a safe environment.

Inhabiting Practice – Performative approaches to education and research as art. In A.-L. Østern & K. N. Knudsen (Eds.): Performative Approaches in Arts Education – Artful Teaching, Learning, and Research. London: Routledge. 

Anundsen, T.W. & Illeris, H. (2019)

In short: this chapter explores performative approaches to encounter, negotiate and potentially change the conditions of arts education from within its institutional framework. Inspired by contemporary art projects, where everyday collective practices – such as building or cooking – are performed as art, the authors turned to explore how this could also apply to their own educational practice. Keywords: higher education, contemporary art, social arts practice, practice-led research, critical pedagogy.

From safe spaces to brave spaces: A new way to frame dialogue around diversity and social justice.

Arao, B. and C. Kristi. (2013)

In short: the text introduces the discussion on the terms ‘safe space’ and ‘brave space’, with concrete examples. This discussion is timely and relevant in arts education, especially when working with diverse groups and touching on sensitive questions of diversity.

on dialogue

Bohm, D. (1996)

In short: Bohm sees dialogue as shared thinking and creation. Without purpose, without anyone winning. It is not about truth but shared meaning.

This text inspires us to explore how to shape open dialogue with large groups through conceptual tools provided by David Bohm.

Dialogue, difference, and imagination- Building a conceptual framework for a pedagogy of imaginative dialogue

Anundsen, T. W., Anttilla, E. & Waage, I. Ó. (2023)

In short: This article aims to outline key theoretical concepts for a pedagogy of imaginative dialogue and to explore the theoretical properties of these concepts. The empirical foundations of this inquiry are teacher and student experiences from an arts educational project with the same name, abbreviated PIMDI, and particularly draw on a student–teacher workshop in Helsinki in October 2021 and a recorded dialogue between four teachers in the project, January 2022. Based on these materials, the authors present and explore three concepts that emerged as important points of inspiration behind the project: dialogue, difference, and imagination. The article thus offers some theoretical tools to develop and reflect on a pedagogical methodology in the making. 

Summary ‘A pedagogy of imaginative dialogues’

Boven, M. (2020)

In short: Summary of the main ideas behind PIMDI. This strategic partnership will employ the specific resources that are available within the field of art education to develop a pedagogy of imaginative dialogues. Such dialogues allow pupils/students to recognize both experientially and reflectively that values, however strongly felt, are never given, but result from an act of valuing that is shared by all.

Room for polyphony

Beekman, N. (2021)

In short: The dissertation Room for Polyphony reports on an action research study investigating how an art & philosophy lab (‘Sparklab’) can contribute to more room for ‘free action’ at a multicultural primary school by offering opportunities for a polyphony in which three ‘free’ voices can be distinguished that are linked to the notion of subjectification.

Learning bodies engaging with art: Staging aesthetic experiences, International Journal of Education Through Art, 11:2, pp. 153-165

Illeris,H. (2016)

In short: the article focuses on three dimensions of the aesthetic experience: the phenomenological, the semantic and the transformational. Together with the concepts of performativity and performance, these notions are used to discuss the role of ‘the learning body’ in three case studies carried out in art museums over a ten-year period.

Zoom in on Dry Joy—Dissensus, Agonism and Democracy in Art Education. Education Sciences. 11:1

Skregelid, L. (2021)

Inshort: literature on art education often emphasizes dialogue as a preferred approach and as a way of practicing democratic education in museums and galleries. Dialogue-based tours in such contexts are often characterized by a sense of harmony and agreement. In contrast, this article discusses the democratic aspect and political potentiality when dissensus and agonism are used as central educational strategies. This article aims to contribute to knowledge about how educational strategies that challenge consensus may enable democratic arenas beyond hegemony.