After thinking this past week of the art of oratory (Obama's Inaugural speech), and the art of Russia's leader, I had to swing to Asia and ideas in contemporary art regarding the art of learning.
The Chinese Art Prize Gold Winner Min Xiaofang entered two meter-tall paintings of children's homework - mathematics, grammar, English - all graded and corrected in red ink. 10cm-wide patches of white, which looks like correction fluid, add to the authentic appearance of the paintings. This is what is new new in Chinese Contemporary Art.
As mothers we save our children's work, but I think of this as well as something else, perhaps a little more profound in the annals of text. As I immerse in the digital, having completed courses online, the red marks on ruled paper take me back, way back. Learning and educational trends are leaving the blackboard behind and collaborative efforts make the red pen less... authoritative. MIT's move to ditch the large lectures for interaction has reduced failure rates by 50%.
If art is about ideas, and good art makes you think, then... I leave you with this contemporary art work. Would you hang this on your wall?
photo credit: Chinese Art Prize
It does make me think; I like this very much, in fact.
Posted by: tut-tut | January 26, 2009 at 06:50 AM
I also want art to be something I enjoy looking at, so I would not hang this on my wall.
Posted by: allison | January 26, 2009 at 09:35 AM
I sort of doubt it. I like more color.
Posted by: Kay Dennison | January 26, 2009 at 03:09 PM