Great Minds in the world of Art came together to discuss the issues and challenges faced by Art Education in the face of an evolving ecosystem that is majorly influenced by technology, society and demographics.
The World University of Design (WUD) organized an intensive brainstorming seminar in collaboration with a think-tank of eminent artists, art educators, curators and industry leaders in an effort to rethink the existing education framework and move towards a futuristic and contemporary understanding of the art education.
The seminar elaborated on the emerging education landscape especially in India in the coming years and how institutions are responding to these changes and challenges. The seminar was organized by the School of Visual Arts, the World University of Design on 7th June at the Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi.
Some of the well-known and eminent personalities and artists who were a part of the seminar included Adwaita Charan Gadanayak (Dir-Gen, NGMA), J Manu Parekh, Senior Artist, Suresh Goel (Dir General, EEMA and ex-DG, ICCR) and Sushma Bahl (Former Head (Art and Culture, British Council) among others.
"The world of Art is undergoing a rapid transformation. Even as contemporary art continues its movement in the conceptual and experiential direction; object-based, archival art continues to hold its ground. These are crucial times for art education too. The last document on art education in schools was made by CBSE a decade back and there has never been any study in the higher education domain. Almost all our visual art degree institutions continue to be modernist in their structures. Though some have opened up to material and conceptual explorations, they are not in a position to provide the pedagogical, structural and material infrastructure. Besides education fields like curatorial practices, and art management have emerged as key areas of cultural practice and can no longer be seen as auxiliary to the visual art industry (which has traditionally kept art making as its centre)", said Dr Sanjay Gupta, Vice Chancellor, World University of Design.
Some of the other dignitaries present were Kishore Singh (Head, Exhibitions and Publications - DAG), Ganeev Dhillon (Curator Partition Museum), Dr Rajkumar Mazimdar (Prof Dept of Visual Art, Assam University, Silchar), Shivani Gandhi (Out Reach Associate, Partition Museum), Ritika Lal Chakravartty (Asst. Editor, Art and Deal Magazine), Argha Kamal Ganguly (Assistant Curator NGMA), Dr Ruchika W Singh (Independent Educationist), Ritu Vajpeyi-Mohan (Publisher DAG), Gopal Namjoshi (Senior Artist), Shankar Barua (Director, Festival of e-creativity) and Pramod Kumar KG (Managing Director, Eka Cultural Resources and Labs)
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"Art does not have a fixed way of teaching, but the role of the teacher is key students to get motivated and excel", said Adwaita Charan Gadanayak Dir, NGMA. Recounting his days at the College of Arts he said how his teachers like Gogi Saroj Pal, Dhiraj Choudhury prepared them to be artists in a fast-evolving world with its changing material culture.
"The relation for an artist to his immediate social and cultural environment is key to the quality of art and depth of practice. Even after many years of independence we still have not evolved our own approach to art education. Our colleges still rely heavily on studio-based practice and have no space where the student engages with society and his/her larger cultural environment. It is important for new art schools to embrace this issue and develop models towards the future", shared Manu Parekh.
"WUD has one of the largest portfolios of art and design courses in India, the university offers a number of cutting edge programs in Digital art and illustration, Curatorial practices in Art, Contemporary Art, Fashion art and Art education etc. we strive to balance the delicate nature of the course with the standard educational concepts. Working and playing with colours and Canvas is not just art education, but it is far more beyond, it helps to bring out one's creativity through videos, photography and craft. It is a platform where a 'critically-thinking' practice emerges and acts as a tool for providing knowledge to students in the field of arts in combination with other areas of education", added S M Kulkarni, Dean, School of Visual Arts, WUD.
The programmes offered by WUD includes a first in India MVA in Curatorial Practices in Arts, a unique two-year master's programme that prepares students to expand the role of curators in connecting art, artists, and communities; engaging audiences more effectively by proposing alternative models of exhibition-making, institution-building and social justice through art.
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