Images and Identity: Improving Citizenship Education trough Digital Art

Transcription

1 Images and Identity Images and Identity: Improving Citizenship Education trough Digital Art Images and Identity Training Materials Teacher guidelines: Using Digital Media in Art Education Authors: Carl-Peter Buschkuehle and Marc Fritzsche Digital media offer new ways of working with images in art lessons. Most importantly, they facilitate work that combines image and text and in the case of video, the production of moving pictures. The digital image offers possibilities not only for analysing forms of mass media production but also for creating imagery in similar ways. Broadly speaking, there are three main ways of using digital media in Art lessons: for research (especially on the Internet), documentation and fiction. Many different kinds of media, software and tools are available. Some of the most relevant for Art lessons are presented here, with some recommendations for their use. Knowledge management Research and knowledge production benefit enormously from using digital media. Google ( and Wikipedia ( are important interfaces for knowledge stored on the Internet. Once pupils have researched an artwork or artist, they can create entries for Wikipedia or improve existing ones. Doing this may increase their interest in art-related topics at school and motivate them to continue this work outside school. Mind mapping software helps pupils to develop and organize ideas in art-related contexts. Studylog ( is one example of a tool designed to help users organize digital data, including images and texts, in ways that facilitate creative thinking. Software for digital imaging (Corel Draw, Corel Photo Paint, Photoshop, GIMP, paint.net etc.). This software has tools that simulate drawing and painting on the computer. Pupils cannot control the lines they draw precisely with a mouse, but they can use graphics tablets and interactive whiteboards instead. This software offers a great many special effects, for instance, painting in an impressionist style or creating a surface like an 1

2 oil painting. However, because there are so many special effects this can lead to their superficial use and obstruct pupils artwork if teachers do not carefully supervise and regulate how they are used. Computer-aided painting and drawing can never replace the real thing because the technology is always in between author and work and the experience of direct action and contact with materials is missing. The principles of collage and montage are easily transferred to digital work. For example, the Internet offers access to a vast array of images, for instance via Google image searches ( images.google.com/). As always on the WWWeb, there is the risk of pupils getting lost in hyperspace and following up links that contribute little or nothing to the original research aim. Teachers therefore need to be attentive and keep in close contact with pupils and their work. This includes giving advice on how to go beyond quick, flashy results. They are unlikely to achieve the perfect image quality they are familiar with from just looking at advertisements, and they may be disappointed. One interesting way to use these electronic tools is to let pupils experiment freely with the options, then transfer their playfully designed results into a painting, collage or installation. This frees up imagination and challenges pupils to solve unknown formal technical problems and issues with materials when they are creating artworks (Reuter 2007). With digital media becoming increasingly popular, a focus on an artful approach is more necessary than with traditional media (Fritzsche 2001). Teachers can offer pupils support by discussing the content and ideas for their artwork with them in advance before they introduce a digital tool. The back function is a crucial tool for conducting these kinds of experiments. Interactive whiteboards can be used to analyse digital images in ways that extend the limitations of traditional paper and pencil methods. Pupils can draw lines and shapes onto the images while they are analyzing their composition. If the image projected is the same size as the original artwork this interaction is very similar to the painting process. Digital photography. Doing photography in art lessons alleviates huge technical problems because no chemicals or darkroom are necessary. Most pupils have mobile phones with functions for photography, and video and pocket-cameras with both functions are readily available at a low price. Pupils can use PCs to work with photographs in almost any conceivable way. They can improve the quality of photographs with tools like contrast, colour and sharpness, choose and enlarge 2

3 details, modify images inside a collage and/or manipulate the digital surfaces in subtle ways. Using PCs to combine digital images and text offers new perspectives on visual expression. Media formats like posters or magazine-reports can be formulated neatly without the need for handwriting or photocopied-collage. Pupils can engage directly with principles of layout and communication-design. They can shoot photographs in the real world and increase their experience and knowledge of both artistic effects and the phenomena surrounding them. They can add photographs from the Internet and write on their work and about it at the same time. Research and documentation are fundamental elements of digital communication. Knowledge and design are combined in lessons based on themes from everyday life, society, culture or science. (See the example of poster-production in the German Case Study included in the Images and Identity Training Materials.) When Art lessons employ digital media, Art becomes a subject not just for fiction but for documentation and communication. If art teachers are prepared to develop cross-curricular themes they can collaborate with teachers of other school subjects. Citizenship lessons tend not to use visual media appropriately for reporting or documentation. On the other hand Art lessons often concentrate exclusively on formal problems associated with image creation. Knowledge and creativity combine when digital media are used for research AND expression. Pupils acquire a deeper understanding of the factual information, as well as some of the formal strategies that popular media use for visual expression (Buschkuehle 2007). Possible formats for combining images and text for documentation include posters, reportage, advertisements, PowerPoint presentations, murals, blogs and websites. The last two also offer possibilities for interactive online communication. Furthermore, digital photography can be used for fictional purposes, including staged photographs (for example of fictional identities or multiple selves), photo-stories, photomontage or digitally alienated photographs (see Video. Video is easy to handle in Art lessons. Young people today shoot videos spontaneously with their mobile phones and lowpriced camcorders with many functions and effects are available for use in Art lessons. The programs for digital cutting and composing are easy to use, and some of them are available as freeware. As with digital photography, video can be used for documentary or fictional purposes. Pupils can combine images with words, sound and/or music, and this is what makes video production a multimedia project. Pupils can shoot their 3

4 own scenes and use or combine sequences from other videos, for instance from the Internet. Video-reportage and video-essays offer formats for documentaries, short movies or experimental videos for fiction. Fictional reportages or essays are also possible. Again, the interface between knowledge and creation holds good as long as video is not used solely for aesthetic experiments, which there is a temptation to do because the special effects are attractive and the combination of PC-software and camera enables many manipulations. Animated film is another possibility for experiments with fiction. Almost any camcorder offers a stop-motion function that makes things, figures or drawings move. Video is a rather complex medium so dividing up the labour is helpful. Some students in the group can be responsible for acting, others for shooting and others for the dialogue and/or music. There are several steps in the work. The use of storyboards (combining small sketches and text) helps to plan a story and accompanying images. Once the shooting is complete, cutting is decisive for the end results. Video projects offer pupils the experience of producing TV-formats, short films and/ or music videos. The Internet offers platforms like YouTube ( for pupils to make their productions public. (For a report of research into net art in educational environments, see Burkhardt 2007). Crossover of traditional and digital media Digital media should be understood as tools, not just media. Connecting analogue and digital procedures is productive. It implies the extensive use of the interfaces between humans and machines available for input (scanners, cameras, graphics tablets, keyboards, mice, sensors etc.) and output (printers, screens, beamers, loudspeakers etc.) and experimenting with them in ways manufacturers do not intend. When the covers of USB scanners are removed they can be used as ubiquitous image sources if they are connected to a notebook. Stop motion animation using scanners or digital cameras as image sources can be created with almost any imaging software. Drawings can be produced using GPS tracking. Handheld devices can stimulate interaction outside the classroom if they are properly integrated into games that make use, for example, of GPS signals. Errors using software for image processing may lead to new ideas and forms of expression; for example, when colour manipulation produces unintended results. When pupils scan their faces, changes in colour (typically towards green or red) can be used to distance themselves from their self-images. 4

5 Digital and analogue media can be used sequentially. For example, pupils can manipulate an image of a scanned face via software, then print it, work on it with real colour, and then scan it again, etc. The inspiration for an altered image may come from looking at contemporary art. Sufficient space and time are essential for this kind of work and self-organization skills are crucial, though teamwork is always an option. A German team has carried out extensive research on the use of digital media in a project called Cultural Education in the Media Age ( See the publications by Boysen-Stern (2006) and Reimann (2006) listed below. References BDK (2004): Computer Fachtypische Anwendungen im Kunstunterricht. < (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) Boysen Stern, H. J.(2006): Multisensueller Kunstunterricht unter Einbeziehung der Computertechnik. < htm#boysen_stern> (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) Burkhardt, S. (2007): Netz Kunst Unterricht. Künstlerische Strategien im Netz und kunstpädagogisches Handeln. München: Kopaed Buschkuehle, C.P. (2007): Die Welt als Spiel. Band 1: Digitale Spiele und kuenstlerische Existenz, Band 2: Theorie und Praxis kuenstlerischer Bildung. Oberhausen: Athena Fritzsche, M. (2001): Ein Medium drängt sich nach vorn. In: Kirchner, Constanze; Peez, Georg (Hg.): Werkstatt: Kunst. Hannover: BDK-Verlag, S Google. (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) Google image search. < (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) Kulturelle Bildung im Medienzeitalter. < (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) Lernen Neue Medien im Unterricht. < (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) 5

6 Reimann, D. (2006): Ästhetisch informatische Medienbildung mit Kindern und Jugendlichen. Grundlagen, Szenarien und Empfehlungen für Gestaltungsprozesse in Mixed Reality Lernräumen. 1. Aufl. Oberhausen: ATHENA. Reuter, O. M. (2007): Experimentieren. Ästhetisches Verhalten von Grundschulkindern. München: kopaed. Studylog. (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) Wikipedia. (Accessed 5 Jan. 2009) This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. 6