THE TEACHING OF CONTEMPORARY ART

THROUGH DRAWING
IN COMPULSORY SECONDARY EDUCATION

DOCTORAL THESIS

Rocío Arregui Pradas

for Enrique
Acknowledgments

The journey undertaken in conducting this research work has been long and
full of vicissitudes of various kinds, professional and personal, and not
I would not have reached a goal without the help of family, friends, and professionals.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to my family for their contributions.

but, above all, for the demonstrated patience and the stolen hours. Also
for my friends who have endured my musings on art
contemporary and education, especially for Ángel who has also
collaborated on the corrections.

The collaboration of my coworkers from the

IES of Osuna and Arahal, as well as the debates held with José Pedro
Aznárez and the colleagues from the working group "idac". I also want
I thank my fellow members of the group 'signs of' for their support as an artist.
noon", especially to Juan F. Lacomba.

I thank the initial guidance of Mª del Mar Bernal and that of my current director.
Juan Carlos Arañó. Without him, I would have never completed this work.

Everyone has helped me believe that the world is more intense, more alive and
more interesting, seen with 'artist's eyes.'
THE TEACHING OF CONTEMPORARY ART THROUGH DRAWING IN
COMPULSORY SECONDARY EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION 5
Objectives
Project context
Methodology

I. CONTEMPORARY ART, SOCIETY AND EDUCATION

I.1.A definition of art as a process 12

The aesthetic experience
Art as a process

I.2. Approaches that can serve as a basis for a

approach to contemporary art 20
The contemporary term
Axes for an approach to contemporary art
Art as an aesthetic form
Emotional expression
The creation process
Art as a concept
The context and the relationship with society
The artistic inquiry

I.3. Contemporary art and society 41

Art and market

Art and design
Art and ecology
Art and multiculturalism

I.4. The approach to contemporary art

and theIntegral formation of the individual 48
Art and human development

I.5. Artistic education, visual thinking and postmodernity 55

Education in postmodern art
Education and visual culture
The formation of visual thinking as the basis of the
artistic education

I.6. New objectives for artistic education 69

2
II. CONTEMPORARY ART AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
MANDATORY

II.1. Contemporary art in ESO 72

General objectives regarding artistic training in the
LOGSE
Contemporary art in the curriculum design of Visual Arts Education

II.2. The context of secondary education

and its relationship with contemporary art 77
Adolescence
The relationship of adolescents with art and society
The adolescent and the structure of the educational system

III. CURRICULAR PROPOSAL FOR APPROACHING ART

CONTEMPORARY IN THE E. P. V.

III.1.Precedents 81
The studies of Parsons
The method of Wilson and Hurwitz

III.2. Objectives of the teaching project 85

Conceptual objectives
Procedural objectives
Attitudinal objectives
General objectives to bring contemporary art closer

III.3. Methodology 88
Contextualized reflection
The observation and analysis of contemporary works
Questions about the works
Similar approaches to those followed by the artists
Drawing as a method for understanding the
artistic processes
The reflection on one's own work afterwards

III. 4. The support for visits to contemporary art exhibitions...... 95

Before the visit
During the visit
Visit without a guide
Guided tour
After the visit

III. 5. Contribution to the education of transversal themes.................... 100

III. 6. Analysis of students' prior ideas. 102

3
IV. APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT TO A TYPICAL CURRICULUM

IV. 1. Design of the educational project 104

Design of the thematic units of E.P.V.
Relationship with the axes of contemporary art
Selection of authors, works and artistic trends of
20th century
Student profile

IV.2. Thematic Units 114

Art as an aesthetic form
Emotional expression
The process of creation
Art as a concept
The context and the relationship of art with society
Art as a result of an inquiry

IV.3. Surveys 120

Survey results
Profile of the surveyed students
Let her be beautiful
That expresses emotions
That it is very well done
To reflect on something
That reflects what his era is like
Let it be innovative

V. CONCLUSIONS 144
Objections to the project
The conclusions according to the polls
The conclusions according to the activities
The conclusions according to the project's objectives
didactic
Final conclusions

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY 150

VII. ANNEXES On CD

Thematic units
Statistics

4
INTRODUCTION

Contemporary visual art as a social phenomenon presents multiple

facets both aesthetic and anthropological, political, tourist or educational.
The role of art in society as well as its impact on individuals does not
it develops in a homogeneous manner, but rather it affects to very diverse degrees
to daily chores.

The specialization and disintegration into different facets of personality to

what has led us to the technocracy of this society endangers the
conception of art as something everyday and vital. This is even more evident
extreme in the latest trends, that only an elite of society
tries to assimilate. Its implication in elitist markets and cultural minorities it
makes it almost inaccessible for the average citizen.

The approach to contemporary art, its manifestations and its

proposals occur very irregularly depending on the context in which
we find ourselves. On one hand, the artists, art critics, curators of
exhibitions and other professionals are directly involved in
suggest, analyze, and propose new creations. On the other hand, the audience
attend as a spectator of these works, with varying degrees of interest.

In certain situations, we find that both groups

they travel very different paths and even come to confront each other. The
the rejection of contemporary art as useless, strange, and vain is a fact that is
produces more frequently than many would find desirable. But
Why does this controversy arise? And above all, why would it be?
is a desirable approach to contemporary art?

Nowadays, art may not be seen as important or necessary, although the

artistic expression is indeed felt as an anthropological necessity, a
experience that is felt in very different ways depending on the subjects
and the times. Art is the cultural fruit of this experience and its relationship with the
environment, so its processes and even its concept are in continuous
evolution. In other times, art has been linked to other functions of
greater social impact, such as the religious or the documentary, so it has
It has been accepted, to a greater or lesser extent, but without questioning its usefulness.

The problem arises when, in a society saturated with images that

they can fulfill the functions that were previously their own, art becomes
incomprehensible. What can the art of our time contribute to society?

The spectator lacking training in the most recent artistic creation,

feels that he has no references to hold on to even start to

5
 perceive the work that you are contemplating. This may not be created in
techniques that one knows, may not be located in one's own culture, even
it can be installed in places it is not used to. The shock is
predictable when the individual lacks basic clues of
interpretation and when, those that it has, are practically opposite to those
on which the art that observes is based.

But these keys are not so complex or so foreign. With a simple change
of predisposition towards the work, it can contribute a lot to the person who
he approaches her. He can convey emotions to us, making us see elements of
our environment viewed with another perspective can provoke us,
have fun or worry. The experience gained through art us
helps us to get to know ourselves and to know our world.

On the other hand, the resources of art are used by other means of
mass communication that reaches us partially and
filtered by private interests. Daily, images are disseminated that
we perceive without reflection but are assimilated naturally,
forming part of our personal imagination and our visual thinking.

Therefore, to waste the opportunity to experience art as something

Living closely is losing opportunities to enrich ourselves as individuals, to
learning to critically see reality and to update our
thoughts.

Objectives

The approach to contemporary art in secondary education can

becoming an educational objective of crucial importance for development
integral of the individual and, especially, for their formation in the culture of their
time.

This statement is what we set out to prove, starting from the

educational practice, applying a pedagogical method that involves art
contemporary in a natural and habitual way to visual education
taught in secondary education and, specifically, in secondary education
mandatory in the subject of plastic and visual education.

The approach to the processes that artists follow, to their methods of

investigation and creation of the work, its contents and motivations, can
allow the student to avoid the estrangement that artistic work often provokes
contemporary.

Art is the result of an interactive process between the individual and the environment, so
which is not foreign to the very society in which the student operates.
Plastic creation is the medium that the artist uses to get in touch.
with this environment, to reflect on it and contribute your particular vision, to
understand it and transform it. Their work methods and techniques are
a valuable tool for developing visual thinking,
essential for having a conscious and critical view of the continuous
visual messages that we receive.

6
 For the artistic work to contribute something to those who contemplate it, it must be produced.
an empathy, a proximity based on an identification of interests. This
It can be possible if these common points are found.

With a continuous confrontation through images of artworks.

last and from the previous century, the estrangement may begin to disappear. The
familiarization with the forms and contents of the most recent works
can lead to the disappearance of prejudices towards this type of art, to its
enjoyment and benefit as experience and cultural value.

In this sense, only education allows a way to bring closer the art of
a globalized way with widespread dissemination. The pedagogical projects
punctual matters do not usually significantly affect conceptions
artistic, but a continued approach can indeed help to increase the
artistic sensitivity and enrich the visual culture. According to Gardner: 'The level
understanding of an individual in the arts appears slowly as
result of their interactions in the artistic domain and their understandings
more general aspects of physical and social life.1

With compulsory education up to sixteen years old, we have the opportunity

to provide an artistic education delivered by professionals to the whole of
students of compulsory secondary education and, therefore, to bring closer the movements
artistic to the teenager. On the other hand, however, other
difficulties such as time reduction, the little importance given to the
curricula for visual and plastic education, or the obligation as
demotivation.

We intend to develop the thesis that a contact with the

contemporary artistic trends can change the attitude of
high school student, especially if this contact is direct and occurs
an identification with the same processes that produce works of art.

At this age, most of the elections that determine the

paths that the young will later follow; it is when they rebel with
more strength against the status quo, but also when they begin to be defined
2
his interests. According to Löwenfeld , the teenager goes from feeling art as
something natural and necessary to feel it as superficial and, therefore, can or
do not develop it. It is also the growth stage in which one has a
greater sense of ridicule and, if it has not developed technical skills,
safety and pleasure in their creations, will tend to abandon any type of
plastic expression.

The approach to contemporary art is not only a means of acquisition.

of a greater artistic culture, but also visual, in the broadest sense
of the word. Artistic processes are processes of creation but
also of critique and reflection, as they teach to see, to understand the world
and ourselves. The contents of the works of art can
identify with the curriculum designs of artistic education. Thus
Hurwitz and the Wilsons defend it: 'A school drawing program should
based on themes, ideas, issues, expressive qualities, styles,

1
Art Education and Human Development
2
LÖWENFELD, V. and BRITTAIN, L. (1970): Development of Creative Ability, Buenos
Aires: Kapeluz.

7
 means, processes, techniques, problems and essential solutions present in
the work of the artists.1If these works are also contemporary,
we will be educating on the issues of our time.

By making art more everyday and deepening its understanding, one can
achieve greater sensitivity towards design and urbanism, towards others
cultures and towards minorities. Learning to be more aware of our
the environment and striving to improve it are two goals that can only be
achieved through education and in it can have a role
Aesthetic education is fundamental.

With this thesis, we intend to defend the importance of approaching art.

contemporary, not only with the aim of developing the ability to
perception and understanding of the current cultural and plastic environment, but rather as
engine of a complete visual education in which visual thinking
play the role that corresponds to you in cognitive development.

Our objectives are to defend the approach to forms, concepts and

contemporary artistic processes in plastic and visual education of
secondary, observe how this approach is possible and how it contributes
so that the student's concept of art is more open and tolerant.

Project context

To carry out our hypotheses, we have proposed a project.

pedagogical in certain circumstances, which we will clarify at
Continuation. To do this, we will begin by outlining the genesis of the project.

The main motivation for this work arises from a concern for the
misunderstanding of students when facing certain artistic works.
The experience as a secondary education teacher in the area of Drawing,
as well as my work as a plastic artist, fuel my interest in
current art is very elevated. The intention of sharing this interest with the
that surround me, both with the students and with my closest environment, has
unfolded in an investigation of the possible ways to approach
to art.

The starting point is a reflection on these questions: why if the

How can art be so useful to some, yet produce so much rejection in others?
Why, if it can excite, entertain, and teach some, do others believe it is
stories of others and even those created by fraudsters?

Most professional artists are aware of the loneliness of the

creation and they have assumed social incomprehension. It is not a new fact
the social rejection of the most contemporary creations, but rather it is a phenomenon
characteristic since the late 19th century, when the artistic function seems to
disconnect from any other like the religious, documentary or narrative. Without
embargo, access to the most recent creations today is faster and
easy, not only through the media but also through the interest of

1
WILSON, B., HURWITZ, A. and WILSON, M. (2004): The teaching of drawing based on
art, Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica, p.20.

8
 the institutions in the dissemination of this type of art, due to their contribution to
tourist claim and the image of modernity they provide.

This way of reaching the current art to the public remains irregular and, at times,
very directed by the media. The setups of exhibitions are starting to be
commissariats with a pedagogical vision and the teaching guides are increasingly
more common, but the dissemination does not reach massive levels and the interest is even less.

We are convinced that an approach to art is possible.

contemporary, critical, and reflective without having a qualified training in the
subject, but for this a minimum basis is necessary that must be
introduced into the educational system. Thanks to the rapid information that
we have and the possibility for teachers to reproduce this
information and transferring it to the students, familiarization with the works
Artistic skills are not a difficult challenge to achieve. Resources such as digital image or the
Color photocopies are very useful and accessible for delivering works more.
current.

With this motivation, an educational strategy has been designed based

mainly in the almost daily debate, within the classroom of education
artistic, about contemporary creations. The project consists
basically in a supplement to the Plastic and Visual Education curriculum
(EPV), a subject that, during the years of project implementation, is mandatory
in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) and
elective in 4th.

For its application, general objectives have been set aimed at

especially regarding the approach to contemporary art, added to those that already
they were contemplated in a typical curriculum. Subsequently, they have been specified and
sequenced, always using images of works as a resource
contemporary ones that promote debate on the proposed objectives.

During five school years, from 1997 to 2001, it has been carried out
the project in different groups has been analyzed for the result. For a
On the side, results of activities have been collected, both graphical and written.
and on the other hand, surveys have been conducted on the conception of art for
analyze its possible evolution.

This aims to observe the appropriateness or not of the approach to

artistic debate at these ages and its impact not only on modification
of prejudices, but on the visual and cultural formation of the student.

Methodology

The research method of this thesis is basically qualitative, although

with some quantitative support. The methodology to bring these hypotheses to
the class has consisted of a case study, as a
pedagogical method in certain groups of students during a
concrete time. The results have been verified through a
monitoring of classes and activities carried out, as well as through
statistics extracted from the completion of questionnaires. To defend this
theory, we will establish the ideas on which our hypothesis is based,
following these steps:

9
 • To determine a concept of art that will serve as our foundation.
previously, focusing on the importance of this as a process
interactive with the environment, although the result of a need
anthropological, the aesthetic experience.

• Analyze the keys and processes of art today and in recent times.
times, so that they serve as a basis for a project
educational approach.

• Analyze the social importance of art, especially of art

contemporary.

• Analyze the most recent theories of artistic education and their

defense of the approach of art.

• Argue the importance of artistic education in training.

integral of the individual.

• Argue the importance specifically of the approach to art.

contemporary.

Next, other studies will be observed that have connections with

our project, like the Parsons studies1about the different ways
to see and understand art or the application of artworks as a resource
2
educational work that Marjorie and Brent Wilson carry out together with Al Hurwitz .

Based on the previous arguments, we have designed a strategy

that can be integrated into the E.P.V. curricula, since this subject is the
the only art education that is taught mandatory in
secondary, and have as its primary objective the approach to art
contemporary.

For this, we have followed these guidelines:

• Analyze the aesthetic education in the LOGSE and its reference to art
contemporary.

• Analyze the psychology and learning capacity of adolescents,

especially their motivation towards artistic creation and their
receptiveness towards contemporary art.

For later, with this:

• Establish complementary general objectives to the

established and aimed at bringing contemporary art closer.

1
PARSONS, M.J. (2002): How we understand art: a cognitive-evolutionary perspective of the
aesthetic experience, Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.
2
WILSON, B., HURWITZ, A. and WILSON, M. (2004): The teaching of drawing based on
art,Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.

10
 • Design a methodology that allows us to bring processes into the classroom.
own of art, including a strategy to approach the
artistic works.

• Apply this method to a typical curriculum of the subject

Plastic and Visual Education (PVE).

The application of the method has been carried out by adding to each unit
thematic specific objectives that specify the general objectives
previously determined, relating them to authors and works
selected.

Over a period of five years, the method has been used in certain
groups of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), with characteristics
similar. We have analyzed some activities and work carried out by the
students, who are the ones that ultimately show us the degree of success of
method. But also, through questionnaires, it has been verified that the
changes in the conception of art following the application of the method.

Finally, we will reach the conclusions that the research provides us.
completed.

11
I. CONTEMPORARY ART, SOCIETY AND EDUCATION.

I.1. A definition of art as a process.

In order to foster educational debate around the concept of art,

let's clarify some ideas that we start from. If the student rejects the
recent creative works are largely due to the fact that they do not
fit into their scheme of what a work of art should be. Therefore, let's go
to briefly recall some issues about the concept that theorists
from art provide us, with the intention of focusing our educational objectives
in these arguments.

The aesthetic experience

The concept of art is complex and difficult to define because it is related to

the very nature of the human being. Art is a product of our
the need to manifest ourselves in front of the environment that surrounds us, to express
our existence, and to show our ability to understand and transform
this medium.

Art is not a physiological necessity, and in fact, it has not always existed.
as such, but it is the result of an anthropological need. According to J. Jiménez1,
"what we call "art" appeared at a very specific moment in our
tradition of culture, in that dawn of our civilization that was in so many
senses ancient Greece." And later continues: "what is universal, in
In an anthropological sense, it is the aesthetic dimension." Indeed, from the
the emergence of civilizations we observe manifestations that tend to
transforming reality by creating previously nonexistent structures that, although
they appear linked to other functions, they do not have in themselves another object other than the
in their own way. The emancipation of these formal structures of
any other function will be what definitely leads to art as it is
today we understand it.

To analyze the concept of art, we must analyze what it produces.

aesthetic experience. In this sense, a controversial term appears, that of beauty,
considered the cause of this experience and that socially it is still
related to art. It was not always like this, but in societies
In the West, aesthetic experience has been understood as a 'pleasure' of the
senses produced by the beauty of the external reality. Both the term
"liking" as "beauty" has become outdated and obsolete. They are
countless are the works of art that aim to provoke reactions from the viewer
very different from that of enjoyment or pleasure, and have already been accepted as art.
Beauty was associated with classical and standardized perfection, concept

1
JIMÉNEZ, J. (2002): Theory of Art, Madrid: Tecnos, p. 53.

12
 that had its roots in the ideas of Plato and that consolidates in the century
Eighteen1, so for a while, the expressive or disproportionate does not
could constitute art.

We need, then, a new definition of aesthetic experience that does not

include beauty necessarily: it is obvious that the aesthetic experience is a
experience based on a perception through the senses (does not remain
discarded internal perceptions) and for it to occur, it is necessary
the intervention not only of somatic knowledge, but also of reason and
the emotion. An object provokes this experience not only when it possesses a
determined formal characteristics, analyzable in perceptual terms,
but it also stimulates feelings. Aesthetic experience is not only
formal but emotional, therefore, objective and subjective at the same time.
Furthermore, our sensory perception is not purely mechanical, but rather
is mediated by our ways of thinking, our culture,
our memories and our education.

We should not confuse aesthetics with the expression of emotions, which

would lead us to another type of experiences: playful, expressive, comedic, etc., that
they can be distinguished from aesthetics in that they are not produced by
formal structures with specific sensory characteristics.

We can say that the aesthetic experience consists of the stimulation of

feeling through form. Feeling is reason and emotion and form
It is the structure of external reality, whether it is a literary composition, a
symphony or a sunset. It is a process resulting from the relationship of
individual with their environment, comes from their ability to know and
to be moved by the appreciation of natural or man-made shapes
same. The human being is not satisfied with contemplation, but
also feels the need for its expression, reflecting a context
sociocultural.

The culture in which we are immersed has developed the ability to create
forms whose only function is to awaken the aesthetic feeling,
reflecting the cultural context that produces them and, therefore, in continual
transformation. When the artist is able to create a form that awakens
the aesthetic feeling, we have a work of art. Therefore, we can say
that art arises from the creation of forms capable of stimulating reason and the
emotion, within a context.

Tatarkiewicz, in addition to aesthetic enjoyment or expression, adds to art the

provocation function. For him, 'a work of art is the reproduction of
things, the construction of shapes, or the expression of a type of experiences
that delight, excite, or produce a shock.2

The issue, in short, is that the work of art induces a process.

specific cognitive, where logical-rational knowledge is combined with others
mental processes more related to feelings and emotions
subjective.

1
TATARKIEWICZ, W. (1996): History of six ideas, Madrid: Tecnos.
2
Same as above p. 67.

13
Art as a process

According to historical and cultural contexts, these plastic creations have

has been understood and valued in very different ways. Art as it is
today we conceive it has not always existed, but also, within a
same society, different sectors with different cultural backgrounds, can
to understand art as something distinct. This has led in some cases to a
total separation of art and everyday life.

The causes of the detachment between art and society are many and very complex,
but one of the most determining factors is the fact of not being associated with others
functions perceived more clearly in other times. This fact, which had
its origin in the 19th century became more serious with the rise of the media
mass communication so that, today, large social sectors
they may come to consider art an external and distant element.

If we take a brief historical journey, we observe that, in its origins,

Artistic expression or aesthetic manifestation is associated with myth. Both the
need to create and manifest itself on the external environment, like the
the need to believe in something higher that explains external phenomena
they are united in the birth of art. Deep down, they are nothing more than two
ways of the same need, that of perpetuating ourselves in time. Man,
with his reasoning, he understands that he is superior to his environment, because he can
transform it and become aware of it. That is its basic difference with
the rest of the natural world, the ability to transform what surrounds it for its
use and enjoyment or for its destruction or simple manipulation. On the other hand, the
man observes that he cannot dominate everything nor understand everything, that there are
powers stronger than him, which leads him to think that another reality exists
superior that is not yours.

For primitive man, myth is not just an explanation of phenomena.

natural things that he/she does not understand, is not a way to suppress his/her curiosity
scientific, but it becomes a true reality. Nowadays we give
By the way, only what science demonstrates to us, for what it costs us.
to understand that the mythical history was as true or more true than reality
daily.

However, there are elements of the artistic process that still maintain today its
relationship with those primitive creations. The understanding of the myth is
was done intuitively, just as the artistic form is created. As
Ortega said1there is a series of realities that can be captured through
the metaphor, for reason alone is not sufficient for it. At this point
we found a great concurrence with art, as a union of reason and
emotion. The aesthetic feeling has something inexplicable, mysterious and
subjective, and another part of reason and understanding. Our logic helps us to
to capture the meaning of the artwork, to appreciate its technique or its function,
but our emotion is what sublimates it and turns it into feeling,
making us understand the intrinsic meaning of its own nature. The
religious sentiment may not be very far from the aesthetic or the mythical, for
everyone refers to some entities that are largely affective to us
we refer through symbols or metaphors.

1
ORTEGA Y GASSET, J. (1984): The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Aesthetics
Madrid: Occident Review by Alianza Editorial. 1st edition in Occident Review, 1925.

14
 We see, then, that artistic production is linked in its origins to a
magical function, whether as identification with hunting or as a fetish with
supernatural powers. Develop a mythical function, representative of the
structure of society and of life itself. The work gains a value not
not only for what it represents, but also for being something unique, for having an aura
that sometimes is obtained through ritual. Art is part of culture, it is
fully integrated into society with a clear function.

However, the fact of labeling these formal productions as art is

something a posteriori. That is to say, there is no consciousness of art in terms of form
autonomous solely for the purpose of being a plastic creation. The image has the
function of evoking, not of being.

It will be in ancient Greece when the image begins to be appreciated by

its form, for its qualities in terms of perfection according to certain standards.
José Jiménez1in his analysis of the emergence of autonomy of the
representation, says '... in the 5th century, in what is known as the 'era
classical," the Greek world has definitively entered the realm of the image,
in the appreciation and public, civil valuation of the form as form.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the visual arts will be linked again
mainly to religion and relegated to craftsmen. The representation
iconic was only conceivable to serve a propaganda function or
evangelical. Starting from the Renaissance, with the exaltation of values
humans and the recovery of the classical world, art begins to acquire
own identity and its aesthetics begin to be considered above its
informative function.

But it is not until the 20th century that art finally loses all its
functions, especially the iconic one, which has been replaced by photography, and its
the role in society is called into question.

Art does not fall into any of these attributes, or it can become
elitist merchandise, an attribute of wealth and social status. This function of art is
totally superficial and represents an aberration of its true purpose. The
contemporary art tends to turn the work into a fetish, but not in the primitive
meaning of this, but in the one given by Marx, as an object produced by the
man who becomes a product full of added value, like the
power.

In the same way, everyday objects are subject to a

increasing aestheticization, which means that the aesthetic function also remains
supplied by them. According to José Jiménez2there are: 'three major roads
contemporary non-artistic aesthetic experience: design, in all its
manifestations, advertising, and mass media.

The trivialization of art has caused, on certain occasions, a return to

its origins in search of its true self: to connect with a
superior reality. Not a fantastic and mythological reality, but a reality

1
JIMÉNEZ, J. (2002): Theory of Art, Madrid: Tecnos, p.80.
2
Ibidem, p. 242.

15
 that surpasses the rational of the everyday and is a synthesis of emotion and
knowledge.

For H. Holz1the artist is capable of surpassing history, understanding

the primitive forms and accessing the patterns of behavior and of
more universal knowledge. Art reflects the ideological superstructure,
it makes us reflect on ourselves. Through the appropriation of
These forms of art can make us see what is still primitive in
we, the roots of behavior that we do not understand in a way
rational but what we feel. Art is reflection, it analyzes the environment and gives it to us
shows us a reflection of our society. It raises our awareness towards the
world, towards emotions and the true nature of being. Its purpose
it must be in the relationship between aesthetics, artifice, and nature.

Therefore, art is a process, something mutable in continuous transformation. To

just as it reflects the social and natural environment that surrounds it, it helps its
transformation. For Fisher2"art is necessary for man to be able to"
"to know and change the world." Art connects us with the reality of
an intuitive way. According to H. Read3if science explains reality, art
she represents it. But her weapons are not those of science, but in addition to
logical reasoning, art is capable of interrelating other faculties of
thought, such as intuition or emotion.

The artist thus becomes an investigator of their reality, a catalyst.

capable of assimilating universal paradigms and showing them from their point of view
view. For Clark Kenneth4although many meanings come together around
a work of art is, above all, the work of an artist who has been absorbed
through the spirit of the times, in such a way that it has turned its experiences
individuals into universals.

In this way, Formaggio5she goes on to say: "art is everything that the

men call art," and shows us how any definition of art must
to always be aware of its relativity, of its ephemeral nature and
circumstantial. Umberto Eco goes further and, after analyzing the theories of
Cheese tells us that, although it is useless to establish a definition of art.
absolute and timeless, yes its analysis and philosophical reflection are important, but
in an open and changeable manner. This would correspond to the type of art that
has been happening since the beginning of the 20th century, what he calls the work
open, which lends itself to numerous interpretations, and its validity comes from
precisely from the interaction that occurs between object and individual. We
Generally, the notion of 'work of art' implies two
aspects: a) the author begins with a specific and defined object, with
a concrete intention, aspiring for a delight that reinterprets it just like the
the author has thought about and wanted it; b) however, the object is enjoyed by a
plurality of consumers, each of whom will lead to the act of liking
its own psychological and physiological characteristics, its own training
environmental and cultural, those specifications of sensitivity that entail

1
HOLZ, H. (1979): From the Work of Art to the Commodity, Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.
2
FISCHER (1985): The necessity of art, Barcelona: Península, p. 14.
3
READ, H.
4
CLARK, K. (1979): What is a masterpiece?, New York: Ed Thames and Hudson, p. 44.
Translation by the author.
5
FORMAGGIO, D. (1976): Art, Barcelona: Labor, p. 11.

16
 the immediate contingencies and the historical situation; consequently, therefore
honest and total the commitment to fidelity regarding the work that has
to enjoy oneself, all delight will inevitably be personal and will capture the work in
one of its possible aspects. The author generally does not ignore this
condition of the circumstantial character of all delight, but creates the work
as an 'opening' to these possibilities, an opening that nonetheless guides the
same possibilities in the sense of provoking them as responses
different but related to a defined stimulus in itself. And the fact of saving this
the dialectic of 'definiteness' and 'openness' is something that seems fundamental to us
a notion of art as a communicative act and interpersonal dialogue.1
Thus, the concept of art stands out as a process, as an action.
work as a culmination of formal characteristics takes a back seat, and its
the ability to stimulate the individual's reflection and emotion becomes
protagonist.

The questioning of the foundations of art that occurred in the

the avant-gardes of the 20th century also provoked a gradual deconstruction of
each of its components. Since the first ones were
analyzing and questioning all the formal elements that make up a
work, to give them a different sense from mere representativeness: the color and
the light in the scientific analysis of the impressionists, or in the psychological of the
expressionists; the form in cubist reflection, the iconographic representation
in surrealism, pure formal elements in abstraction or texture
in informalism. After this shake-up in the use of the elements that
compose the work, it only remained to question the work itself as such and its
concept, approach developed by dada, attempting to attack the aura
socially granted to the artistic object as unique and unrepeatable. The
postmodernity, having already passed the innovative drive of the avant-gardes and with the
mass reproduction of background images, seems to want to integrate everyone
these approaches in an open and diverse work, with a more
close to the everyday environment.

José Jiménez2point out five points that differentiate current art from what
it has traditionally been considered an artistic work:
The work has ceased to be necessarily an object, it is a
dynamic structure that can have multiple supports, not always
durable.
2. From spiritual and sublime conception, it has moved to proposals and
aesthetics of a worldly nature.
3. The need for a defined and finished work has been lost, chance and the
Indeterminacy can be components of the artistic.
4. The structure of the work changes from being closed to being open, fluid.
and even random.
5. The originality and uniqueness as an aura of the work of art are lost.
with the new supports and their easy technical reproducibility.

We see how the concept of art is more of a changing process and

unstable, to an act that interacts with various elements and cannot be
fixed. Each culture and historical moment will develop its own concept of

1
ECO, U. (2002): The definition of art, Barcelona: Destino, pp. 161 to 162. (Conference paper in the
XII Congress of Philosophy, Venice, 1958
2
JIMÉNEZ, J. (2002): Theory of Art, Madrid: Tecnos, pp. 111 to 114.

17
 Art. "Art is a form of cultural production aimed at creating symbols.
of a common reality1.

To conclude, we could say that art is an interactive process between

individual-artist-society, which is established through the work. This has
a structure or form through which it stimulates the aesthetic feeling of the
individual, provoking, at the same time, his emotion and reflection and placing him in
contact with the concerns of an era.

From this definition, we can extract six aspects that intervene in the
artistic process and that can help us create debate about it
the concept of art within artistic education. We can say that they are
axes that gain greater or lesser relevance, but that always remain
in the artistic experience. Each of them can be valued very
different ways, depending on cultural context and according to the concept that each
the individual has been forming regarding this, but they can constitute lines
debate arguments. These are:

• The work has a structure or form with certain values.

aesthetic.

• The emotional component is associated with feeling

aesthetic, as it is inherent to the work of art.

• The formal attributes are made through a

procedure, with some materials and some techniques
determined.

• The work arises from an idea and can have a content or

meaning

• The context from which the work arises and in which it is

appreciated intervenes substantially in its capture.

• The work is the result of an interactive inquiry process.

what is not closed and implies continuous innovation.

These six aspects are what we are going to use as a reference to mark.
some educational objectives for approaching the issues of art
contemporary. Each of them encompasses many approaches and variants
according to the artists or trends of different moments, contributing
related images, the debate about the different will arise
previous conceptions of the students and they will be able to form a clearer idea
close and comprehensive of art. In addition, they will help us to connect
the works of art with more everyday forms of artistic activity, such as their
own creations or their way of understanding the closest environment.

1
EFLAND, A. / FREEDMAN, K. / STUHR, P. (2003): Education in Postmodern Art
Barcelona: Paidós, p. 126.

18
The fact of understanding art as a process in continuous transformation
it must be assimilated in a real and experimental way, continuously putting
relation of each of the aspects addressed with personal experiences.

Both the reflection on one's own artistic works and those of others, as well as the
creation or contemplation must be contextualized. Only then
the meaning of art becomes close and allows those who approach it to form
part of their own experience.

19
I.2. Approaches that may serve as a basis for an approach to art
contemporary

The contemporary term

To address the debate on these six terms, we will try to specify the
particularities of contemporary art in the most generic way possible,
starting by establishing its limits, which is already a questionable endeavor.

First of all, we find that the term contemporary lends itself to

confusion. Its literal meaning is "pertaining to the current time or era".
but the problem lies in the fact that it has been used as an adjective of
art created since the early 20th century, which is no longer current at all.
In a generalized manner among the non-specialized public, art
Contemporary is that which has been occurring since the vanguards,
characterized by being transgressive, with a tendency towards abstraction and difficult to
understand. Some critics and historians, however, are starting to avoid the
term and to use expressions like '20th century art', 'modern art and
postmodern" or "current manifestations".

Many authors consider the end of World War II as

significant change in art and society, moment when the
vanguards and the start of the contemporary. Others consider abstraction
dominant between this date and the seventies, like the last one
moment of modernity, and from then on the postulates begin
postmodern. This is how McEvilley defends it.1For the Western world, art
that emerged after World War II was dominated by the
achievements of the New York School, especially for the painting of
abstract expressionism. This period spans approximately
from 1945 to 1965-1970, it belongs to the history of art
to the chapter of late modernity..." Klaus Honnef2, in its particular vision
of the contemporary for a widely distributed publisher such as Taschen,
he states in the preface that this is born with Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys in the
the sixties. Anna María Guasch and Joan Sureda in The plot of the
modern3they distinguish between contemporary art and current art, as well as between
modern and postmodern, specifying that the modern could be situated
approximately between 1874 and 1974. Other authors such as Calvo Serraller
they recede even further: "From around the midpoint of the 18th century, it
they begin to detect the first symptoms of an artistic revolution, the
that gave rise to the art of our contemporary era, whose development

1
McEVILLEY, T. (2001): From international style to the global village: the transformation
postmodernism of painting. In AA. VV. Summa Pictorica X. Madrid: Planeta, p.15.
2
HONNEF, K. (1991): Contemporary Art, Cologne: Taschen.
3
The Fabric of the Modern

20
 history has only progressively diverged from traditional art of
The West.1

Regardless of the use of the term, it is difficult for the students.

understand this era without knowing the artistic movements that it
they were generated like the avant-gardes of the early century. Furthermore, like
we will comment next, it is at this time that one begins to
produce the break between art and society and, therefore, the point where
We can connect more easily. This is supported by Calaf, Navarro and
Samaniego2When defining the origin of contemporary art: 'As time passes...
The 19th to the 20th century was seen as the end of an era and the beginning of a period.
new and modern. Tradition and revolutions combine at the end of the 19th century
to pave the way for new possibilities and artistic alternatives. With the
arrival of the new century, the realities that were previously unthinkable
they become something everyday, both in science and in art. The vision
optimist of the future had an economic basis, founded on the
development of technique, industry, and communications. The myth of arises the
progress, the confidence in the human capacity to lead the world
towards a better future. The new trends in thinking and in all
Social orders provoke new artistic responses.

Enrico Crispolti also defends contemporary art as that of the century.

XX, extending even to the last decades of the 19th century. It asks,
Furthermore, whether the turn of the century will entail a radical change in art or not,
which is quite doubtful. It says: '...there have been those who, and for quite some time now
years, has proposed to consider "contemporary" only what happened
starting from the sixties, rejecting as 'modern' what happened in
the first half of the 20th century, and even already in the last one or even in the two
last decades of the 19th century. A position that does not seem sufficiently sustainable,
since it is true that a strong change has been verified in the
dominant phenomenological characterization of language and of the
artistic operational modalities, precisely from the 1960s,
it is also true that not all aspects that constitute this new
phenomenology is affirmed and practiced for the first time, but only
they have been emphasized since the sixties onwards, in terms of good
some date back to truly revolutionary news
then regarding the3
recent past, manifested in the first decades
of the twentieth century.

The use that we have given to the contemporary term in this text is the
What we consider of greatest acceptance in the context of a middle culture no
specialized, and that coincides with that of Crispolti. That is to say, we refer to the
art that begins to develop in the early 20th century, sometimes with
tendency to move away from the retinal and other non-artistic functions and that,
therefore, it is more openly rejected by society.

Since Impressionism, some guidelines can be established.

that traverse all modern art and continue to be the foundation of art

1
CALVO SERRALLER, F. (2001): Contemporary Art, Madrid: Taurus Santillana, p. 9.
2
CALAF, R. /NAVARRO, A. /SAMANIEGO, J.A. (2000): See and understand the art of
20th century, Madrid: Synthesis, p. 177.
3
CRISPOLTI, E. (2001): How to Study Contemporary Art, Madrid: Celeste Ediciones,
p. 11.

21
 It was in those moments when art breaks most abruptly.
with popular acceptance. Even at that time, Ortega commented1that the fact
that the 'new' art divided society between those who accept it and those
that they are rejected (most of them) is due to the fact that it is an art that is not
understand, which makes the viewer feel inferior and, therefore,
humiliated.

Current art and the most recent trends are a consequence of the
achievements that have occurred throughout the 20th century. This has represented a
gradual deconstruction of all the elements that make up the object
artistic until it becomes a multidisciplinary art, where the techniques and
new technologies have no barriers and are only at the service of the
artistic approaches. The most current trends present challenges in
continues renewal that can be addressed more easily by knowing
the keys that art has developed throughout the twentieth century.

Axes for an approach to contemporary art

Following the six aspects in which we have dissected the concept of art.
In the previous chapter, we will try to determine some axes that help us
provide the classroom debate, focusing on these six points:

• the aesthetic and formal aspects,

• emotional expression
• the process, the materials and the procedures,
• the context and the relationship with society,
• the concept or idea,
• the importance of artistic inquiry.

Each of these facets of art has been addressed by one or another.

artistic movements with different intensity. They are not isolated aspects,
but according to the works and the artists, each of them has received more or
less relevance.

We now propose to take a quick tour of the movements

artistic interests that are most aligned with each of these interests and to observe how the
works by certain authors have contributed to certain changes in
the very concept of art. We are particularly interested in choosing artists and
creative processes that, didactically, can be adjusted to our
objectives and our methodology, so that just as we have chosen
some could have been others.

We do not intend a chronological order either, since a debate can be

developed with the support of non-contemporary artists but with shared interests
similar. The relationship with the social and historical contexts is always
important, but similar concerns can be compared in different
situations and thus check how the same approach, in different
moments, give rise to different results.

1
ORTEGA Y GASSET, J. (1984): The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Aesthetics
Madrid: Revista de Occidente in Alianza Editorial. 1st edition in Revista de Occidente 1925.

22
Art as an aesthetic form

Artistic creation materializes through a work. No matter how conceptual

whatever the process may be, it will always need a way to be
perceived, whether it is a video, a painting, a text, or an action. Until the century
XIX, in fact, this form and how it was built was one of the aspects
most relevant aspects of the artwork: its correct composition, the mastery of
a technique, its adjustment to certain aesthetic ideals.

The art of the 20th century, however, does not consider correct proportion as
beauty ideal. The term beauty is deconstructed and is no longer based on
Greco-Roman models, but rather each artistic movement or even each
the artist will be the creator of their own universe, with their own canons and their
own models. The aesthetic qualities of a work will not respond to
formal premises, but rather they will be a consequence of others
intentions or interests.

This will create great confusion in society, which sees art as

extravagant and inaccessible, with always some keys of interpretation
changing. The lack of references or keys for interpretation will produce a
unprecedented rejection in artistic creation. But this art actually
it's nothing but a reflection of the same society, the result of the speed of the
communications and the mixing of cultures that produce an aesthetic
multiple.

The reading of a single work can offer various interpretations. The

the first to show this multiplicity was the Futurist movement and,
everything, the cubist, fracturing the image into its different points of view and
breaking it down like a puzzle. As Guasch says1"Picasso and, with
he, contemporary art introduces disorder among the elements of the
plastic aesthetics, they create the aesthetics of that which surpasses our
knowledge of things, of that which doubts the appearance of the
same or of our simple understanding.

The expressionists, from Munch to the members of The Bridge. o The

blue rider2constituted the first groups to defend an aesthetic that
only responded to free expression. For them, what was important was the
spontaneity, immediacy, and purity, which is why a
parallelism with other forms of creation that had never before been
valued, like the primitive ones or those produced by children. They are forms
gestures in which the process through which they have been evidenced
made, with strong color contrasts and absence of retouching.

Today we accept that expressionist forms can produce

aesthetic enjoyment, even if that was not their purpose when they were created. The
ways that these artists propose with violence as an expression of their
anxieties, inner passions or worries are finally understood

1
GUASCH, A.M. / SUREDA, J. (1987): The fabric of the modern, Madrid: Akal, p. 36.
2
We will highlight in bold those authors and artistic movements that we are going to use in
our pedagogical project.

23
 For the artistic work to contribute something to those who contemplate it, it must be produced.
an empathy, a proximity based on an identification of interests. This
It can be possible if these common points are found.

With a continuous confrontation through images of artworks.

last and from the previous century, the estrangement may begin to disappear. The
familiarization with the forms and contents of the most recent works
can lead to the disappearance of prejudices towards this type of art, to its
enjoyment and benefit as experience and cultural value.

In this sense, only education allows a way to bring closer the art of
a globalized way with widespread dissemination. The pedagogical projects
punctual matters do not usually significantly affect conceptions
artistic, but a continued approach can indeed help to increase the
artistic sensitivity and enrich the visual culture. According to Gardner: 'The level
understanding of an individual in the arts appears slowly as
result of their interactions in the artistic domain and their understandings
more general aspects of physical and social life.1

With compulsory education up to sixteen years old, we have the opportunity

to provide an artistic education delivered by professionals to the whole of
students of compulsory secondary education and, therefore, to bring closer the movements
artistic to the teenager. On the other hand, however, other
difficulties such as time reduction, the little importance given to the
curricula for visual and plastic education, or the obligation as
demotivation.

We intend to develop the thesis that a contact with the

contemporary artistic trends can change the attitude of
high school student, especially if this contact is direct and occurs
an identification with the same processes that produce works of art.

At this age, most of the elections that determine the

paths that the young will later follow; it is when they rebel with
more strength against the status quo, but also when they begin to be defined
2
his interests. According to Löwenfeld , the teenager goes from feeling art as
something natural and necessary to feel it as superficial and, therefore, can or
do not develop it. It is also the growth stage in which one has a
greater sense of ridicule and, if it has not developed technical skills,
safety and pleasure in their creations, will tend to abandon any type of
plastic expression.

The approach to contemporary art is not only a means of acquisition.

of a greater artistic culture, but also visual, in the broadest sense
of the word. Artistic processes are processes of creation but
also of critique and reflection, as they teach to see, to understand the world
and ourselves. The contents of the works of art can
identify with the curriculum designs of artistic education. Thus
Hurwitz and the Wilsons defend it: 'A school drawing program should
based on themes, ideas, issues, expressive qualities, styles,

1
Art Education and Human Development
2
LÖWENFELD, V. and BRITTAIN, L. (1970): Development of Creative Ability, Buenos
Aires: Kapeluz.

7
Emotional expression

The emotional component in the work of art, and indeed in anything.

an object made by man is an aspect that has always existed. For
very utilitarian or minimalistic that it is a human construction, always
we will find in it a type of expression that reflects the spirit of its creator.
However, there are works that aim to highlight these emotions
individuals of greater relevance.

Romanticism is the first artistic movement that claims the importance

from the individuality of the artist, until then diluted in the importance of
other functions of the work. As we have already discussed1it is in these
moments when art stops being associated with representation
testimony of reality and begins an independent journey. The
exaltation of feelings is considered the highest act of freedom, of
way that plastic creation will have this as its main objective. The
narrative theme disappears from many works and the landscape, due to its contact
directly with nature, it will be represented as a reflection of emotions
internals.

The desire to manifest one's self as the highest expression of freedom and
individualism will become a particularity not only of the art of
20th century, but of the whole society. In fact, tribal behaviors and
Youth rebels are often a reflection of the desire for expression.
against the current, of self-affirmation of a personality yet to be defined. The
consumer society, with the help of advertising, tends to spread these
behaviors, which are also reflected in art.

It is important, in a didactic sense, to relate these processes.

social with artistic processes, so that when talking about expression
from an emotion in a work created by an artist, it is also understood
that this person has catalyzed the spirit of a moment and returned it to
society in a personal way. Thus, the student will be able to identify with the
way in which creation arises and will have paths to be able to carry out its
own expressions regarding their current situation.

The tendency to express internal emotions that at the end of

In the 19th century, we can observe in many artists that it will be developed.
plastically throughout the 20th century, starting with the
expressionists, followed by the informalists or abstract expressionists and
reaching the postmodernity of the 80s. We can therefore find,
numerous examples of works and authors that help us provide the
debate in the classroom about this content.

A key artist for the debate of this content is Van Gogh who, although
belongs to the 19th century, involves artistic approaches that will open
significant gaps throughout the following century. In addition, in the aspect
didactic we have the great advantage that his work is widely
widespread, so it is a good starting point to confront ideas
previous ones with new and connect with other more contemporary authors.

1
See chapter I.1, section 'Art as Process', p. 14.

25
 The figure of Van Gogh represents the prototype of the devoted artist.
emotionally to his work, so that everything in his life revolves around
she. It contains, however, numerous topics that need to be untangled in order to
to be able to identify not with the product, but with the passion that drives you to
carry it out.

Van Gogh's working process mainly consists of representing

everything that surrounds him, everything that passes in front of his eyes, with a
love and an emphasis that is revealed in its stroke and its coloring. We cannot
to talk about Van Gogh as a groundbreaking modern painter breaking with tradition,
although it does happen: this is not due to a deliberate intention of
provocation, but rather a consequence of the intensification of an intention
romantic. The illustration and rationalism of the 19th century, in contrast,
are accompanied by a desire for individual freedom in a search for a
primitive state not intellectualized, which extols feelings as
motors of the artistic. These romantic ideals are what we see emerging
in his work.

Van Gogh's painting continues the figurative tradition of representation of the

landscape, but the gestural treatment of the material as a metaphor for the
emotional impulses is a new element that will have continuity in
the different modes of later expressionism. The fact of turning a
a trivial reason in an excuse to express a need is what
more significant when conveying this concept to the students.

At the same time as the development of expression through color and treatment
from the technique, more expressionist forms based on the
contents and in the symbolism. Edvard Munch is one of the most precursors.
clearings of the expressionist movements. Although also its brushstroke and its
colorful are of a saturated intensity, the theme of their paintings does not
refers to a reality observed plein air, but rather introduces
compositions and deforms the characters by virtue of the expression of a
inner reality. His paintings speak of his passions and his experiences.
1
personal. According to Sureda and Guasch Munch descends to the lowest
deep consciousness, both individual and collective to
show in a tormented way a true frieze of the human condition.
The composition of each work is organized based on this content, of
way that breaks all the classic rules of space organization,
providing axes of tension and formal imbalances never before used of
in such an explicit manner.

The open path to expression through one's own material and process
The painting will be taken up later. After the development of abstract painting.
At the beginning of the 20th century and at the end of the most utopian avant-gardes, they burst in
With force, action painting in the USA and informalism in Europe.
the density that Van Gogh gave to the pictorial matter is detached
definitely of the reason and becomes the theme of the painting. Jackson
Pollock is one of the most representative authors of this trend in the
that the act of painting constitutes the work, more than the result. The expression
the will and internal movement are not shown through a
metaphorical or narrative composition, but rather they manifest freely about
the surface of the canvas. Pollock physically immerses himself in it,

1
GUASCH, A.M. / SUREDA, J. (1987): The Fabric of the Modern, Madrid: Akal, p. 48.

26
abandoning it on the ground and spilling the paint, which is like a
fluid that is released from its action. The result is a trace of the process,
through which we can feel empathy with its movements and its
gestures and, therefore, with the emotion that has provoked them.

A very different intention of expression is what we can find in others.

roads that begin with the work of Picasso. His method of work,
although also part of the figurative and the closest environment, like Van
Gogh, it's not about representing it in an emotional way, but about acting.
energetically about it, transforming it. More than emotion, we could
here talk about another nuance, the temperament. Picasso modifies the object and the
space destroying the unique viewpoint of the Renaissance perspective
to offer us a new chaotic and multiple world. Time is a
element represented by the various points of view offered in a way
simultaneous. It could be said that the author projects their inner world onto the
a painting with such strength that it is he himself who manifests openly
within that universe.

The conceptual contribution to the interpretation of space that entails the

Cubism in Picasso is not the result of a rational approach as it may be
to occur with other artists, is the result of an emotional expression. Picasso
find cubism in a search for the most primitive values of
art, of the expression of contents based on simplification
spontaneous and direct, leaving the trace of the gesture and the process. Although in
the most analytical and synthetic phases dominate the concept over expression,
immediately Picasso seeks the human, the gesture and expression of passions,
hence their continuous debate with the classical.

We can find a similar need for expression in Matisse. A lot

more interested in color and less dramatic than his friend Picasso,
develops a tremendously personal and intense work. Continuing the
the path initiated by Van Gogh, uses color with absolute freedom,
responding to the relationships of interaction and emotional load, more than to
a fidelity to reality. Generally, the theme refers to elements
close, interiors with objects of their liking and female figures that,
Whether yes or no, they seem like seductive odalisques. Although it breaks the usual.
beauty canons and anatomical coherence, the expression is pleasant and
of pleasant aesthetics. The gesture describes arabesques that cover the painting with
zones, creating almost musical rhythms. Matisse's need for expression
not from an inner torment, as in other previous authors, but from the
overcoming pain through the enjoyment of color and small details
of life.

The pleasure of gesture in matter, joined to the symbol as a trace of the human,
finds its most evident manifestation in informalist authors such as
Tàpies. The poorest and most malleable materials, such as earth, sand, straw, or
oil, they are deposited on the surface to be scraped, gouged or
stained. A new aesthetic of materials is created, but always
they are obviously manipulated, so that the gesture that produced the
form can be identified. There is still a download of the I about the
result that speaks to us about personal expression as the most important thing
for the artist.

27
 In the eighties, these expressionist actions will join
new desires for storytelling and the recovery of figuration. Barceló
makes huge compositions that describe environments and
recognizable spaces, but the use of materials is of the same significance
that in the informalist works. Large blobs of paint mixed with
other materials crowd the canvas. The accumulation is a metaphor for
other abundances that are described through forms of books, animals,
foods or people. Again, the artist physically introduces himself into the
frame to be able to encompass it and this work process is what we
transmit. Upon observing their works, we feel how gesture, matter, and figure are
they have necessarily confused.

Something similar can be found in the Italian trans-avant-garde or in the

German postmodernists like Kiefer, although with a greater historical weight.
The artist uses the evocation of the past through simple forms and
blunt, like arches, columns, or walls, but made in large
sizes and through a process of material accumulation. It seems
describe to us a reality that is the result of what has happened in the past, like
A ruin of time. The earth tones and grays contribute to this feeling.

Another aspect of the expressionism of the eighties is manifested in more themes

ironic and trivial, with saturated colors but an equally
rough and gestural. Bad painting becomes a value of
spontaneity and immediacy. Baselitz is a clear exponent of this style.
In her rebellion, she even puts the figures upside down, as a mischievous act of
imposition of their whims.

This identification of freedom with gestural expression can be seen in

many manifestations of our environment. The street graffiti are a
vandalistic act typical of our times, unthinkable in other eras and
very related to artistic movements. Also with accessibility
of the pictorial materials and with rights acquired by society that,
not always, they are well used.

The debate about the work processes of these artists can contribute to
that the teenager observes how behaviors they believe are original from their
age, they are nothing more than forms of expression that have always existed and that
we all possess. Also, to discover how the need for expression
it can be channeled in many different ways and how emotions can
to be transmitted and shared.

The process of creation

The process of artistic creation, until practically the arrival of the 20th century,
mainly consisted of mastering some procedures learned in
the workshops or in the academies. Artists began at an early age
age to train in drawing from life, in the preparation of canvases,
in modeling or carving. The theoretical complement could be transmitted through
gatherings, readings, and exchanges with artists from other disciplines: musicians,
poets, philosophers...

With the liberation of creativity that occurs in romanticism, the

The creation process changes abruptly. The figure of the artist appears.

28
 bohemian, whose learning is based on personal experiences and does not let go.
to advise against schools or teachers that may limit your freedom. On the other
side, a new work process appears that seeks the application of the
new technological and scientific advances, applied in a direct or
indirect. Thus, the discoveries and improvements in the techniques of
image reproduction, such as photography, cinema, or television, will be
starting point in the work of some artists.

The working process will end up transforming by the mid-20th century into
the justification of one's own work, in such a way that a 'way of doing' will imply
both a theoretical argument or personal project and the use of some
other materials and techniques.

Impressionism is the last artistic movement whose main interest is

capture the external reality, but the first one who will not use it for that
metric and proportional analysis of the object, but its fleeting and changing nature
appearance. The theories about light and color, along with the advancement of the
photography, shows us a variable reality with the atmosphere and the time of
day. It is significant that the work Sunrise: Rising Sun of
Monet, who gave the name to the movement, is exhibited for the first time in a
photographic studio, that of Nadar.

Unlike Monet, artists will emerge who will be more interested in analysis.
from nature than the appearance of things. The pointillists attempt
apply a nearly scientific process to painting, breaking down each color into
the primary colors that constitute it and reaching, in their utmost rigor, pointillism.
Signac and Seurat are the most representative artists of this trend.
some of his works are made only with small dots that
shape the image as we move away to a certain distance. This technical zeal does not
it responds more to a demonstration of virtuosity rather than to a scientific interest
of reality analysis. The creation of the work will no longer be so based on
the impressions captured plein air, but the private studio becomes the
workplace. The conceptual analyses and theorization of the process
they are starting to gain importance.

The interest in the study of the structures of nature more than in their
external aspect will produce another type of work process that starts from a
synthetic analysis of geometrization. Cézanne will initiate this search for the
essential, that will continue in cubism and will lead to some
abstract slopes. For him, 'the important thing is to recognize the geometry that
builds and structures such realities: the cones, the cylinders, the spheres,
the planes that are latent in the appearance of things1.

Continuing this new way of doing and in direct relation to the

liberation of the artist who only responds to the expression of their inner world,
an abstraction derived from expressionism will appear. Kandinsky is a
especially interesting artist in the didactic sense, to make this visible
work method. He starts from the free manifestation of his inner self,
through an exaggeration of color and a distortion of reality, to
just like other expressionists. But one day he will discover that the process of
creation does not have to respond to the order dictated by external reality,
but the shapes and colors can respond to other rhythms and

1
GUASCH, A.M. / SUREDA, J. (1987): The Fabric of the Modern, Madrid: Akal, p. 21.

29
compositions. He begins to theorize about composition, while also
his work becomes more abstract and rational. Definitely, the process and,
Both the learning of artistic creation is something else.

Technological innovations also become the basis for new

creative processes. Photography involved these new approaches in painting,
since by providing a mechanical technique for reproducing reality, it left
this function that was previously exclusive to painters is now questioned. But it also
it became a new artistic technique. Although throughout the entire 20th century
the consideration of photography as an art comparable to others has been a
dilemma, since its emergence the artist was aware that new
possibilities were within their reach.

Some artists have not used photography as an approach to a

fragment of reality, but have explored the possibilities of the
own process. Thus, for example, futurists like Giacomo Balla reproduce
the movement through the superposition of several images; Man Ray
creates surreal collages with photographic montages and Moholy-Nagy works
with objects that he introduces into the photographic process and not in front of the
camera. They are just some of the multiple options that a new one offers.
technique. What interests us the most, more than the use of the technique itself, is the
relationship existing between the work process and the concept or argument that
the artist gives to his project.

The mass dissemination of images through new media, such as cinema,

television or large-scale printing of brochures and posters will become
in the second half of the 20th century, in support of the capitalist system. The
artists, until then absorbed in their individual processes and
expressionists discover this new reality and parody or reproduce it
new techniques. They are exponents of this art called pop, Andy Warhol,
Robert Rauschenberg, Tom Wesselmann, Mel Ramos or Roy Lichtenstein.
They use the techniques specific to advertising media in a language
ambiguous praise and criticism of the society they live in.

Other artists who also start their creation process from pop, such as
Oldenburg uses forms of everyday use but decontextualizing them,
increasing their size or relating them in an unusual way. The
Industrial manufacturing mechanisms are used to create shapes that are not
useful, distorted from their function and that bring new meanings. It is the
process, therefore, that is distorted, as well as the materials
employees and their location in space.

The impact on a specific place that these produce,

let's call them sculptures, it will also be an argument in the work of another new one
artistic concept, land art. The creative process of the artists 'from the
"land" is part of the analysis and capture of a specific landscape. The
materials and work techniques are chosen as an expression of that place or
from the intervention that will be carried out on him. Robert Smithson, Heizer or
Richard Long only distributes materials differently that are
they are found in the chosen space. Other artists like Oppenheim or Christo
intervene more abruptly, with more aggressive and foreign materials to
landscape, but with the same expressive intensity directed towards them.

30
 Postmodernity will also involve different processes of creation.
The overcoming of historical linearity will bring with it a mixture of
styles and, therefore also of techniques and materials. The artists will not have
scruples to use hyperrealistic images in the same composition
or photographic with others gestural or others of industrial origin. Sigmar
Polke or David Salle create symbolic narratives based on a
superposition of languages and the confrontation of different techniques.

Other ways to approach the creation process that are also a

new developments in the 20th century are those that arise from the functioning of
our own brain. The first to raise these questions were the
expressionists, although in a more specific way and already with the arguments
from the new psychology, the surrealists. Man is not just a rational being,
but our mind also works through non-logical processes,
about those we have less control over, but that can be liberated through the
artistic creation. Although the surrealists developed these processes in the
creation of 'superreal' images, some later artists
they used as a means of convulsive liberation of the mind. The informalisms
from the mid-century, although with different interests and other influences,
they manifested these processes in the way of disposing of the materials on the
work. Some more personal artists like Luis Gordillo use these
mental processes as a method for shapes and lines to flow and,
subsequently, she organizes and orders them.

The video will also become a tool from the 1960s,

artistic creation. Naum June Paik, for example, uses it more as an object
forming part of an installation that serves as a cinematic narrative.
It will investigate the importance given socially to image.
virtual and on the distortion of reality that it offers.

Other artists do use video for the image they generate. Thus, Bill Viola
part of approaches that are not common in cinema, exploring the
expression of emotions, gestures, visual metaphors of the
most intimate passions. Their way of composing visually is more
related to the pictorial tradition, but combining a slow movement
provided by the camera.

Along with the use of video, it is common to find multifaceted artists.

that also use other resources, from photography or music to the
installation. Bruce Nauman makes use of all kinds of materials and techniques
to develop your works in which you investigate about the different
languages, iconic, verbal or musical. Communication and the
lack of communication, the distortion of information and how they affect human beings
they are usual axes in their work.

Art as a concept

One of the most significant changes that occurs in the idea of art with
The passage of the 20th century will be the importance given to theoretical argumentation.
of the work. Although the content has always been fundamental in the
artistic object, these used to be predetermined and it was the technical skill
and the author's virtuosity in achieving a good representation of
argument, what first reached the viewer.

31
 With the distancing from mimicry, the work of art must rely on other
parameters for its capture. Therefore, throughout the 20th century, art has
I am conceptualizing and have moved away from worrying about the results.
finals, in such a way that a simple object found has become a work
artistic; image technologies have put the means within reach of
any non-specialist; with this, the craft of the image has fallen into
disrepute.

We cannot say, in any case, that there is no 'know-how' in the

plastic arts, but virtue itself is not a first-order value and
which is always closely linked to a conceptual reflection. The new
ways of composing, the new materials and shapes are a reflection of
new ways of seeing and understanding the world. We cannot forget that knowing
Seeing is a mode of intelligence, it is a cognitive act, there is no separation.
between representation and reflection.

1
"Contemporary art is increasingly being articulated as
According to Eco
reflection on one's own problem... forces one to record the fact that, in
many of the current artistic products, the operational project that in
they express themselves, the idea of a way of forming that they carry out in concrete,
the result is always more important than the formed object; and if in times
in the past, there was an awareness of a poetics -in the critical sense- as
an accessory instrument to better penetrate the nature of the work,
Today we realize that many critical operations... consider the
work formed as an accessory instrument to understand a new way
to formally shape a poetic project.

To talk about the importance of the concept in the work of art,

we can debate so much about abstract trends, whose arguments do not
they are explicit in the image itself, such as on transgressive movements
that have transformed the way art manifests itself.

Convey to students that a work of art is not a whim of the

imagination, but rather involves a whole system of knowledge and reflection
about our world, it is perhaps one of the most crucial objectives for
bring them closer to contemporary art.

With this goal, we can choose, on one hand, artistic movements or authors.
that they have created a particular universe, far removed from reproduction of the
reality, but with a coherent argumentation. Expressionism led to
many cases towards a more rational and theorized abstraction, like that of
Kandinsky, or more poetic and naive, like that of Klee. In the works of this
we can find examples of compositions that respond to
subjective interpretations of the outside world, as if it were a
particular code created to decipher the poetic nature of objects
that surround us. The only laws of representation that follow their drawings
they are of a rhythmic and musical imagination.

A work that appears equally naive but is very elaborate.

Conceptually, it is Joan Miró. His influences are more related.
with surrealist creation processes, so that their 'characters'

1
ECO, U. (2002): The definition of art, Barcelona: Destino, pp. 129-130.

32
son, sometimes, chance encounters of objects in his workshop that create new
beauties. It is still very common for the spontaneous and childlike appearance of their
works provoke distrust in the viewer. To avoid this, it is key
show the underlying concept of the work through, for example, the
evolution of the author: observe how he gradually becomes dispossessed of
the accessory and the necessity of detail, to get to the most direct and
essential.

In this same line, Calder works but by adding movement. His

sculptures are abstract compositions in which curved shapes and
simple things are arranged in fragile balances, suspended from thin wires
gears that move with a breath. The beauty and playful character of
the figures respond to a poetic concept of life. Calder shows a
optimism that arises from the harmony between the large and the small. Its forms,
they are not only what we see, but like any artistic project, they respond
a way of contemplating.

The composition based only on geometric shapes with an order

pre-established will give rise to different artistic movements such as op art, or
kinetic art. Vasarely creates his works with small modules that are
they organize by creating volumes or spatial incoherences. The image plays
with the impossibility of bringing to real volumes what is represented. Another type
visual play occurs in works like those of Bridget Riley, where the
black lines create effects of moving demurely, or in the sculptures of J.
R. Soto, who also demands the movement of the viewer, just like in the
by Yacob Agam. In the sculptures of Le Parc or Schöfer, they are the ones who
They move, using light effects that compose multiple variants.

The underlying concept of this very rational art is the desire for a
utopian ordering of the world. This idea will become even clearer in the
derivation of these trends towards minimal art. Artists like Carl
André, Donald Judd, or Sol Le Witt approach the work from a process.
rational, which is more important than the result itself. The individual and
artisanally disappears completely, so that the work can be
carried out in a strictly industrial manner. Sometimes, it starts from a
simple module that can be repeated or transformed in space, like a
rational process of which the development patterns have been analyzed. Express
These ideas with the minimum possible elements is a primary objective.

The noteworthy aspect of this artistic movement for our educational objectives.
that, despite the abstract nature of its proposals, has had a great
social impact through design and architecture. Simple objects
of shapes and the most transparent spaces and of uncovered materials are
Fashion derived from minimal art that implies conceptions of life
more ecological and rational.

Aside from geometric abstraction, other abstract artists also

they will care more about color than shape. Rothko will carry the expression
from inner spirituality through color to its highest peaks. Its
paintings are large formats flooded with fields of color that
recommend looking closely, so that the color acts on our
body in an almost physical way. And, certainly, modern theories about the
color, called chromotherapy, defend its healing character.

33
 The importance of color to convey emotions and build spaces will be
a very used argument in artistic installations. Soledad Sevilla
uses projections or paints with overlays of shades that create
reference to light games. In this same line works Dan Flavin, but
with colored neon tubes. Depending on the type of light and its placement in a
space evokes different sensations, alludes to meanings or transports us
to other environments.

In another aspect of art, we have artistic movements like Dadaism.

or the art povera, which will be crucial in changing the concept of art that
occurs throughout the 20th century. The works of Duchamp or Manzoni can
still considered among the most transgressive of our times. They represent
the will and absolute freedom as creators of art, so that the
the idea is more important than any other aspect, as it is in art
conceptual. Joseph Kosuth will be one of the most representative artists of
this trend, as their works are closer to philosophical postulates than
to that which could traditionally be considered an artistic work. They are
rather reflections on how we assimilate images and process them
as content, about the language that, written, is also an image and,
Ultimately, about how the rational human beings rationalize their environment.

Art understood as an idea will have many variations and will give rise to
movements such as body art, land art o performances that are more
worried about the concepts and the processes that lead to the results.

The context and the relationship with society

Art, as a social product, gains value when it is endorsed by the

community and thus becomes one of the best representatives of the
characteristics of a culture. Although the relationship of the artist with their environment
he has gone through numerous vicissitudes, his work has been shaped regarding
these circumstances and, therefore, speaks of them. In some cases, it has not
past being considered a mere craftsman who produces, with some
aesthetic components, objects considered functional. In other
On occasions, they have been deified as geniuses, with a superior capacity.
to understand the world and interpret it.

Any work of art can become, in this sense, a point of

a session to discuss in the classroom the relationship between art and society. Without
embargo, we propose here some movements and authors whose
concern for the social impact of their works has been greater, or rather,
whose works are the result, above all, of their social interaction.

The artist had always been a more or less faithful servant of the organs of
power until the emergence of bohemia and romanticism. Their work was not
understood as an individual project, but as an assignment that could
to solve with greater or lesser originality and virtuosity. As we have already
commented, the exaltation of feelings will lead to an individualism that
it will favor transgression and rebellion. Art becomes criticism and reflection
of society, ridiculing its bourgeois and consumerist values but, at the
this time, using them and creating a closed and elitist market.

34
The latest trends intensify this social character and approach the
human behaviors, at times, like true theses
anthropological. The artist tries to understand society using the
resources that are inherent to them: plastic creation and intuition as a method
of inquiry.

The creation of new forms that society adopts and takes as its own
is usually provided in advance by the artists. This happened with the
vanguards of the early 20th century. The novelty of their proposals and
the distancing from the representation of reality caused a strong
social rejection, but the industry and design gradually were
assuming those shapes that were incorporated into daily life.

This close relationship between art and design had some peak moments.
as happened in the German Bauhaus school. The beginnings of abstraction and
studies on the laws of visual perception (Gestalt) would imply a
new concept in the study of the image. The visual relationships that are
established in a chart are equally applicable to graphic design and to
industrial. The artist finds a way to disseminate his aesthetic theories
unthinkable before the industrial era. The everyday object, as in reality
It occurred in all eras but without an explicit intention, it
imbued with artistic forms. One of the representatives of this
school, Kandinsky, would embody the figure of teacher, writer, designer and
artist with a huge social calling.

Parallel to this interest in implementing new forms, also

the figure of the artist emerges as a harsh social critic. The manifestos, the
mobilization to political parties and the organization of demonstrations
provocative signs are beginning to be distinguishing marks of the movements
artistic movements of the early century. Marcel Duchamp will question not only
social behaviors, or even the very concept of art.

After the loss of a testimonial social function or representation of the

reality, art derives into individualized projects in search of a
argument and from a critic or dealer that socially justifies it. Dada
it will arise from the nonsense of the old forms of diffusion and marketing
of art in contrast to new ideas. Ironizing about this issue,
Duchamp comes to the conclusion that art only depends, then, on the
will of the artist and therefore even a latrine found in a tub
it can be a work of art if desired. This game, small in
appearance will ultimately become one of the emblematic works of
20th century and will open new paths of inquiry for art. From this
moment, the social impact of the work may become the work
the happenings, performances, , or actions that will arise a lot
later, they will be one of the consequences of this concept. Also the
objects will acquire new meanings, calling into question the
demarcation between art and other modes of image production and
turning decontextualization into a new artistic resource.

Pop art will use, as we discussed in the section dedicated to the

processes, the techniques of mass communication media to convert
in a work of art forms belonging to the world of advertising. Leisure and the
entertainment that the comic provides will be used by some artists
like Lichtenstein, to turn images of the into artistic objects

35
 vignettes. By enlarging the drawing, extracting it from the booklet and framing it, it
decontextualizes and acquires a new value. These images, widely disseminated
as decorative posters, they will provide signs of youthful distinction and
modernity.

Continuing the line opened by Duchamp, Joseph Beuys will return to

question that art is the heritage of a few. "Every man, a
"artist" proclaims and converts his life, his actions, his teachings into his
own work of art. Question every human act and every object that
we use; for him everything has an emotional value beyond its use or function and,
that is why, it suggests that every moment of our life can be lived
artistically. Its political implications and its actions on the street were
to question the imposed ways of life, and their works invite
to reflect on our behaviors.

Other later artists have also sought to make us reflect on

the nature of the human being. Arnulf Rainer using mixed techniques
pictorial and photographic shows a man or a woman torn: the
painting is a metaphor of gesture and action, while photography is
representation of the body. The union of both reflects the dichotomy between the
inner will and what the social world we live in allows us.

Something similar is posed in her photographs Cindy Sherman. To achieve them

create backdrops in which she, in costume, embodies characters
prototypical of our environment. The images reproduce situations
misleading or exaggerated behaviors that, when being
Carefully observed, they disturb and reveal the ridiculousness of certain
situations.

Another photographer, in this case Spanish, Ouka Lele, represents in her works
an unreal environment, artificially colored but that is, to some extent,
another way to represent reality in a metaphorical way. The so-called
The Madrid "movida" of the eighties is shown as a magical space.
within the city. We can reflect, by observing these photographs, how
the same place and the same events can be completely different
according to our way of seeing them, representing them, and living them.

Artistic inquiry

Artistic research as a method of analyzing reality different from

The connection between scientific and humanistic disciplines is increasingly recognized and accepted in the
university circles. Although it is still socially considered art
as an accessory luxury, it still feels, intuitively, like a necessity.
And it is intuition itself that is the artist's working method. Through
imagination and memory, the artist creates images that build new
meanings and what they represent interpretations of the world in a way
1
emotional. According to Efland the meanings derived from this effort have
what to see with our lives in the social and cultural worlds we inhabit. It is
more, this is its educational function.

1
EFLAND, A.D. (2002): Art and cognition, Barcelona: Octaedro, 2004, p. 16.

36
 We could consider that the approach to artistic creation as
Research is consciously conducted for the first time at the end of the century.
XIX, when Impressionists use painting to analyze perception
of color. It was perhaps the photograph that caused new ones to open up
paths for painting. The emergence and diffusion of reproduction techniques
from reality makes art propose functions different from those of
to be a document, and begins to gradually deconstruct throughout
throughout the 20th century each of the formal elements that make up the
images: themes, techniques, iconographies, use of shapes, colors, textures.

This new character of inquiry method that art acquires brings as

consequence a greater valuation of novelty. Although throughout
Throughout the history of art, innovation has existed; only in the 20th century has it
turn into a challenge and condition sine qua non. In this way, a work of art
It isn't if it doesn't present a new discovery, a new achievement, a further step.
in the research of concepts or forms. According to José Antonio
Marina1, ingenuity is a condition of the art of the twentieth century, it is what makes it
frivolous, provocative, and detached from the norms. According to this author, "wit is
the project that develops intelligence to live by playing. Its goal is
to achieve a freedom untethered, safe from reverence and norms. Its
method, the generalized devaluation of reality.2This definition refers to
Several keys of contemporary art related to the innovative drive
how playful character and the longing for freedom are. "The playful use of the
intelligence is not compatible with serious use. This puts science and
technique under inferior conditions, because they are subject to the principle of
the reality and they cannot take so many liberties.3

This research will be tremendously diverse and may be directed towards

towards the mode of expression, the analysis of the underlying structures to the
reality and the image, towards the capacity for communication and the laws of
perception, towards the techniques, towards the study of the functioning of the
mind, mental processes, the subconscious, towards one's own body or
towards the environment and the landscape. Each artist will focus on one or several
interests and will build their own inquiry method. The deconstruction of
reality becomes the foundation of creation: every element, formal
or conceptual, it is analyzed as if it were a new discovery and used
with all its intensity. There are no predefined rules and nothing is
build in a superficial or previously learned way.

Thus, since the end of the 19th century, artists have been creating their
own projects based on their deepest intuitions, building their
compositions based on meanings that only respond to truths
discovered by themselves, not learned in schools or academies. The
Post-impressionists Van Gogh, Cèzanne, and Gauguin are an example of this.
way of understanding creation. Paul Gauguin's artistic training does not
proceeds from an explicit preparation to be an artist (in fact, he had various
professions such as sailor or banker before dedicating themselves to painting), but
that he seeks his own sources of inspiration and the meaning of his art. His
temperament and its longing to find the most primitive and untainted
by civilization will lead him to believe in the existence of a paradise on earth

1
Praise and Refutation of Ingenuity
2
Ibid, p. 23.
3
Ibidem, p. 86.

37
 distant ones, which he will identify with Tahiti. This is how Vargas describes it literarily.
Llosa1showing us how the artist made sense of his concerns
through his art. The works of Gauguin, like those of other artists, create
allusion to universal meanings that the artist is capable of capturing through
from an intuitive inquiry that turns into symbols with which everyone, in
we identify ourselves with some aspect.

Another consequence of the previous premises will be the release of the

mimetism. Fidelity to reality, even if it is covered with some ideals
different aesthetics in each era has been an implicit condition to
any work of art from the classical world until the year 1910, a date in which
that Kandinsky creates his first abstract work. From this date on, the one
a work, whether figurative or not, will not be an essential condition.

The cause of this fact is the rapid evolution and diffusion of the media.
communication and the great importance that the image has in them. Although the
photography had been invented for a long time, until it was not widely disseminated.
It appears in art the complete disconnection from reality. In fact, it is still common.
that the abstract message is not fully understood and that one seeks the
reference and similarity. According to Dorfles2, society satisfies its need
of images through the media, turning art into
dispensable and allowing it, in turn, to disengage from the informative function
that the image can have.

Abstraction appears as a logical evolution of expressive art and,

exposed like this, it is much more accessible for the students. Artists like
Mondrian provides a clear and theorized trajectory3of its passage from the
figurative to the abstract. The different versions of their trees, from the
still recognizable to those who are no more than rhythms of forms, arriving
finally to the simplification in pure colors and orthogonal shapes, they are a
summary of the most educational that we can find. All his work
can be understood as a rigorous investigation that leads to some
conclusions. These are still in use and reference today in the
world of the image.

Some artists will develop their work by exploring games of

visual perception. The background and the figure create ambiguities that, at times, are
understood in different ways depending on what we expect to see, that is, according to
preconceived ideas. The artist can show us that appearances do not
they must correspond to reality. One of the artists most
interesting to talk about the ambiguity of the image could be Escher,
well, in his drawings he unfolds a whole fantastical world full of
physical incongruences that respond to perceptual and content games.

The investigation into one ’s own modes of imagination and creation of the
the mind will be the starting point of surrealism. Psychology, thanks to
authors like Jung or Freud experience a significant advance that has repercussions
directly in art: artists will discover that the way in which
The way images are configured in our brain does not respond to a discourse.

1
VARGAS LLOSA, M. (2003): The paradise in the other corner, Barcelona: Circle of
Readers.
2
DORFLES, G. (1974): The oscillations of taste, Barcelona: Lumen.
3
MONDRIAN, P. (1973): Natural Reality and Abstract Reality

38
logical, but there are other connections based on experience
personal and emotions. They will then seek methods to bring forth
these connections, like psychoanalysis or the paranoid-critical method, which
Dali's invention. They will be carried away by the memories of dreams or by the
moments when reason loses control, like in wakefulness, some
they will experiment with artificial distortions of thought, such as the
produced by drugs.

After surrealism, the use of the iconic image will always take into account its
associative or evocative power. The narrative language is filled with connotations,
objects are decontextualized to acquire other meanings (we have already
commented on how Dadaism focused on these conceptual games)
irony becomes an important value. Pop art, recoverer of the
Images in the sixties are loaded with examples in this regard.
Robert Rauschenberg, for example, combines these resources to create sculptures
with the assembly of waste objects. The confrontation of these, along with
with the title given to the work, it is the result of an intention of social satire.

A similar work can be seen in Spain in the Crónica Team. With

technical and expressive resources typical of the advertising world, explore
the possibilities of images to construct critical and ironic discourses.
It could be said that the artist already has absolute freedom to appropriate
ways of constructing from others, as they mix versions of classical works with
objects from your immediate environment or languages of contemporary artists. The
Appropriationism, in fact, will be common in postmodern art.

It will also be characteristic of postmodernity the union of the symbol with the
expressionist language. Artists like Sicilia, Lacomba, or Broto will have very
consider the evocative power of simple images treated with great
intensity. They will use large formats with a lot of pictorial material to
to provoke in the viewer an empathy towards its constructions, towards the
passage of time over symbolic schemes or historical constructions.

Other research methods that artists will use will be the

provided by new technologies. We can find different
ways to approach these projects depending on how they are intended to be used as
tool to achieve results or to be placed in
questioning the method itself and its social implications.

Geometric abstract artists, as well as op and kinetic artists, have

sometimes resorted to the methods of mathematical calculus to obtain
variants of their creations, sometimes using computers.
One of the first was Barbadillo, which combined white modules and
black seeking numerous plastic results and who collaborated with the Center
from the Calculus of Madrid, as many others will do later such as Yturralde,
Sempere, Soledad Sevilla. The possibilities of creating images that,
Subsequently, the digital world will provide enormous and widespread support.
dissemination. Perhaps this is one of the fields in which it has been best
achieved that any citizen dares to compose their images, they
have fun with it and believe you can do it. That's why it's important to understand
the aspect of inquiry, search, and discernment that it has
formal composition and convey it that way in the classroom.

39
Three-dimensional works also undergo a great change over time.
throughout the twentieth century, the result of research and experimentation of the
sculptors about forms. Already in the 19th century, we can see artists like
Rodin, who scandalizes with forms that do not follow the rigorous perception of
the anatomy, but rather they are modeled with an almost pictorial spontaneity, more
close to an expression of emotions than to classical canons. Others
sculptors like Maillol or Hugué seek in their solid forms, more the
symbolism that the representation of a body. The sculpture, by freeing itself from
Some technical requirements will be practiced by non-specialized artists.
in it, like Matisse or Picasso, introducing new concepts and shapes
that do not even start from the analysis of the natural, but from interpretations
emotional ones of this. The primitivism that interested them so much can be observed
more clearly in some works by Brancusi, which explore forms
austere that express essential concepts. The sculpture will also explore
about the interaction with the environment, about the void that the mass leaves and that
it also cuts the space. Artists like Gargallo and Julio González
they will almost be able to draw the void through planes and lines.

40
I.3. Contemporary art and society

Art has always arisen from the need to create images, but with what
social function? We have previously analyzed1how, initially, this
need is associated with myth and religion, and how later, the
appreciation of form in itself, as pleasing to the senses and as value
cultural. With the emergence of the bourgeoisie as a cultured class, art becomes
will become a connotation of social relevance.

Since the emergence of major media outlets, this need

is satisfied by the enormous amount of images that we can see
and to develop technically on a daily basis. Already in the seventies,
beginnings of this phenomenon, Dorfles commented2that our society
stratifies into different cultural bands, so that only a small
elite, not necessarily coinciding with a social class, is the one that maintains
the contact with the most recent art. The rest of the bands satisfies their
cultural need with a pseudo-art filtered by advertising and the media
of communication.

Rapid and cheap reproduction, computing, and mass media

allow to observe or create thousands of images that, to a great extent, satisfy
our aesthetic need. But can they be considered art? Most
these images lack the necessary reflection to reach
they involve us, seeking persuasion without provoking questioning. They are
autonomous, they do not need our participation more than as
viewers.

Art has lost its hegemony in the world of representation, therefore

its social usefulness is questioned, its utility is not so evident. The images
that surround us satisfy the aesthetic need, but not the artistic one. Art
it will always provoke a reflection, a doubt, a mystery, that is not found
you are interested in mass media, because these images are designed to
to seduce, to please or to convince, but not to reveal ourselves or to debate.

As society has become more technological, man has been separating.

of nature. The intense relationship that was produced through the magical rite
has been drifting towards religion, science, or art. The 20th century is the
result of this progressive fragmentation of life into multiple plots:
economía, relación social, decorativismo, adorno, arte, relaciones afectivas,
ecology... Each facet of our personality becomes a section

1
See chap. “I.1. A definition of art as process”, p. 12.
2
DORFLES, G. (1974): The oscillations of taste, Barcelona: Lumen.

41
 independent, which quickly becomes objectified and classified. Art is not, therefore, the
result of our natural relationship with the environment, but a product of the elite.

The technical reproduction of images is one of the vehicles of

more effective communication. Society receives them without critical evaluation
no aesthetic arguments, due to their lack of artistic training. The fact that
to distance ourselves from art deprives us of the most effective means of knowing and valuing the
means of persuasion and communication of images, makes us into
visual illiterates.

Furthermore, with this distancing, another great deficiency occurs, the lack of
trust in our own senses as receivers of reality and the
loss of enjoyment of sensations. Our perception of the environment is
mediated by a huge amount of images designed to spread
consumption patterns, without dedicating time to recognizing the feeling
direct and emotional. "The alienation of the spectator in favor of the object
contemplated (which is the result of its own unconscious activity) is
the more you contemplate, the less you see; the more you accept
recognize oneself in the dominant images of need, less
understands its own existence and its own desire1.

Artistic creation is the human activity that cultivates emotion, not only
in the sense of producing artistic works aimed at provoking sensations,
but also in showing reality from different perspectives to
the usual ones, with greater intensity and more critical capacity.

Art and market

The function of art in society, then, is not displayed in a manner

evident, causing that only an audience and professionals
specialists seem to give importance. Many times, what transcends
to the community is only the value of art as a commodity, leading to the
distrust in the cultural and emotional function.

The difference between the art of the past and art is becoming more pronounced.
The first one reaches more and more every social layer as
the cultural level increases, even more, progress is made in its assimilation:
if a few years ago only the Impressionists were appreciated at a popular level,
today they are already part of everyday images versions of
post-impressionists like Van Gogh, even some avant-gardes, like
Cubism or surrealism. Above all, the greats contribute to all this.
advertising campaigns that use artistic images that, on one hand
they contribute to spreading them, while on the other hand they distort and manipulate them.

Contemporary art, especially the plastic arts, seems to be interested in

to take refuge in oneself, in maintaining their status quo or distinguishing mark in front of
to the masses. As Dorfles tells us2, the association that is made
traditionally genius and art face rejection from society for
consider it inaccessible. In this sense, it is winning the game the

1
DEBORD, G. (1999): The Society of the Spectacle, Valencia: Pre-textos, p. 49.
2
The Oscillations of Taste

42
advertising, which, unconcerned about vulgarization, resorts to creativity,
and it is achieving more disseminable artistic values than those of the
properly called artists.

The artistic avant-gardes of the 20th century have always aimed to be a

rejection of the dominant ideological superstructure, and although in the end it
having diluted in it, they aimed to move positively towards a
liberalization of art. The movements prior to Dadaism aimed to
a revolution more formal than ideological, but they paved the way for
subsequent more conceptual revolutions.

Nowadays, innovation and snobbery are so common that they are no longer a
revolutionary for society, and the upper classes are the first to digest
(=devour) the artistic news. Provocation is sometimes used
as an advertising claim, as happens with works like those of Maurizio
Cattelan: his hanged characters in the middle of the street induce a predictable
complaint that disseminates the work in the media. Movements like
art objects, seemingly impossible to introduce into a market because of
ephemeral of their works, are marketed through reproductions,
plans or photographs. Even more puzzling is the popular success of some
works of Christo, especially that of the Bundestag, unpredictable even for his
sponsors. It could be thought that here the elitist circle has indeed been broken and that
they have transcended social classes through tourism and curiosity; and
that, ultimately, the goals of art have been fulfilled: to manifest a
emotion, provoke a reflection, convey an intuitive message about
ourselves.

But the usual dissemination of a work of art is not this; Christo himself has
sold many 'postcards' of their plans before being able to finance a project
Thus. It is normal for the work to become merchandise and to be introduced into
a market where artistic values are trampled by supply and the
demand, speculation, and commercial skill.

The main problem stems from the narrowness of the market and the lack of
artistic education of the public. To allow for a quick revaluation of the
the work of an artist requires a small market, where it quickly
spread the rising values, and, due to their scarcity, they become an object of
desire of the collector. Obtaining a rare bird makes one feel their
holding a cultural superiority that reassures the one they already have
monetarily. In this way, culture is bought, not felt. Example
of this behavior is the anecdotal case of the collector who sold
his entire collection without even unboxing it.

As a result, only the major dealers and the strongest galleries

they have an advantage in this market. Both small galleries and the
young artists have difficult access to it. But, above all, art does not
makes one feel close, accessible, and vital. For the average citizen, art
it becomes a luxury or an elite spectacle that does not affect anything at all
to their daily life.

Not all artistic production enters the usual distribution channels

directed by curators, institutions, and galleries. The new technologies
they offer other means as well as other types of creations. Thus, for example, the
netart finds a great diffusion without the mediation of galleries; also

43
 some interventions in the street or with marginalized groups are not
mediated. But the foundation of this type of art lies in the
subsidies from power entities, whether public or private, with
it's difficult to get out of this closed circle.

The situation would be different if art were more open and accessible, if it were something
everyday life that can be found while walking or looking, if it were perceived as something
transferable to the nearby, if understood as an attitude or a process
cultural asset, more than as a production of objects. Getting rid of the
large firms that will capture prestige and significant profits perhaps
utopian sea, but at least the general public could access the processes of
art and discover how artists seek in reality and create symbols that
they make us see and reflect, contributing to the enrichment of knowledge
of societies.

This is only possible through education. The only way to spread

a generalized understanding and interest in creation
plastic is through a generalization of art education more
recent: if the student is visually accustomed to the produced images
through contemporary art and understands the main concerns of the artists, will be able to
becoming an adult who destroys the existing barrier now between the
artistic world and society.

This education, however, cannot be based on compliance with

existing art, but in an open attitude. What is considered art by the
specialized world, tomorrow may not be so due to different interests. No
we can forget that art is reflection and research and therefore continuous
novelty, sometimes revolutionary. The citizen must be open to new
concerns, and knowing how to be critical towards them, so their education should not
it should not be limited to knowledge, but must also include criticism and
experimentation of the artistic process.

Art and design

The improvement of the quality of life in developed societies has led to

an evolution of the design of instruments. A large number of machines and
artifacts make our daily lives easier and more comfortable. Having overcome the phase
of functionalism, which allowed for a reduction in cost and dissemination of products
and therefore greatly contributed to this improvement, society needs
more. The eighties were a clear example of this resurgence of the
imagination and fantasy in the design of everyday objects, but at the cost of
a new elitization of products and an increase in the culture of consumption,
that is still growing.

The relationship with the aesthetic aspects of our environment becomes artificial.
because it is based on an easy acquisition of forms. These do not arise
from our discovery and emotional need, but they are not
sold wrapped in an artificial world provided by advertising. It is
funny to see an aborigine with a painted face and a patterned swimsuit
industrial type "hypermarket". But the functionality and accessibility of the
industrial garment compared to the greater labor intensity of the traditional and artisanal
makes the global diffusion of the first an unstoppable fact.

44
 Until the 19th century, popular aesthetics were in harmony with the environment.
There was no farmhouse with a fence made of bed frames or a washing machine drum.
to feed the dog. The fences were wooden stakes and the container of
stone. Aesthetically, we could talk about a harmony that was discovered
by the romantic painters and that we could call picturesque. This
The stylization has resurged, to some extent, due to its tourist appeal. The
dependence on tourism of important sectors of the population has
provoked a new aesthetic interested in attracting the customer. This
it is positive when accompanied by a sensitivity towards forms,
but it can lead to impoverishment and vulgarization when adopted,
without further ado, the forms of predominant consumption.

Of course, our relationship cannot return to what it was before the development.
industrial, for we cannot ignore what we have advanced and evolved.
Mestizaje is an unstoppable phenomenon due to the development of the
communications and, in addition, it is enriching for culture and art, but the
the problem lies in the lack of aesthetic education, in the absence of
sensitivity towards shapes, their origins, their function and their capacity
symbolic.

The design of the objects is based on the flattery of popular taste and in the
the need to maintain a very active market, which is why education
towards consumption only goes through the awareness of the population. In this
point, aesthetics is directly related to the globalization of the
economy, the prevailing forms are those of the most developed countries,
that appear mixed with those from places in the world where the hand of
the work is cheap.

Education towards responsible consumption can also be accompanied by

of an aesthetic formation, in which the shapes of the products are
understand in their production context and not be assumed in a way
imposed. Again, we propose education as the only means to
achieving this objective and the teaching of art as an instrument for the
appreciation of form, its meaning, its origin, and its plastic values.

Art and ecology

Just like our relationship with everyday objects has suffered a

emotional deterioration due to the consumer economy, our relationship
with nature it has also become artificial and devastating.

Until very recent times, man lived nature as

immediate supplier of its needs. The proportion of the population that
living in the cities was minimal and, even in them, it wasn't that much.
technification as a way to forget the presence of the natural environment. Nowadays the
the majority of citizens only visit nature as spectators and the
industrial development relies on it without giving it time to recover.

Some artistic movements are particularly concerned with reflection.

about our natural environment, as they are expressing some manifestations
Conceptual. But it is the artistic feeling in general that has the power.
to establish an intuitive and direct union of nature with man. Already
that our respect for her as a superior environment, supplier and

45
advertising, which, unconcerned about vulgarization, resorts to creativity,
and it is achieving more disseminable artistic values than those of the
properly called artists.

The artistic avant-gardes of the 20th century have always aimed to be a

rejection of the dominant ideological superstructure, and although in the end it
having diluted in it, they aimed to move positively towards a
liberalization of art. The movements prior to Dadaism aimed to
a revolution more formal than ideological, but they paved the way for
subsequent more conceptual revolutions.

Nowadays, innovation and snobbery are so common that they are no longer a
revolutionary for society, and the upper classes are the first to digest
(=devour) the artistic news. Provocation is sometimes used
as an advertising claim, as happens with works like those of Maurizio
Cattelan: his hanged characters in the middle of the street induce a predictable
complaint that disseminates the work in the media. Movements like
art objects, seemingly impossible to introduce into a market because of
ephemeral of their works, are marketed through reproductions,
plans or photographs. Even more puzzling is the popular success of some
works of Christo, especially that of the Bundestag, unpredictable even for his
sponsors. It could be thought that here the elitist circle has indeed been broken and that
they have transcended social classes through tourism and curiosity; and
that, ultimately, the goals of art have been fulfilled: to manifest a
emotion, provoke a reflection, convey an intuitive message about
ourselves.

But the usual dissemination of a work of art is not this; Christo himself has
sold many 'postcards' of their plans before being able to finance a project
Thus. It is normal for the work to become merchandise and to be introduced into
a market where artistic values are trampled by supply and the
demand, speculation, and commercial skill.

The main problem stems from the narrowness of the market and the lack of
artistic education of the public. To allow for a quick revaluation of the
the work of an artist requires a small market, where it quickly
spread the rising values, and, due to their scarcity, they become an object of
desire of the collector. Obtaining a rare bird makes one feel their
holding a cultural superiority that reassures the one they already have
monetarily. In this way, culture is bought, not felt. Example
of this behavior is the anecdotal case of the collector who sold
his entire collection without even unboxing it.

As a result, only the major dealers and the strongest galleries

they have an advantage in this market. Both small galleries and the
young artists have difficult access to it. But, above all, art does not
makes one feel close, accessible, and vital. For the average citizen, art
it becomes a luxury or an elite spectacle that does not affect anything at all
to their daily life.

Not all artistic production enters the usual distribution channels

directed by curators, institutions, and galleries. The new technologies
they offer other means as well as other types of creations. Thus, for example, the

43
All of this is also a reason for changes in the ways of proceeding
artistic, and even the subject of many creations.

Although market mechanisms remain the same, we observe,

at least, a plurality and tolerance towards difference. Art can
becoming a social educator, showing an inevitable mixing in
this globalized world and offering new perspectives of interpretation.

47
I.4. The approach to contemporary art and the comprehensive formation of the individual

The absence of relevance of the visual arts within society of the

image causes one to question the educational validity of the approach to the
purely artistic processes. The instrumental and communicative value of the
images impose themselves on other less effective, more reflective aspects
creatives. But art today continues to be an essential element of our
culture, occupying a place that corresponds to no other facet. "The
the function of art throughout the cultural history of humanity has been and
it continues to be the 'construction of reality'1.

Iconic and aesthetic manifestations are abundant and art has left
of having its preeminence in this field, but artistic creation is not only
image production. Thus, as we have already discussed, the experience
The aesthetics that an artistic work can provide involves aspects
cognitive aspects that are often absent in media images, or to
less, they do not appear as a main function, so art is constituted
as a high educational value counterpoint.

Artistic processes can provide the individual with a way of knowledge.

very specific, as they can offer alternative perspectives to the
provided by other modes of thought, can help us to
to build our own world from diversity and creativity. Art
it should be for society like a lung of oxygen, a fresh air that
relieved from stereotypes and marked paths, a space for reflection and
the pleasure of freedom and respect.

Undervaluing artistic education socially is wasting a

a parcel of knowledge of great importance that responds to a
anthropological necessity. The artist acts as a kind of sensitive filter
from the current events and uses their intuition to project them
future changes. Understanding your work is, in a way, understanding oneself
culturally the same from alternative parameters, from non-options
always controlled. The fact that the individual discovers this value in the
a work of art can enhance society's understanding of the
importance of the artistic phenomenon. In turn, this would allow for greater
evaluation of the artist as a professional, with a useful, close, and social work
nothing to be despised.

The importance of artistic knowledge and its approach to society

it has, as we have seen, many advantages, but if this knowledge is not

1
EFLAND, A. / FREEDMAN, K. / STUHR, P. (2003): Education in postmodern art
Barcelona: Paidós, p. 124.

48
understood as something current and close, artistic education always
It will remain a cultural addition, a luxury complement to society.
The artist is therefore understood as a strange and bohemian being, even a
a parasite of society and not a professional, which entails the great
difficulties in developing their work, as we already discussed in the chapter
previous. Art in itself, through the knowledge and understanding of its
works, it is the one that can integrate the artist into society in a natural way and
accepted.

In this sense, artistic education integrated into the educational system

General is the ideal vehicle to bring society closer to the processes.
artistic and, despite the multiple arguments in its favor, it still continues
underestimating oneself in teaching. Knowledge of art is the best
method to improve our aesthetic training, as this is the maximum
exponent of artistic processes. This cannot be done in a way
punctual, with visits to museums or exhibitions. Integration is necessary.
full at all stages of education so that the contact with art is
perceive it as something close.

The current concept of art is relative and integrative; the postmodern artist, of
it does not reject previous paradigms; on the contrary, it aims to
integrate them by creating distinct non-excluding realities. This idea
could contribute to the demystification of art, to not consider it as
typical of geniuses and eccentrics, but rather as an activity more related to human beings that
it can be close.

The artist can be understood as a social critic who sees and makes others see the
the intricacies of their time. Learning to discover art and knowing what
Reflecting on a current work helps in the general understanding of one's own.
existence.

It is evident that if we are training individuals of our time, it is

It is important to experience current artistic processes. The references
historical events are essential to understand our own times and the
genesis of what happens but there is no reason to stay in them. The
aesthetic education is also intended to educate feelings, to shape
values and capabilities regarding our current world, not exclusively to
acquire historical knowledge. Contemporary art, therefore, must be
reference and support for aesthetic training.

The evolution of artistic styles of the 20th century has conveyed to society
the image of a self-absorbed art, that is, which is sufficient in itself to
develop and only needs a cultural elite to resonate with
socially. Its direct relationship with the individual does not happen, in many cases,
news of exhibitions or scandals through the media, so
It is not possible to create links with the closest reality. It is implied.
that society will gradually assimilate the forms proposed by the artists
gradually, through design or advertising.

However, since the seventies, in direct relation to the new

media outlets, not only have a large number of movements been created
artistic expressions that interact with the street or with the public, also the
institutions begin to strive to bring their exhibitions closer by
pedagogical projects. Although we cannot ensure that the impact

49
 social of these actions is massive, they seem to denote a change in the
reception of art.

On the other hand, this begins to be understood more as a cultural attitude that
like a closed world circumscribed by some brilliant beings who control it.
Every form created with another function can, as happened in other times,
possess aesthetic characteristics similar to artistic ones and, for that reason, be
considered art. In addition, the means by which access is granted to forms
created as art can be the same ones that satisfy others
needs such as informational or recreational.

The fusion is such that it has been established as an area of knowledge called
visual culture. 'Visual culture is interested in visual events
in which the consumer seeks information, meaning, or pleasure
connected with visual technology.1Mirzoeff includes in the field of
visual culture any creation that involves a form, whether it is a work of
traditional art or an industrial product, which implies the study of art
interconnected with other cultural productions.

These approaches that are being imposed in artistic training

they contribute a new vision of education that implies an approach to the
art in the everyday, by directly relating to other activities that do
they are socially spread. However, in order not to fall into simple analysis
critic of the images we receive through the media, and that the
artistic education becomes an analysis of visual communication,
we believe that we need to make an effort to bring closer the
manifestations that are specifically artistic.

So that art makes a true contribution to holistic education of the

individual should be valued in the educational system for what it is: a
an essential part of personality, a specific mode of knowledge
and, therefore, a part of the intellect necessary for psychological balance of
the person.

Art and human development

Many authors have tried to demonstrate how education

artistic is not merely a complement to the individual's education, but rather
constitutes an irreplaceable contribution by other disciplines. Even, some
educators, let's take Herbert Read as a prototype, have aimed for a
general education with the arts as a reference.

The most evident issue is, ultimately, that if the arts are a reference
social relevance and a specific knowledge tool, its
educational consideration must correspond to these values. The relationship
Education and society are reciprocal: one is educated in social values.
and, at the same time, education helps to shape a society.

We have already analyzed the social relevance of art, the question now would be:
How can artistic education contribute to better cognitive development?

1
MIRZOEFF, N. (2003): An introduction to visual culture, Barcelona: Paidós, p. 19.

50
 to a better comprehensive training of the individual? And how can it do so from a
specifically contemporary art?

Many of the current theories of artistic education maintain the

basic proposals of Dewey. His aesthetic conception is based on
next: art comes from experience, it is the expression of the interaction of
man with the environment; the artistic structure is felt, it is aesthetic and only
by doing, the student can learn. This type of education should promote
harmonious relationships with the social environment. The external conditions
favorable conditions for education must be provided by the educator,
actively intervening.

In his book The Art and the Creation of the Mind1Eisner intends to give the
necessary arguments for the teaching of the arts to be considered
essential part of education for its specific contributions to development
cognitive. The inadequate valuation that artistic teachings receive in the
curriculum and in society in general is largely due to the fact that not
to be recognized for their value as educators of consciousness and as
useful and unique instruments in their modality for personal development.

Eisner had previously defended artistic activity as a way

of intelligence that is called qualitative, different from the discursive. When addressing the topic
from the creation comments: "This activity, when dealing with visualization of
qualities -that is, visual images- and being directed towards creation and
Quality control - color, line, shape, and others - is a form of intelligence.
that operates in the realm of the qualitative. Therefore, we can think about
this type of activity as qualitative intelligence.2Art education is
the person in charge of developing this type of intelligence and hence its importance.

The educational process has as one of its main goals to know ourselves
ourselves and our environment. Our sensory system, which gives us
it allows us to connect with this world, it provides us with experiences
that are mediated by education and culture. Learning not only to
but rather to use our senses, it becomes a means of
essential knowledge.

After the experience, the generation of meanings and imagination appears, and
this is expressed in the arts through the image. In this sense, the
arts contribute to the refinement of the senses and the cultivation of the
imagination, because they invite us to see, but also to enjoy and to pause in
what we see, smell, touch, or taste.

Sensitivity and imagination can remain only in the private sphere,

but not the representation, which also plays important roles
cognitive. Representation requires capabilities of recording, reviewing and
communication, in addition to the practice of some instruments, which also
they influence what we think.

Their cognitive functions of the arts help us to observe and interpret the
world, develop the willingness to tolerate ambiguity, use the
imagination, shaping creativity or exploring our sensations.

1
EISNER, E.W. (2004): The Art and Creation of the Mind, Barcelona: Paidós.
2
EISNER, E.W. (1995): Educating artistic vision, Barcelona: Paidós, pp. 99-100.

51
 The experiences offered to the students will determine the type of
thought they develop. Therefore, it is important to relate them to the
external world, highlighting its usefulness, avoiding effectiveness, which
in the visual arts, it is often confused with the search for mimetism, and
valuing the expressive characteristics and the emotional tone.

After analyzing different conceptions of teaching the arts (based on

the disciplines, visual culture, personal expression...), Eisner defends the
synthetic and complex nature of artistic thought and establishes five
principles of artistic education:

• Art education should be based on what is distinctive, not

in their contribution to other fields. The plastic arts make visible
aspects of the world that cannot be revealed in any other way.

• It should promote the development of artistic intelligence, which is so important.

like any other type of intelligence, as Dewey would have defended1.

• It should help to create and experience the aesthetic characteristics of the

images, understanding their relationship with culture.

• It is also important to help value individuality and diversity.

responses that creation offers, observing subtleties and learning to
interpret

• Finally, artistic education must transfer the aesthetic experience to

daily life, providing another perspective to peek into the
world.

The impact of an artistic education following these principles

proposed by Eisner would become evident in the student's attitude, more than in
certain practical skills. Also in their artistic production
and in their ability to appreciate works of art.

They would therefore contribute to a comprehensive education of the individual, not only to a
denotative cultural enrichment of a social status. If the training
artistic is based on the promotion of these cognitive skills:
development of artistic intelligence, relationship of art with culture,
experimentation of the aesthetic, application to everyday life, we can say
What is an artistic training with the same objectives as the art of our time?
Days. The objectives of artists creating today do not differ from
the most general educational objectives expressed by Eisner, as they are
they are the ones who create the conceptions of art formed in society
contemporary.

To contribute to truly effective training in art, the reference

it cannot be just the art of other times. Educating in art is not educating in the
history of art, but in the artistic processes related to their

1
Eisner refers to the William James Lectures that John Dewey gave at Harvard in
1932, where it states that intelligent reflection is a fundamental condition for creation
artistic.

52
 context. The historical evolution presented in modern manuals is
showing deficiencies due to its inability to provide plural visions of
development of art. The reviews and paradigm shifts of times
previous ones are becoming more frequent, so the approach of the
Artistic education is in a constant state of crisis and renewal.

Some obstacles that hinder the approach to art

contemporary stem from the conception of its difficulty to adapt to the
cognitive development of the individual. However, we start from the idea that
this excuse is based on the usual difficulty of changing a system
educational to adapt to new social demands.

In his studies on human development and artistic education, Gardner1

argues that one type of intelligence or another can be developed more or
less according to the type of education and according to cultures, so there are
very few universal concepts regarding it.

The stage-based developmental approaches proposed by Piaget 2,

they have been called into question by subsequent studies3There are differences
important between individuals, groups, and cultures, that are imposed on
as broad stages as desired of intellectual development. The periods of
learning and the forms of mastery turn out to be more flexible than what is
I had thought.” Although Gardner believes that there are still ages of stone.
specific, argues how what is taught can shape paths of
development within a society.

To reach these conclusions, Gardner participated along with others

collaborators in Project Zero, which studied for long periods of
time the development of capabilities and skills for using systems
of symbols. Artistic skill is considered an area of human use
of symbols. Apparently, according to their observations, these capabilities or
skills can be inhibited or intensified depending on the symbolic system
used or, rather, according to the way of use of these. Art does not
corresponds to a closed logical-formal system - in fact, only the
mathematics or musical notation could correspond to such a system,
called notation systems-, but the art would respond to a use
expressive or metaphorical of symbols.

The orientation of education towards the multiplicity of uses of systems

symbolic is necessary for training that corresponds to the
complexity of human thought. The development of systems in
the detriment of others deprives the individual of essential cognitive processes
to insert oneself into society in a critical and effective way.

Gardner believes that American arts education has been based

for a long time in self-expression and, although it does not openly criticize
the approaches of discipline-based education advocate for a
integration of formal and reflective artistic knowledge forms.

1
GARDNER, H. (1994): Artistic education and human development, Barcelona: Paidós.
2
The Representation of the World in the Child
3
GARDNER, H. (1994): Artistic Education and Human Development, Barcelona: Paidós, p. 22

53
 The skills and technical strategies that are acquired intuitively and
sensorimotor in the early years of the child can be accompanied, already in
the school training, of a more general knowledge of art. "It is not
I need this knowledge to be presented isolated from artistic faculties.
productive of the child. Rather the opposite, there is much to gain by expanding
the artistic knowledge of the child through a certain form of learning well
situated1

We find this fusion of artistic production especially interesting.

with the reflection on the works of the artists, those of the colleagues and the
own. Production alone does not contribute to inserting art into the
integral construction of knowledge, remains in the development of
technical skills that may not be socially justified, more than
for its playful aspects.

What is taught helps to understand and helps to transform society.

We say again that this relationship feeds back into its development, from
such a way that any change factor affects the entire system and is in
continues evolution. The art of each era will be, just like education,
reflection of society and a driver of changes within it. Education will not be able to go
in front of art, but it cannot be behind either.

The comprehensive training of the individual involves developing the ability to

understand the changes and be able to contribute to them. Today's students,
let's remember, they will create the society of tomorrow. Their training must be
open to the tolerance of difference and ambiguity, but it must have
interpretive keys of the evolution of times to not feel
displaced.

1
Same place, p. 76.

54
I.5. Ed uc ac ion ar tís you
c a pens a meent o vI ual y pos m from
er nidad .

According to the concept of art previously analyzed and after the observations
carried out on its social impact, we are going to analyze some
educational proposals aimed at bringing the concepts of the classroom
latest artistic movements.

From the US, a pioneer country in research in arts education, we

Different proposals arise as a result of postmodern trends.
Likewise, also in Spain, from different educational institutions and
magazines1it is contributing to the renewal of artistic education with
its expansion into visual culture.

When it comes to addressing the design of the curriculum consistent with the theories mentioned earlier.
exposed2Eisner raises several dilemmas. One of them would be the curriculum.
integrated artistic, which would consist of coordinating the subjects in such a way that
similar contents were addressed simultaneously, making
evident in its relationship. The articulation of this type of curriculum would be
complicated and the same author questions its possibilities.

Eisner proposes the arts as a model to be imitated by the rest of education,

what can remind us of Read's utopian proposals. The arts,
they say that there are several possibilities of giving valid answers to a
problem, they teach that form and content are closely linked,
they value imagination, teaching to pay attention to the interaction of the
parts that make up a whole, teach to enjoy one's own process of
learning, also demonstrate that literal language and quantification do not
they are the only means of understanding, they teach the importance of
flexibility of purpose and finally teach to pause the experience
putting efficiency second.

The analysis of the importance, the time, and the moment that the curriculum must
dedicating oneself to the plastic arts is an open debate that should extend to the
society, but it entails many difficulties to assert itself. Eisner
advocate, and this is what we consider crucial, to convey to the population the
ways of thinking that are applied in plastic creation to make it visible
the usefulness of artistic education.

Eisner provides a summary of the main contributions of education.

artistic, highlighting the arts as creators of meanings, the importance
from somatic knowledge to appreciate the qualities, the experience
aesthetic extensible to all senses, art as a form of inquiry, the

1
The digital magazines www.redvisual.net and www.estudiosvisuales.net serve as examples.
2
EISNER, E.W. (2004): The art and creation of the mind, Barcelona: Paidós.

55
 diversity of artistic education, artistic development as a
consequence of various factors, not just maturation, the distinctive of the
contribution of artistic education, the multiplicity of sources of
learning that the arts, diversity, individuality, and surprise offer
as qualities, the importance of thinking with certain ones
materials, the evaluation to improve the educational process, the importance
from representation as a means of capturing images and meanings and the
arts as a source of personal and cultural enrichment.

The development of all these capacities must guide the design of

curriculum, but, as Eisner recalls, although there are very varied
theoretical proposals, there are few concrete studies on how to bring to the classroom
these thought processes and analyze their results. There is also a lack of
analyze the possibilities of transfer of the developed skills in
artistic education to other subjects, although it must be made clear, without
embargo, that artistic education should not be defended for its contribution to
achieve accomplishments in other disciplines, as it has its own
specificities.

Education in postmodern art

The contributions of Eisner and Gardner are essential to understanding the

cognitive development in relation to artistic education, but recently has
he has relativized these conclusions according to visual cultural contexts
in which it is developed.

To convey in the curriculum the current artistic mental processes,

we must take into account the proposals arising from the movements
postmodernists. This is how Efland, Freedman, and Sthur do it in The Education in the
postmodern art1.

Starting in the 1970s, there began to be talk in art of exhaustion.

stylistic and the end of modernity, the progression of avant-garde styles
had finally culminated in a nihilistic and ironic eclecticism, where the
novelty and originality are no longer values. They are called into question,
therefore, if artistic education should continue to be based on the
personal expression and in the principles of design, trends that have
dominated the second half of the 20th century, or on the contrary adapt to the
new times. One of the basic questions that authors ask is
To what extent would a postmodern approach to applied art be viable?
to schoolchildren, probably unaware of modern art, not to mention the
postmodern?2To begin with, they establish the basic differences between
modernity and postmodernity.

The modern era begins with the belief in reason and science as
pillars of knowledge and society, reaching its peak with The
Illustration. The development of engineering and technologies will lead to a boom.
industrial, which, on one hand, will be a symbol of progress and well-being, but on the other,
it will lead to the degradation of the environment and the alienation of life

1
EFLAND, A. / FREEDMAN, K. / STUHR, P. (2003): Education in Postmodern Art
Barcelona: Paidós.
2
Same place, p. 18.

56
urban. Modernity implies a succession of advances that reject
past times.

In the educational curricula of the sixties and seventies, there is a

similarity with modern proposals of rationalism and efficiency such as
we can see in the teachings of art as a discipline (DBAE) or in the
continuers of the principles of the Bauhaus, understanding the image as
language. On the other hand, the utopian trends of Read also coexist.
Löwenfeld, for whom art and its teaching are based on the
creative expression. This way we can relate these two trends to two
aesthetic models, formalism and expressionism, present in the
vanguards. These educational projects were considered a means to
bring this art closer, which is supposed to be a vanguard of society itself. The
artist, in modern art, is considered ahead of his time.

Primitive art and children's art are starting to be valued in art.

modern. However, only what is vital and not traditional is taken from them.
they have, but they are not contextualized, but their forms are taken by their
similarities with avant-garde forms.

In its search for absolute truth, art reaches abstraction, like

pure form capable of evoking the aesthetic experience beyond all
reference. Art can be universal, its forms and structures can be
above localisms and cultures. It is no wonder, then, the profusion of
international styles.

The success of these ideals of progress also brings, at one moment

determined, to a destruction of heritage. To make way for a new
world, the previous one had to be destroyed. Practically in all cities
that had a developmental boom in the sixties, structures were destroyed
urban planning of great historical value (we can sadly observe how this
The trend occurred in our country with as much or more intensity than in the USA.

The social function of modern art is to provide an experience

aesthetic to the viewer that makes them surpass everyday reality, in a way
of therapy. The forms of popular culture and consumption are vulgar and
they must be overcome by the cultured citizen.

The term postmodernity begins to be regarded in a manner

generalized in the seventies of the last century, in which the idea of
the linear progression of history is called into question. Lyotard defends
called "short stories" (of ethnic or social minorities, of
local circumstances) to review history, rather than the grand narratives
characteristics of modernity. More than anticipating the future, the aim is to seek the
genealogy of the present, to contextualize it and give it meaning.

Postmodernity is closely related to multiculturalism,

contributing to the realization of activities that value social minorities
oppressed. Cultural productions must be inserted into their context,
highlighting the notion of pluralism and tolerance and promoting changes in
social relationships.

Postmodernity implies profound differences in the conception of art,

culture and education, which the authors summarize as follows:

57
 • Modernity believes in the sublime work of art, capable of providing a
universal aesthetic experience that is superior to other manifestations
aesthetics, while in postmodernity the artistic value is relative
regarding the context in which it occurs, therefore there are no superior arts
or lower, but rather different perceptions according to the cultural environment.
• Modern history is considered progressive, so that each
artistic movement implies a surpassing of the previous one, but the
Postmodernists believe that every advance is accompanied by others.
setbacks, so the linear progression does not exist.
• Moderns consider the individual and, in particular, the artist, a being
free capable of leading important social changes; however, the
postmodernists believe that art repeats social structures, although
they are a critique of them, they are a reflection and fruit of an interaction.
• Modern art believes in a higher reality evoked by relationships
formalities that occur in the work, leading to
abstraction. Postmodern art recovers figuration as a study of
the culture and society, not in a mimetic sense, but as a reflection of the
symbols of a context.
• Modernity defends the purity and stylistic unity of the work, while
that eclecticism and the mixing of styles and disciplines are characteristic of the
postmodern works.
• Modern artists believe in the transcendental work, capable of transcending
local styles and reaching a globality, but the postmoderns
they defend the multiple readings of the artistic fact, its versatility. The
images are a reflection of multiple cultures and their meanings vary with the
time and the context.
• Modern creation involves a destruction or overcoming of the past,
but appropriationism and eclecticism are elements of the work
postmodern.

These changes in the conception of art and culture necessarily imply

educational changes. Educators are questioning whether the curriculum represents the
knowledge and if this, in any case, is possible. All the
representations are limited, given the very limitations of language,
therefore one cannot expect to impose absolute truths on the students. In
instead, education should provide avenues for interpretation,
multiplicity of viewpoints and fragmentation of culture.

Before making their educational proposals, the authors take a look at

the evolution of American education throughout the 20th century. The
different approaches to artistic teachings have emerged from changes in
paradigm, that is, the set of ideas that mark practice. These
changes in the modern school have always occurred as a rejection
to the above, following the linear progression typical of modern art.

In this way, it is observed how each new paradigm implies the cancellation of the
previous educational system, to adapt to a social situation
determined. However, starting in the 1960s, a state begins
of confusion and disbelief that could be called "postparadigmatic"1.

1
Ibidem. Term used in quotes in the original text, p. 124.

58
 Doubts arise about the ability of education to offer perspectives.
global issues of the world or finding a philosophical or cultural consensus.

Art still has its same purpose, the construction of reality, and
more specifically, the social and cultural reality. It corresponds to the sciences
the understanding of the natural world, while the objective of art is to understand
the social and cultural worlds, whose symbolic representations
they appear in artistic works.

The postmodern art education curriculum could follow the following

model1:

Art is a form of cultural production intended to create symbols of

a common reality.

The content and methods of the curriculum are:

• Recycling previous contents and methods
• To offer minifiction in marginal artistic forms
• To show the exercise of power in the homologation of artistic knowledge
• Use deconstruction to practice different points of view
• Recognize the multiple encoding of the artwork in various systems
symbolic

The main value of this curriculum is 'to improve and deepen our
understanding of the social and cultural landscape.

Multicultural and postmodern education are not necessarily

coincidences. One of the central debates of postmodernity is the
power/knowledge relationship following Foucault's theories and in education,
it implies pluralism, the diversity of perspectives, and conflict analysis
conceptual.

Multiculturalism arises from concerns that emerged in the 1960s towards

the integration of marginalized sectors of society. Since then it has
had different approaches in education, initially closer to
the modern theories and then approaching the budgets
postmodern

The approach based on special cases and cultural difference continues

using a hegemonic culture as a model, to which they must approach
the oppressed classes to overcome their marginalization.

Human relations-based pedagogy uses group activities,

sometimes playful or ritualistic, to highlight the similarities of the different
social groups, but without paying attention to the differences.

The pedagogical approach based on the study of a singular group is close

the postmodern interest in the short story, but it has too narrow a scope
reduced.

1
Ibid. Explanatory table, p. 126.

59
The multicultural education described by the authors is more ambitious and
it aims for a deep reform of the educational system with a social purpose
equitable distribution of power, reduction of prejudices, social justice and
equality of opportunities. Educational practice must seek different
viewpoints on any topic that is raised, alternatives to culture
dominant and seeking the sources of information in the context where it
they develop (inviting artists, investigating texts). All cultures must
to be included, even if they are not represented in the student body. All
community members must participate in the construction of
curriculum, the disciplines do not follow traditional logic and are not
It is essential that the students are grouped in successive classes or courses.

Finally, multicultural and social reconstruction pedagogy is identified

fully with postmodern education. Its goal is to create individuals
analytical and critical of social situations and with organizational capacity
to overthrow injustices. Artistic education must be interdisciplinary and
experimental, in a way that is real and everyday. Educational strategies
are based on the identification and investigation of issues
current sociocultural issues, to subsequently determine lines of
performance.

The teaching of art following a postmodern curriculum must, first

place, to base oneself on small stories, distrusting metanarratives,
as Lyotard calls them. This implies a multiplicity of small stories,
not necessarily in chronological order, since history is not a
linear progression with a unique path.

In this sense, institutions like museums become devices.

ideological frameworks that select and organize knowledge, omitting other possibilities
readings. The same can happen with photographic selections or of
slides used in the teaching of art history if not addressed
to the social transformations that produce changes in style and that
They contextualize the works. The narrative of progress is associated with the genius artist.
the individualist, strengthened by mass media such as literature or cinema (The
the red-haired crazy is a significant example.

The metanarrative of progress has also influenced the history of design.

Since the emergence of industry, sober and functional forms have been
tax on artisanal tradition, creating a homogeneity in the
most diverse products. While, the primary functions are attended to with
effectiveness, other human needs such as cultural ones are not addressed.

The variety of narratives on the same subject should not exclude culture or
dominant history, but rather to present it as another narrative. The sources of the
contents may come from non-expert individuals, but that offer
different perspectives. Thus, the people from a specific place will be a
possible source of information about a certain micro-story. Although this
it implies a diversity of curricula adapted to each circumstance, it does not
should fall into localisms that reduce the worldview. The contents
They must transcend the local by addressing plurality.

The relationship between power and knowledge must appear as content of

postmodern curriculum. According to Foucault, the most powerful groups and the
institutions determine the version of knowledge that should be transmitted,

60
directly influencing education and social control systems.
Even the creation of disciplines is a consequence of social changes,
for example, the history of art arises from a need for classification and
hierarchization of works of art, and criticism as a filter of production
artistic and "orientation" of the collector.

Architecture was the first field where the term postmodern was applied.
in opposition to modern architecture. The ideals developed by the
Bauhaus and Le Corbusier became, starting from 1945, in
representations of private power and symbols of dehumanization. The
clarity and harmony that modernity aimed for did not always imply the
satisfaction of needs.

Popular culture as different and inferior to high culture is a

consequence of modern artistic criticism and the exercise of its power. A
despite this, the popular has always been reflected in one way or another in
art. Crafts have also not been considered art based on
arbitrary foundations, such as the fact of not providing innovations or of
fulfill non-artistic functions.

Elitism, in short, is a consequence of this power-knowledge relationship.

Therefore, the postmodern teacher must offer a wide variety of
aesthetic constructions to the students, coming from the most diverse
fields: urbanism, tradition, craftsmanship, industrial design, fine arts...

Another consequence is the consideration of a superior culture and others.

marginalized. Non-Western cultures have been presented as
formal decoration, without being placed in their context.

Language is decisive in these social constructions, through the

speech exercised by the mechanisms of power. Propaganda, advertising
and censorship are the methods of control used. The associations of
adjectives assigned to certain groups are inserted through the media creating
false realities. The purely formal analyses of works of art do not
they question the social reality that produced it and its repercussions.

Deconstruction has spread to various fields such as criticism,

architecture and the visual arts. Its intention is to discover the conflicts that
they can hide appearances, so that they are brought to light
all possible interpretations. Its goal is not to reach conclusions,
but to avoid unilateral viewpoints.

The possible meaning of a work is not only what the artist intended.
give it, but it multiplies by as many viewers as perceive it.
Likewise, time and certain contexts will change its meaning.

The relationship between the deconstructive method and artistic creation can be
to find it in the media that use images for its manipulation,
giving them new contexts and meanings. Therefore, in artistic education
techniques such as photography, cinema or the
computers. Simulation, pastiche, seriality or repetition are
own to these methods.

61
 Postmodernity does not imply a rejection of the modern, but rather adds to it.
other possibilities, providing a double coding. The elements
properly modern ones are incorporated and manipulated freely generating
new meanings.

In the modern curriculum, postmodern concepts can be incorporated.

providing a critical perspective on the previous ones. Generally,
educational reforms often retain a large part of previous curricula,
so a postmodern renewal can be an addition to a curriculum
previously offering a new encoding. Both creative expression and
the principles of design are maintained in textbooks, so also
It makes sense to appropriate these approaches.

These are the four principles of the postmodern curriculum, the problem
it now lies in the way of application in the classroom. The plurality that it intends
this teaching can be seen as a crossing of representations
cultural, which is structured in the form of a collage or network. The curricula
modern ones are developed in a tree-like form, with some main concepts
from which others of lesser relevance arise. On the contrary, in the network
postmodern, concepts interrelate equally, producing a
greater complexity. The student is not offered a single path or interpretation
of knowledge but a series of narratives that aim to 'give meaning
to the experience.” Art, as a cultural product, does not reveal a single truth,
but reflects a context.

Art education should teach to discover conflicts. What is important is

knowing how to ask the questions that lead to uncovering diversity of
meanings and to debate them, question in what context a work was produced,
for whom it was made or if its meaning has changed over time. The idea
deconstruction is applied in the analysis of works of art, questioning
possible inconsistencies, comparing works by different authors that
they can propose similar concepts and then apply the ideas that emerged
to a practical work.

Critiques of education in postmodern art

In our understanding, the practical applications of the theories provided by

the authors are very focused on the debate and social questioning
that, while necessary, should not overlook the importance of creation
artistic as an expression of sensitivities with certain formal characteristics.
The examples of application of their theories that Efland proposes to us,
Freedman and Stuhr are relatively interesting, as they are experiences.
isolated ones that must have a continuity with others to form visions
more comprehensive of the artistic fact. Both the small stories and the
the conviction that a universal knowledge is impossible cannot make us falter
in localism or partiality. This can be, in our view, the greatest
risk in this sense.

One of the most interesting proposals that the authors present to us is that of
to unite modern concepts with postmodern visions, so that without
forget personal contents of visual creation, these are offered with a
reflective approach and providing a continuous debate.

62
 When presenting each educational content, it is necessary to consider whether it truly
is contributing something useful for the education of the individual in society
contemporary, to develop their critical spirit or enrich their
possibilities of knowledge and enjoyment. The incorporation of the principles
analyzed is essential for a contemporary artistic education, which
form individuals capable of enriching themselves with the art of our days and that
to learn to assimilate images in a critical and tolerant way, but also that
incorporates aesthetic experience as a specific means of knowledge.

Education and visual culture

One of the main consequences of postmodernity in education

artistic is the expansion of education in art to education in the
visual culture. Art has lost its boundaries, it is multidisciplinary and traverses
countless paths that merge with other areas of life. For
Hello, artistic education tends to be broader and more diverse than a
education in artistic procedures or analysis of works of art.

Fernando Hernández1In his text Education and Visual Culture, he raises all
these issues and their application in the classroom. Just like the authors of
education in postmodern art, critiquing the contents of education
artistic since they do not provide a critical and reflective analysis of the images. The
educational objectives should be aimed at understanding of the
reality in the broadest sense and not just deciphering the image as
language or to develop personal expressiveness.

The evolution of artistic education in Spain has always lagged behind.

compared to others. In this way, both the expressionist currents
how those influenced by DBAE have coexisted with schools still
academicists. The landscape in the transition of the centuries is not homogeneous and
these trends continue to be maintained along with new specific projects,
predominating, in any case, the development of skills and abilities
motors.

The conceptions on which the curriculum design is based more

generalized are based on the perception of images, a current that is
a direct consequence of modern art (understood in similar terms
the ones from Efland). These conceptions separate theory from practice and do not
they contextualize artistic values rather than being considered universal.

Artistic education for understanding, as the author calls it, assumes

an interpretation of the discourse, contextualizing artistic phenomena in
at all times. This implies a union of theory and practice, that is to say,
visual thinking and language. Everything is related, the genesis of a
object, its relationship with the artistic or cultural products.

The objective of this artistic education would be: 'to promote understanding of the
visual culture through learning interpretation strategies
to the objects (physical or media) that make up Visual Culture.2

1
HERNÁNDEZ, F.
2
Ibidem, p. 44.

63
 The student must know how to confront images by relating them.
with their context, evaluating them based on their belonging to a
determined culture or social circumstance. The greatest advantage of this
artistic education is its contribution to social constructivism, since
It raises the debate on the relationships of power and knowledge and shapes the individual in the
creation of your own society.

Art, unlike the modern concept that considers it to be only the

product of the artists that critics recognize, "is presented as
changing social construction in space, time, and culture, which today
it is reflected in institutions, the media, objects
artistic, the artists and the different types of audience.1We meet
before a concept much broader than the traditional one, so that the
artistic education must also be extended to any type of object although
has not been created with a purely artistic intention. Any form
it is a product of a cultural circumstance, therefore, it speaks of it. Furthermore
the perspective on that same form varies according to the contexts, so
it also speaks to us about the context from which one looks.

Art education must provide the strategies to decipher the

source of meanings, to orient oneself in the flood of images
what the current world offers and to confront them in a critical way.
It must, above all, teach to think, because thinking is building the world.

The understanding of processes and meanings of images is reached

for a critical reflection on historical, philosophical, and cultural traditions
that build visual culture. One should not rely on a superior aesthetic.
that gives the keys to interpreting the whole visual world, but rather that it should
starting from the circumstantial references.

Art education must provide an understanding of visual culture that

serves for the understanding of ourselves and our environment. In this
In a sense, we can say that this concept of education comes from art.
contemporary, which is also shown to be understood. The works
artistic expressions should not be presented as absolute values, but as
bridges to build small stories that help us get to know each other. Like this
we will find in artistic education an important instrument of
construction of individual and social consciousness.

Fernando Hernández harshly criticizes the current state of education.

Spanish artistic, from primary school to university, and makes proposals for
change. To do this, start by analyzing some psychological theories about
from the construction of knowledge:

Humans build knowledge based on the fact that

they live in contexts transformed by conceptions, actions and
artifacts produced by previous generations.2This conception,
The constructivist call argues that although the construction of
knowledge has a biological basis, it is mainly determined by
the historical and cultural context. Learning is an interactive process that
it depends on our way of being in the world.

1
Ibidem, p. 47.
2
Ibidem, p. 106.

64
 Human beings have the need to interpret the world and how
consequence, the meaning appears. In their search for an understanding
of the world, the student must find in education an interpretation of
its own reality, therefore, of the meanings that society has created.

Interpretation is an ongoing conversation with culture. The

constructivism coined by Piaget proposed stages of development
universals that today have been called into question (as we have already discussed
in the previous chapter). On the contrary, critical constructivism defends the
the idea that the mind not only accommodates what it knows but also creates
meaning of dialectical manner with the reality that is offered to it. The
knowledge, therefore, is an awareness of oneself in
relationship with others and education must provide strategies for the
construction of one's own identity in relation to representations
cultural and social.

Critical constructivism raises reflection on the origin of the

cultural constructions, about the interests or circumstances to which
respondents and how they affect behaviors and life in general. For
Hello, it is the interpretation that is the key to knowledge and for this reason, language is
center the constructions. The ways in which they build the
interpretative speeches are not universal either, so it is also
it is necessary to respond to them in a critical manner.

These theories affect the way in which it is supposed to develop the

intelligence. As Gardner defends and we explained in the previous chapter, in
currently it is considered that the individual can develop intelligences
multiple in different degrees, being able to stand out in some and not in others. In
In any case, the level of intelligence is no longer assessed according to some tests.
universal, but rather it depends more on the individual's capacity
to adapt to their specific circumstances.

Within artistic knowledge, as a fundamental part of knowledge

human, we can consider three interacting systems: the creation system,
the perception and the sensation. These three systems are inseparable
although it is yet to be investigated to what extent according to development.

Artistic knowledge is a capacity of the mind to manage

symbol systems. Thus, creation would be related to writing of
symbols; perception would relate to decoding and the
artistic professionalism with mastery of concepts. These three capacities
they are not innate, which implies a contradiction with the theories of
expressionism defended by Lowenfeld or Read. They are abilities that
they can be learned and therefore, they should form the basis of the curriculum of
art education.

On the other hand, it is necessary to take into account the research on the
development stages. Parsons' studies, based on a concept
of art very similar to that exposed in the first section of this chapter,
they propose five stages according to the degree of approach to the artistic fact,
that would start with simple favoritism or an empathetic relationship; it would continue
after the assessment of the beauty or realism of the work; subsequently
we would reach the experimentation of expression and, in further stages

65
 advanced, the appreciation of the style and form of the artistic object, to
to conclude with a true autonomy, which would imply a capacity of
contextualized assessment and even an interpretative innovation.

The proposal of consecutive stages has an excessively

linear, in accordance with a modern concept of art, that Parsons himself already
it is considered overcome. The development of artistic appreciation is a phenomenon
complex that depends on cultural and social circumstances in addition to the
individuals. This may lead to a greater predisposition towards some
artistic aspects of stadiums considered superior, while they have not
other previous ones have been developed.

Artistic learning, following constructivist cognitive psychology, is

a process in which symbolic constructions are made. In this process,
for understanding to occur, both the base knowledge intervenes
that the individual possesses, such as the strategies they use to learn and their
willingness to do it.

The author emphasizes the importance given to the process itself, as something open and
multidirectional, in the sense that it allows for very diverse interactions. The
The construction of meaning takes place, therefore, in a completely non-uniform manner.
according to the individuals and contexts. Accommodation, as Prawat calls it1,
from the knowledge of something new to the particular circumstance is more
important that the uniformity of the idea provided. Teaching must
bring up conflict situations where prior knowledge emerges and
the newcomers fit in accordingly.

These processes, as we say, are in line with the processes.

postmodern artistic, in which contexts and eclecticism make it that
the works should be open and susceptible to various interpretations.

Interpreting means to understand and explicitly manifest that

comprehension... is, therefore, deciphering. It involves breaking down an object (the
representation) in its production process, discover its coherence and grant
to the elements and the phases obtained, intentional meanings, without losing
never lose sight of the entirety of what is interpreted2Fernando Hernández
relate the interpretation in the artistic learning process with the
representation through symbols that the artist creates. The artist, says, starts from
personal experience, but this interacts with theories and external experiences,
that analyzes and personalizes. Each cultural creation is a response to something
previous and, in turn, a novel contribution.

All these conceptions about art, cognitive psychology and the

research on the development of artistic knowledge marks the
Hernández's proposals for learning visual culture.

1
Likewise, p. 125.
2
Ibid., p. 130.

66
The formation of visual thinking as the basis of artistic education

The term visual culture, as we already mentioned in a quote from Mirzoeff1,

covers not only expressly artistic manifestations but also any
human production that involves a form. Every form involves an environment.
implicit culture, an ideology and a social background, and its reception
it is also subjective and variable depending on individuals and contexts. The
the student must possess the keys of interpretation to approach the
critical knowledge of any visual manifestation.

Art itself is what leads us in this sense, as the works

tend to the multiplicity of interpretations, to the mixing of media and
cultures and the infiltration into the social fabric in a critical and reflective manner.

Art education should provide opportunities to identify

artistic processes with educational processes, so that the approach
the artistic works constitute a link with the understanding of oneself
environment. Artistic processes begin with the interaction of the artist with their
means, to produce a work that is a reflection of it and, at the same time, contributes a
new perspective. Artistic education should be a parallel process, that makes
understand the journey that led the artist to those conclusions, but
applied to the student's own circumstances and with a critical spirit.

To know art must be identified with knowing the processes of art, and these
with the social reality that artistic productions imply, both in their
genesis as in its influence. Art often offers a critical approach.
from an environment and its strategies can refer to others used in
the mass image broadcasting media, which directly affect
social habits and attitudes. Social constructionism, therefore, must be a
The foundational proposal of the artistic educator, who must provide perspectives.
deconstructive.

In our opinion, the interpretation of visual culture should be a

important foundation of artistic education, but understood not only
as understanding of this but also as construction, as creation
a person who reinterprets the world through aesthetic experience.

Teaching visual culture is also learning to create images, not just by

pleasure of creation, as in expressionist methods, nor by the
search for effective ways, such as how schools could pursue
formalists, but also questioning and reflecting on the very
creation, embedding it in a specific social reality.

The abundance and globalization of images make it necessary to

education of artistic thinking, not always transferable to a
rational and discursive thinking. Therefore, the understanding of culture
Visual must also be related to creation. There are visual processes.
that are not fully translatable into the language so the way of
to approach them is to be experienced, to subsequently reflect on them and
insert them into effective knowledge.

1
In section "I.4. The approach to contemporary art and the integral formation of
individual,” p. 48.

67
With these arguments, we can conclude:

The education of artistic thinking, based on the interpretation of the

(visual) culture and in the creation in interaction with it, allows for development
of a critical perceptive intelligence with reality, a capacity for
interpret the symbols of a culture, the creation of new forms such as
response to others that interact with the environment as well as enrichment
of the individual's sensations or emotional intelligence.

68
I.6. New objectives for artistic education

With these arguments, the ultimate goals that education should aim for
Artistic today is very different from what we find in the laws.
actual ones, or those proposed in other contexts different from the current one. If
we observe the theories of aesthetic education throughout history,
we can highlight that the pedagogical value of art has been understood
basically in two ways: as the main integrator of all the others
facets of personality or as a part, more or less important, of the
formation of the individual. This has caused, in the first case, some
brief experiences in isolated schools without continuity and, in the second
case, depending on the political landscapes, a greater or lesser
impact on educational curricula.

If we are realistic and observe today's society, we see that it is utopian.

talk about education through art. Now, the absence of training
aesthetic would mean wasting relevant educational potential. This
training is essential for a proper relationship with the environment that surrounds us
surrounds the being, as we have already mentioned, something inherent to the human being.
The lack of education towards the visual, and sensory in general, leads to a
acceptance of modes imposed by others, involving habits and attitudes
absent from freedom, as well as from a technological and materialistic life, whose
emotional aspects can be satisfied with globalized leisure activities.

We have already analyzed the importance of artistic education in training.

the integral of the individual, of their specific contribution to cognitive development.
Subsequently, we have reviewed the new theories of art education
based on the new artistic approaches and the new theories of
cognitive psychology. It remains now to establish in a more operational way the
purposes of an artistic education adapted to our current context.

The place that artistic education should occupy within education

generally, in our opinion, is an integral and essential part,
complementary to other disciplines, but with great capacity to gather and
to relate these. Their weight in scheduling issues in the curriculum
It is very variable depending on the political circumstances, but its importance
Education must be clear in aims of broad consensus.
1
to consider the importance of artistic education
According to Arnheim
within general education, one might wonder about the ultimate purpose of life,
which is nothing other than the full experience of this: "To perceive in all its fullness
what it means to truly love, to be interested in something, to understand,
to create, to discover, to yearn or to hope is, in itself, the supreme value of

1
ARNHEIM, R. (1993): Considerations on artistic education, Barcelona: Paidós, p.
48.

69
 life. Once this is understood, it is just as evident that art is the
evocation of life in all its fullness, purity, and intensity. Art, for
Thus, it is one of the most powerful tools we have for the
the realization of life. Denying this possibility to human beings is
certainly disinherit them.

When it comes to organizing these purposes to establish a curriculum, perhaps not

we should mark closed arguments, but rather establish axes or areas of
actions that will promote the construction of knowledge in rich environments
in experiences.
1
Thus, according to Fernando Hernández we could establish three axes:

• Understanding the notion of representation as interpretation,

to understand to what extent we are representations and how we
we relate to them.
• Interpretation of the discourses that arise from the linkage between the
representations, chain research.
• Critical subjectivity: the ability to deconstruct to reach a
awareness of being.

These three axes could be realized in some general objectives. Thus, the
goals that artistic education would pursue, in an attempt to apply our
previous proposals could be summarized as follows:

• Educating artistic thinking, understood as a way of

knowledge and the construction of specific meanings, which starts
from artistic experience that integrates perception, creation,
reflection and emotion.

• Develop the capacity for perception in order to interpret and

understand the world around us in a deconstructive way,
conscious and critical.

• Promote visual and artistic creation, contributing processes and

strategies that also allow for reflection and self-evaluation.

• Educate the experiences produced by the processes of perception and

creation, highlighting the link between them and their correspondence
with speeches that must be interpreted.

• Relate the representations of visual culture, and especially the

works of art, with the concepts, the processes, and the contexts that
they produce them.

• Promote the application of artistic thinking to everyday life

as a means of personal enrichment.

• Foster the development of one's own identity and its relationship with the
social and cultural representations.

1
Proposed in a work meeting at the Teacher Training Center of Seville, 2004.

70
• Develop the playful character of artistic education to facilitate
the need for expression and the enjoyment of the artistic experience.

• Raise awareness about appreciating the environment for its values

symbolic, aesthetic, social, and historical, whether it is about structures
natural or created.

• Contribute to an intercultural vision that is attentive to diversity, able to

decipher the processes and meanings of artistic manifestations
and cultural.

71
II. CONTEMPORARY ART AND MANDATORY SECONDARY EDUCATION

II.1. Contemporary art in Secondary Education.

The framework in which the application of our educational project is developed

is determined by the LOGSE approved in 1990, in which education
artistic and, specifically, visual is taught in the subject called
Plastic and Visual Education (EPV). Its place in the general curriculum has
gone through various changes since its creation, evolving from greater to
lower assessment and time slot. The obligation has been maintained in the
first courses, while it is optional in the fourth year of secondary school
mandatory.

In the courses where this project is situated, from 1998 to 2003, the
The subject is distributed as follows: one and a half hours per week.
in 1st year of ESO, one hour weekly in 2nd year of ESO, one and a half hours weekly in 3rd year
And three hours a week in 4th ESO. The first three courses have the
option to reduce the course to one semester and double the schedule hours.
Students would receive for half a course during the same time slot.
the subject of Music and during the other half, Visual Arts.

Artistic and visual training, in this way, is very much adjusted to

time and very regulated, with little flexibility for activities
extraordinary and little respect, in general, from the students and the
faculty meeting.

The causes of the depreciation of the material are largely due to the lack of
valuation by society of its utility within education
general of the individual. The objectives and contents of the subject carry
outdated educational trends that adapt poorly to the needs of
students. Both society and the teaching team outside of education
artistic have foundations to create an image of this playful and
recreational.

The expressionist approaches and, subsequently, art as a language

they provoked manipulative practices devoid of theoretical foundations and
reflexive. The 'free drawing' and effective design have formally endured
up to the present, turning some classes of plastic education into
construction of objects for aesthetic delight or entertainment.

Art education, like society, also seems to have taken

divergent paths of art. The contents and objectives of the subject
they only refer to the study of art, its processes, and its artists. No
we are referring to a history of art, but rather to a subject of education
artistic that, as its name indicates, focuses on artistic processes, in

72
 the contents that artists work with, in the methods they use,
in the works they produce and in their influence and relationship with society. A
from there, the subject could become an instrument of knowledge
of all the visual world that surrounds us, of interpretation of the
representations that shape it, as well as recreation and conscious enjoyment
of the same.

If the educational objectives of the subject are far from art and from the
social needs what do they respond to?

To address this issue, we will first analyze the legal framework.

in which this situation takes place. We will review the proposed objectives.
by law and some options for a more extended curriculum implementation in
our environment.

General objectives regarding artistic education in the LOGSE

Aesthetic education in Spain is one of the sections of the Law of

General Organization of the Educational System and is focused under the same
psychopedagogical guidance. It is mainly based on 'learning
significant.” As a overcoming of the technological system, based on theories
behaviorists, who previously dominated, César Coll defends the theory
constructivist. This proposes learning based on the student's ideas,
by presenting situations that lead him to build by himself
the same knowledge.

The aesthetic education in secondary school consists of two areas: music and
plastic and visual education. It is the latter that we are going to focus on:

• The LOGSE establishes guidelines or minimum teaching in the

Base Curriculum Design, which is specified at different levels:

• The autonomous administration designs the curriculum of

general aspects of the stage from 12 to 16 years, or Education
Compulsory Secondary Education, and the curricular design of the Education area
Visual and Plastic Arts (EPV).

• The educational center carries out the curriculum project of the center, which
includes the programming by centers, sequenced in units
didactics carried out by the Departments of Drawing and Arts
Plastics.

The general objectives developed by the Junta de Andalucía are

following:

1. Develop the ability to observe and perceive, as a means

to understand the formal structures that surround us,
stimulating sensitivity.

2. Use visual language as a form of expression-communication

individual and collective.

73
 3. Know and apply techniques and develop skills that enhance and
expand the expressive capacity.

4. Encourage disinhibition to enable greater capacity.

of expression.

5. Stimulate creativity.

6. Develop the ability for analysis, critical judgment, and self-criticism.

valuation of the aesthetic aspects in the manifestations
artistic, individual and collective from different eras.

7. Integrate the different languages.

8. Encourage the treatment of plastic expression through work

in a group, creating habits of cooperation and behavior
solidary.

These general objectives, as well as their specification in other more particular ones,
are directed towards three aspects of training: the acquisition of content, the
development of skills and procedures, the creation of new attitudes and
values.

Comparing these objectives with the purposes proposed in the previous section,
we can make some objections:

Both perception and creation are capabilities to be developed greatly.

importance in artistic education. We could consider that they are the
activities more typical of artists. However, the approach proposed
The Logse is more in line with the manipulation of the elements of the image.
to achieve visual communication and with the free development of
expression, which is identified with artistic processes as a means
of specific and alternative knowledge to logical rational knowledge. The
Compulsory Secondary Education is focused on reading and production of
images following the tradition of some Bauhaus artists such as
Kandinsky or Albers or authors of an analytical-conceptual tendency such as
Dondis does not take into account the proposals that point towards the
understanding of the meanings that derive from artistic knowledge.

Not only is art mentioned as an argument, but also in a

more pragmatic search of the subject, the contents are derived towards
the applications of the image world (design, advertising, expression
playful...). The objectives do not clarify the importance of development of
artistic thinking as a way of understanding and creation of
meanings, nor the understanding of images as a result of the
processes and the interaction with the contexts.

We do not intend for artistic training to be just knowledge of art in

a reduced sense of knowing works or authors, since the world of the
the image is immensely broader today. Well, the processes of
image creation is the same in art, in advertising or in
design in terms of techniques or methods refers, with the difference that the
artistic processes do not seek the resolution of a physical need or
commercial, but they propose meanings. This is, educationally, a

74
 first-order reference that, in our opinion, must be above the
others.

All images or sensory constructions carry a burden.

cultural and, therefore, full of meanings, but the artistic ones pursue this
connotation as the main objective. Artistic processes must mark,
for this, the guidelines for the design of the art education curriculum.

Contemporary art in the curriculum design of visual arts education

The basic curricular design establishes a sequencing of contents.

divided into two cycles: 12-14 years and 14-16 years and, in turn, each cycle into two
courses. The basic objectives of the area focus on three aspects
fundamentals: first 'learn to see' with sensitivity and critical judgment,
according to 'learning to do', creating original and appropriate images
elaborated, and third a "sensitive analysis" of works and images.

The contents are also organized into five core areas:

• Visual communication
• The visual language and its relationships
• Shape and volume
• Analysis of artistic and aesthetic values in the image and in the works
of art
• Integrated languages

Although all these contents are related to art, we can

to say that only one of the five mentions it directly, which is
consistent with the conception of art as a language to which the law responds.
We consider that, although this aspect of art is important, it is not the
unique, and an overvaluation leads to a pragmatism close to
technological. This may lead us to eliminate one of the components most
important aspects of art for education, its integrative character, to unite
reason and emotion, individuality and social behavior.

We thus have a path for the development of the curricular design of the
subject of Plastic and Visual Education, in which the approach to art
contemporary depends more on the particular interest of the teaching staff than on a
clearly marked general objective. The analysis of works of art that
indicates that among the five content cores, it can focus on any
time and not necessarily in the present and generally it materializes in a
single thematic unit. The approach to art is understood as an end, not
as a path to reach multiple educational destinations.

When designing and sequencing the content, the Arts department

Plastic and Visual Arts may or may not take into account the manifestations
closest artistic. You can, if you wish, approach art.
contemporary as a specific objective to dedicate a teaching unit to
or an extracurricular activity.

75
The most common thing is that a student’s approach to art
contemporary does not stem from curricular objectives, but from experiences
isolated. Thus, the appreciation of recent works of art that pose
current representation problems usually only occur during visits to
some exhibition or in the illustrations of a textbook.

Visits to exhibitions are an important educational tool, but

depending on the contexts, they can be difficult to organize and, therefore,
very scarce. The centralization of culture in cities makes it so that the
distances can be a problem, as well as the economic level of
students. Art is still considered a luxury and contemporary art, a
elitism, so the interests of extracurricular activities are not usually
drive him.

The use of images from art is becoming increasingly common.

contemporary in textbooks, but illustrating other content and not
as the center of an analysis. On very rare occasions, the assessments of the
works are accompanied by a pedagogical reflection that leads to
debate on artistic processes.

76
II.2. The context of secondary education and its relationship with contemporary art

Adolescence

Once the purposes of aesthetic education are defined and justified,

importance in personality development, we must specify the stage to
the one we aim to apply such purposes, adolescence.

Around the age of eleven, logical thinking is acquired and begins

one of the most defining stages of personality. It is the time of most
decision making, as the individual becomes aware of the different
facets that make up their being and can cultivate some and abandon others.

Adolescence is a stage of transition not only physical but also

psychological. It can be said that as we know it now, it only exists
for a few decades now, as previously the transition from child to adult was
more abrupt, forced by social circumstances. Nowadays, it is delayed
increasingly the separation of the family and the values, ways and
habits of adolescents, which makes this stage more important.

Furthermore, the teenager may feel frustrated in one of their main...

fines, the one of acquiring a personal identity, making choices that affect their
lifestyle. The increasingly prolonged schooling and the difficulty to
becoming financially independent often poses obstacles to achieving it.
Mature, the young person can have a social role as an adult. The obligation of
studies are, at times, a head-on collision with certain desires of the
teenager.

We must also not fall into overvaluation, highlighting only their

aspects of turbulence and rebellion. It is a time with certain problems
specific but connected to the evolutionary history of each subject and to the
characteristics of their environment.

In this sense, secondary education offers a different environment from

family nucleus, where different relationships will be established. The
social modes of gangs, the emotional dependencies on success or the
acquisition of new habits are new interests that can be felt
as more urgent. Education must therefore be very motivating and with
very clear purposes, something quite difficult to achieve.

The student, at this age, demands a more exaggerated pragmatism, since

aims to see education as a means to achieve a specific end, the
introduction to the working world.

77
The relationship of the teenager with art and society

Due to the above factors, the current trend is to appreciate the

subjects related to Drawing only if it is believed that one has talent
for that. Moreover, even so, art often appears as something distant, very
of elite and not related to classroom activities. "In other stages
previously, the child attempted drawing or painting without any inhibition, but
now that he has lost that ability, he has become very aware of his
acts. It is a truly critical period in its evolution: it has not developed a
objective analysis aware of their actions, but at the same time feels
insecure in his childish approach to art.1

Eisner's appreciation is interesting.2reflects on the loss of

spontaneity and expressiveness in children as they approach the
adolescence, thinks that children draw what they know and what they imagine,
but at a certain point, and always speaking of Western culture,
they consider storytelling and mimicry to be more important, in such a way that
they frustrate in case they do not achieve them. A good artistic education must
to be based on other achievements so that this does not happen.

Gardner also analyzes this phenomenon and comments: '...in adolescence,

a new synthesis can be produced: the young person then unites their ability
technique with a more personal vision, as the works of art are
they sometimes convert to express -in an appropriate symbolic system to the
young - the important needs, desires, and anxieties. When
this kind of productive union can occur, it is likely that the young person will
feel committed and continue with your artistic occupations. But when
(for any personal or technical reason) such cannot be carried out
fusion, it is much less likely that the young person will continue to be involved in the
art, at least as a producer.3

We are thus facing a crucial age for art to become a useful tool.
complement to the integral formation of the individual or becomes something
casual and foreign.

Anecdotally and prior to this study, in a survey

4
conducted with students aged 14-15 at the beginning of the school year we were able to highlight
the following:

• The concept that the students had of art was based on,
mainly, in: beauty, the ability to reproduce reality, the
difficulty, the ability to express feelings, imagination.
• They know very few painters and almost none from the 20th century. Picasso is the
the only exception, although few know his work or realize that he belongs
to the twentieth century.

• Very few have visited museums and almost none, an art gallery.

1
LOWENFELD, V. / BRITTAIN, W.L. (1977): Development of Creative Ability
Buenos Aires: Kapelusz, p. 264.
2
EISNER, E.W. (2004): The Art and Creation of the Mind, Barcelona: Paidós.
3
GARDNER, H. (1994): Artistic education and human development, Barcelona: Paidós, p. 44.
4
Students of the Beatriz de Suabia Professional Training Institute, Seville, course 1996-97.

78
 • The opinion of contemporary art is one of ignorance and also, to a great extent,
measure of rejection.

After an educational visit to an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois1the opinion

these same students varied greatly: they began to excel,
above all, the ability to express and communicate through art and to reflect a
culture or an ideology, ahead of the idea of beauty or skill
manual. His comments surprised by the accurate capture of some
meanings, not in accord with the opinions that had been manifested in the
beginning of course survey.

This shows us how easily variable prejudices are.

adolescents towards art, as they probably reproduce patterns
acquired in their family environment, but have never been considered.
Taking advantage of this age in which their opinions are formed is fundamental, as
that at more mature ages their prejudices become consolidated and the debate
it is more complicated.

On the other hand, there is a great division between what they consider 'art of
museums, artists and galleries” and the art that can come through the media
of communication: advertising, television, cinema, design, etc. It is important that
education reveals that all these means are nothing more than
facets of the same thing, visual culture, which are closely related
with each other and with everyday life.

Based on these observations, we proposed a study about

concept of art for students of this age and about their receptivity
towards contemporary art. With this, we could raise what would be the
ideal methodology for approaching these topics.

The adolescent and the educational system

In addition to the adolescent's personality and attitude toward art,

we must analyze the concrete characteristics that it usually has now
high school students. The difficulties of bringing contemporary art to the
education is combined with those specific to the subjects related to the
drawing.

In an analysis conducted by F.G. Montes2about the operational profile of

ESO student distinguishes, first of all, four groups of students: a
a very troublesome minority group of students, with little motivation and
training; a second group of students with low education and self-esteem,
which can be numerous in certain contexts, its motivation is irregular and,
in artistic themes, very low; the third group tends to be the largest,
formed by students who usually do not have much interest, as they do not consider
the subject is useful, but they do intend to pass and have possibilities for progress;
the fourth group corresponds to the minority of motivated students, with good
training and results.

1
Louise Bourgeois, Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art, Maestranza rooms, 1996,
Seville.
2
MONTES, F.G. (1996): "Analysis of the operational profile of the ESO student." Proceedings of the III
Drawing Teachers Symposium, Teachers' Center of Seville.

79
The fact that the vast majority is not aware of the subject of
EPV is a reflection of the role that aesthetic education occupies in our
society and the poor adaptation of it to social reality. Not
is considered professionally useful and is not even thought to be studied.

In relation to contemporary art, students tend to view it poorly.

quality is everything that moves away from naturalism and technical virtuosity. The
current artists are considered extravagant beings and, in a way,
scammers.

Often, it is in the first year of secondary education when for the first time (and
whenever it involves a professional sensitized to art
contemporary) attempts to put an end to these prejudices. Because it does not
there is a specialty in plastic arts in the studies of Sciences of
Education, primary school students usually do not receive a
education infused with current artistic concerns.

In any case, the 12-year-old student does not have ideas about art.
so rooted as a few years later. We still have time, therefore, to
create a favorable climate throughout the entire secondary school.

It is essential that contemporary art be something everyday, in images and in

references with all the contents and activities of the E.P.V. subject.
so that it is not perceived as something distant from the interests of society and,
above all, to contribute to the construction of knowledge in the
way that only artistic processes can do it.

All these characteristics must be taken into account when preparing

the curriculum design, which we intend to develop a method
complementary pedagogical to the curriculum in such a way that we can contribute to the
motivations and the appropriate means to promote knowledge of art
contemporary.

80
III. PROPOSAL CURRICULAR DE APPROACH AL ART
CONTEMPORARY IN THE E.P.V.

III.1. Precedents

At the moment this project is being carried out in the classroom, there is no
they know similar precedents. Activities related to the
promotion of contemporary art in Andalusian high schools, as we have already
Commented, they often start from the personal interest of the teaching staff, which is why
they generally consist of occasional visits to exhibitions, mounting of
students' work or experiences during the Cultural Week of the center.

There are also some working groups, such as IDAC (didactic initiatives
of contemporary art), sponsored by the Ceps (Training centers of
teaching staff) that usually do not have enough impact to
coordinate institutions and disseminate their projects.

The Department of Culture also implemented the project 'Painters in '

the Classroom,” with very satisfactory although very partial results. It consisted of
basically in coordinating several centers in which, throughout a course,
similar activities were carried out aimed at bringing art closer
contemporary and with the support of painters who entered the classrooms.

The Contemporary Art Center of Andalusia does not have, at that moment,
a pedagogical cabinet, but the same staff that the police and
preserves, specifically develops educational materials that serve as
support for educational centers, especially during visits to exhibitions
organized by them.

The European Union published the bulletin Europaei Artis Amatores, which aimed to
put in touch with the European professionals concerned about this issue.
Your organization was part of the Socrates program. The University of
Seville is one of the collaborating entities, but, like in cases
previously, the main problem is the lack of continuity.

However, there are two studies that coincide in some aspects with the one that
here we present. On one hand, a study on the evolution of the
understanding and approach to the individual's art, carried out by Parsons1
that, although it is not focused on contemporary art, is also a
attempt to analyze the changes in the appreciation of the artistic work.

1
PARSONS, M.J. (2002): How we understand art: a cognitive-evolutionary perspective of the
Aesthetic experience, Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.

81
 On the other hand, there is a pedagogical experience that also aims to
apply artistic processes with significant support from works of art.
It is the method used by Hurwitz and Wilson.1for the teaching of drawing.
Although we disagree on many aspects of this method, we also
we can find some similarities.

Parsons' studies

The studies of Parsons2about the knowledge of art consists

basically in the analysis of the different phases that one usually goes through
individual in their gradual approach and knowledge of art. Leaning on
In the principles of cognitive developmental psychology, it determines certain groups.
of ideas about what to expect to find in a work of art and observe
how these ideas change little by little.

The concept of art on which he bases his theories is very similar to the one here.
proposed, as it takes into account both individual expression and the
social construction. Furthermore, it understands artistic creation as an act
cognitive and not just affective, allowing for reasonable judgments to be established
objectives.

The aspects or ideas about art that Parsons analyzes are four: the theme, the
expression, style, and judgment. In our study, however, we highlight
six aspects: the aesthetic or formal ones, which could be related to the style;
the expression, also highlighted by Parsons; the concept, related to the
theme; the procedures, also related to the style but in a
different meaning; the context, taken into account in what Parsons calls the
judgment or criticism; and inquiry or innovation, which is the most focused aspect.
in the contemporary and that does not appear in Parsons' study.

According to the author, in the approach to art, we can evolve in five

phases:
• In principle, favoritism would prevail. It is the most spontaneous phase and
subjective, the personal opinion is not contextualized but rather
create a direct empathy with the work.

• A second phase takes into account the aesthetic qualities of the work.
and its adjustment to reality, the reference of other opinions is sought and
greater objectivity is attempted. The topic becomes more important,
but good is associated with beautiful.

• In the third phase, the viewer seeks more the experience and the
interpretation of the meaning associated with the expression. The following are valued
works for their expressive capacity or their content, although not
respond to a traditional beauty standard.

1
WILSON, B., HURWITZ, A. and WILSON, M. (2004): The teaching of drawing based on
art, Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.
2
PARSONS, M.J. (2002): How we understand art: a cognitive-evolutionary perspective of the
aesthetic experience, Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.

82
 • In a fourth phase, reasoned value judgments can be issued, with
greater attention to style and aesthetic qualities. They seek the
historical references and the arguments that produced the work.

• The fifth phase corresponds to a capacity to experience the

work of art with full awareness, questioning and debating the
own experience.

Although there are many similarities, the background is basically different.

Parsons understands an evolution towards a critical and analytical understanding of
art, towards historical, contextual and procedural knowledge
used, that allow the individual to make critical judgments and interpret the
works. However, in our project we advocate for an approach to art
as a useful experience for everyday life from the very beginning.
We do not consider an advanced knowledge of the fact to be necessary.
artistic to enjoy it, but what we propose is a change of attitude.
before him.

The students to whom we have applied our educational project may

they adjusted to phases two and three of Parsons, but we have tried to
our debates that from the beginning question the very experience and the
contextualize, something that the author leaves for the final phases.

The method of Wilson and Hurwitz

In his text The teaching of drawing based on art1,the authors propose

a methodology similar to ours: to use the approach to the works of
art as a didactic strategy in artistic education; aiming to
this has a dual purpose, that of developing the understanding of works of art
and that of developing the faculties of drawing and graphic creation.

First of all, the authors argue for the importance of drawing in the
cognitive development. Children draw for various reasons such as
fun or the need for expression, but the fundamental aspect of drawing in the
pedagogical sense is its ability to stimulate certain cognitive processes:
"School drawing activities should be oriented towards the acquisition
of a knowledge and a capacity for comprehension specifically visual,
imbued with sensitive and aesthetic qualities.2The contributions that
can teach drawing in relation to worldviews and its
recreations are so important that they must be included in the
school programs.

The approach that seems most interesting to us about this methodology is

precisely the conviction that everything that can be taught in the
artistic education is present in the work of artists. Therefore, for
to assist in the construction and use of symbols through drawing, what better
reference that the art itself.

The drawing specifically contributes to our construction of the world.

as valid as the sciences or literature. Both creation and
1
WILSON, B., HURWITZ, A. and WILSON, M. (2004): Teaching drawing from the
art,Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.
2
Ibid, p. 16.

83
the analysis of the images offers an understanding of reality with a
particular structure, different from other symbolic systems like language
or mathematics. Its learning depends on several factors, from the
innate tendency towards simplification, towards the integral development of the individual, the
culture, the skills that are cultivated or even the motivation. To promote
some of these factors, the contribution of art is essential.

Although there is a stage-based evolutionary development, the authors believe that

these are not marked, as there are many and different according to individuals and
that sometimes jumps can occur. The purpose of these stages is not
necessarily the mastery of realistic drawing, this is just an option. All
creation is based on prior knowledge or experience, so
knowing other ways of building helps a faster evolution. The
creativity is not limited by this reason, but rather the opposite, since
that the absence of knowledge of other ways to form images
it provokes predictability in creations.

We share with the authors the idea that what is crucial is not that the students
they copy the works of the artists, but rather learn from the process followed by
they then, subsequently, arrive at more personal constructions.
Precisely for that reason, we disagree with some educational proposals that have
carried out.

We believe that some activities lack reflection.

deconstructive that associates the way the artist constructs an image
with a very circumstantial way of understanding the world. Thus, for example, upon
taking Perugino as a reference to understand perspective, is not provided
a debate on the ideological implications of a single point of view,
or its relationship with photography and choice of framing as fragmentation of
reality.

Sometimes, the proposed activities follow the styles very literally.

of the authors. Although it is argued that this increases the graphic repertoire of
students, we believe that the visual influence is already sufficient and that if the
exercises would focus more on the inquiry process than on the style,
learning could lead to more individualized outcomes.

Sometimes there is no direct connection between what has been learned and circumstances.
particular details of the student, so that they can observe an application to
its close environment, as more emphasis is placed on developing skills than on
provide a constructive reflection. Our commitment to art
contemporary, although it does not exclude references to other eras, is based on
specifically in the themes and processes of creation of the artists
contemporaries are closer to the world of students.

84
III.2. Objectives of the educational project

Once the importance of contemporary art in education has been argued

secondary and analyzed its situation, our main objective is to design a
suitable pedagogical method to promote this approach.

Extraordinarily organized educational projects, such as visits

specific exhibitions or center projects never reach the entirety
of the students nor create habits. They also require greater effort from
teaching staff and better means than usual. We consider it more effective.
to design a contribution of contemporary art to the curriculum in a way
continued. To that end, we intend to review the objectives and contents of the
subject of E.P.V., which is the only mandatory one in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades of
E.S.O. taught by professionals in plastic expression, and propose a
series of relationships of these objectives with art.

Firstly, we will analyze the objectives and contents in a general way,

to establish the relationship with contemporary art in a global way.
In the development of the thematic units, we will address the objectives of
sequenced manner.

The curricular designs proposed by the LOGSE are organized into groups.
of conceptual, procedural, and attitudinal objectives. Our intention
it's not just about adding complementary objectives, but making it clear that art
it is the basis and reference of the subject, so there must be a
identification between the objectives of the subject and those of art.

Conceptual objectives

The contents of the subject of plastic and visual education are

centered on the knowledge of the image in a global way, including
both the understanding of natural and created images and within
the created, with all kinds of function. Art itself constitutes only a
separated within the world of created images, but the concepts that
they debate affects the entirety of the images that an individual
can see, nothing escapes its nature. The formal characteristics, the
visual language, the perception of the environment, the aesthetics in design,
Iconography, etcetera, always has a reference in art. Any
image professional, must also be one in contemporary art. The
the conceptual objectives of this subject do not differ, therefore, from the
contents addressed by contemporary art.

85
Procedural objectives

The subject of Plastic and Visual Education is perhaps the most focused on
procedural objectives. All manufacturing procedures of
images are also artistic procedures, which leads us to identify
practically the procedural objectives of this subject with them. The
art is, furthermore, a sector of human knowledge that uses the
procedure as expression and reflection, unifying ends and means.
The avalanche of new technologies in the world of imaging cannot be
assimilated without reflection, which can always be aided by vision
of the artists.

Attitudinal objectives

The attitudinal objectives are the ones that will be most addressed in our
project, since the most significant deficiency we found in the
secondary school students and society in general is the prior rejection and the
negative attitude towards the unknown that arises in the presence of the work of art
actual. We intend that one does not feel strangeness when facing a work,
but rather an open and tolerant attitude allows experiencing the artistic as
close and use this experience in other facets of life.

General objectives to bring contemporary art closer

To carry out our work, we are going to draft some objectives.

complementary general to those established by the Logse for
subsequently to specify them by thematic units and develop them throughout
of the entire compulsory secondary education.

The objectives are focused on those we have considered approaches.

that allow us to approach contemporary art and that were
developed in section I.2. These will be distributed in a way
sequentially throughout the four years of secondary school, but in such a way
so that in all courses they are addressed in one way or another.

The main objective, according to our definition of art1, it would be:

• Understanding art as an interactive process between individual, artist and

context that is established through the work and allows both the
emotion like reflection, influenced by the concerns of a
environment.

Followed by these other six, related to the six axes on which we have
based on our concept of art2:

• Interpret the different aesthetic values, not always in accordance with the
beauty ideals imposed by the media, tradition, or sectors

1
Section "I.1. A definition of art as a process", p. 12.
2
Section "I.2. Approaches that can serve as a basis for an approach to art"
contemporary”, p. 20.

86
 of society, understanding them as a representation of ideologies and
attitudes that can be decoded.

• Assess the capacity of contemporary art for emotional expression

and its play possibilities, as well as the stimulation of the feeling
aesthetic, but linked to a reflection that allows for the interpretation of
these expressions.

• Understanding artistic works as an open process, with

formal, expressive, and cognitive values related to their
environment, without prejudice and without overvaluing techniques and skills.

• Understanding art as a method of knowledge that leads to the

reflection on human concerns, in which the construction
meanings are established through creation, perception and
reflection on works and their processes.

• Understanding the values of art as something versatile, different in

different times, related to their period, as they are its reflection
and at the same time influence him, but with the possibility of being appreciated for
different ways according to individuals and contexts.

• Experience the contemplation and reflection that the works provide.

artistic, valuing their innovative character as a consequence of
an inquiry and a process in accordance with a context.

With all this, the following social goals could be achieved:

• Create an environment of respect and understanding towards the works

current artistic practices, through the understanding of the processes that
they produce.

• Break the closed circle formed between the market, the work of art, and the elite
cultural, through bringing the work closer to everyday reality.

• Develop a sensitivity towards the everyday forms created,

paying attention and imagination to the design of interior objects and
outdoors and understanding the mechanisms of power that are articulated
after the fashions.

• Create a sensitivity also towards everyday natural forms

to understand ecology as a relationship of man with the
medium that surrounds it through aesthetic sensitivity.

• Allow a pluralistic and critical view of information and aesthetics

perceived by the mass media .

• Ultimately contribute to the development of a more tolerant individual and

more informed about their own society.

87
III.3. Methodology

With the LOGSE, compulsory education was extended to sixteen years of age.
which means we are faced with a double opportunity: the opportunity to take advantage of the
age of adolescence, which is when most are formed the
cultural concerns of the individual, and that of carrying to the whole of the
population teaching under the guidance of a specialist. The approach to art
actual cannot be carried out occasionally or sporadically, but
there must be time for the interaction to occur and be assimilated
the ideas critically and effectively. According to Gardner, art belongs to the
realm of human use of symbols, for this reason, it says: "If one wants to enhance the
the artistic comprehension of an individual, the most plausible trajectory is
involve him deeply, over a significant period of time, in the
symbolic domain in question, encourage him to interact regularly
with individuals who are a little more (and not much more) sophisticated than
he is, and provide him with ample opportunities to reflect on his
emerging understanding of the domain.1

Contextualized reflection

Until very recently, art teaching has been based on study.

history of movements and artists, trying to classify styles, dates and
works. With the most current art, this is almost impossible due to the lack of
historical perspective. Furthermore, today there is an insistence on a review.
deconstructive of the entire history of art, following the crisis of structuralism.
Following this budget, art education must be based on the
raising doubts and relationships between the works and their environment,
provoking a contextualized reflection, forming a network of
multiple connections to the mode proposed by Efland2.

Likewise, this spirit of open and diverse teaching is observed in

some new European currents. In France, Gilbert Pelissier3, inspector
general education, referring to the didactics of contemporary art,
it comments that 'art is meant to disturb, not to provide security', and this
it is the way to create true miscegenation and mutual tolerance.

This methodology helps to highlight the connection between the work.

of art and all the social aspects of the individual. The integrating capacity
The art is the main value that can serve teaching. Eisner tells us

1
GARDNER, H. (1994): Artistic education and human development, Barcelona: Paidós, p. 42.
2
Chapter 'I.3. Teaching in Postmodern Art'.
3
PELISSIER, G. (1995): "Plastic arts and mestizo culture". In Europeai Artis Amatoris.
Brussels, p. 5.

88
 comment that qualitative intelligence, which is used in creation
artistic, "it is used in the broadest spectrum of activities in life."1

Art education must contribute to the development of this type of

intelligence, reflecting the processes that artists follow, promoting the
debate and interaction with environments and situations. In addition,
promoting multidisciplinary techniques that allow for different types of
thought and artistic language. It is the processes that our
education should value more than craftsmanship, virtuosity, or the product
resultant. The latter would lead us again to exalt tradition and create the
competition, when the aim is the valuation of all the
processes, highlighting their affinities and inequalities, to create a
environment of acceptance and tolerance.

The main pillar of our methodology consists in expanding knowledge.

and enjoy contemporary art through the experimentation of the
processes, the concerns of artists and the emotion and intention of the
works. For this, we do not intend for the student to master the knowledge of
dates, authors and titles, but that you know the context, the precedents and,
above all, the process, and know what should be raised and how it can capture the
work of art. In this way, we will carry out an itinerary through art
contemporary, which leads us to understand the main keys of this and
Let's ensure that these are addressed in one way or another in all courses.
keys.

We will establish, in any case, some more concrete lines that can
adapt to the curricular designs of secondary education. The first
cycle can focus more on Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and
First Vanguardias, while the second cycle can cover from
from 1945, without forgetting the approach to the nearest present. This
the distribution should not be too strict, since, we repeat, what is important will be that the
student participates in the concerns that drive artistic trends.
The particular circumstances of each center will determine the opportunity.
to address one topic or another: an exhibition in a nearby place or an environment
concrete culture can be determining in this sense.

The previously developed concept of art implies a methodology.

based on criticism and understanding of processes, relating everything
moment the contents and procedures of the thematic units with
the artistic movements, fostering a positive attitude towards them.

The teachers' performance to achieve the proposed objectives must

be based on all the circumstances that intervene in the
teaching-learning process. To do this, we will start from the concepts and
opinions that the student has about contemporary art and the idea
of art in general, as well as the influence of the opinion of the family environment and
social, impacting the six aspects already mentioned.

With the established objectives, the most important thing is to create an environment
participatory where debate and fluid communication are the main focus
a means of analysis, reflection, and the grasping of new ideas.

1
EISNER, E.W. (1995): Educating Artistic Vision., Barcelona: Paidós, p. 100.

89
 Each thematic unit of the EPV area will relate to movements.
artistic and specific artists that serve as a reference for the resolution
of the contents of the unit and, at the same time, contribute to achieving the
concrete objectives related to the approach to contemporary art.
this way, research through an activity can lead to
understand the process that the artist followed to create their work.

This identification of processes will also help improve self-esteem,

checking the student on how they can come to similar conclusions, although
go to another level, to those that artists have reached. Each activity,
In addition, it must be accompanied by a critical reflection on its objective and its
result.

We will take into account, in this way, some methodological guidelines that
we will try to describe below.

The observation and analysis of contemporary works

To achieve a continuous relationship, the flow of images is essential.

of artistic contributions. This implies a great variety of resources that
they can be solved with slides, books, web pages, and, above all,
color photocopies. The sheet or reproduction on paper allows for a
individualized observation at the moment of the process in which the student
I needed it.

The continuous provision of images without exhausting the time of the

sessions or classes can be resolved with these color photocopies in such a way
that they remain pinned to the board or the boards while the
students carry out the activities. To avoid excessive influence it is
it is advisable that the exhibited works do not formally resemble the
proposed activities, but conceptually.

Gardner already defends this methodology as a possibility: 'In my opinion,

it is in the course of working on their own projects that one must
introduce students in a gradual and sensitive way to the aspects
rotational and formal aspects of artistic analysis... in the production of variations
on a topic, you can find other variations of interest carried out
by the master artists.1

The appropriate time to discuss the images will depend on the unity.
theme, but basically it will be introduced at the same time as the contents of
Theme will continue when conflicts arise during activities.

The selection criteria for the works and the authors will be the following:

• Since the main goal is the approach to the processes and not the
knowledge of the History of Art, a matter that pertains to another
subject, the works that best fit will be selected
contents of the thematic unit and the objectives of approaching art
contemporary.

1
GARDNER, H. (1994): Artistic education and human development, Barcelona: Ed. Paidós, p.
77.

90
 • The concerns of the main movements will be addressed.
artistic, but this will not prevent some relevant authors from being excluded.
treaties. We cannot overwhelm the student with names when what we
What is interesting is that one identifies with the processes.

• The selected authors must respond to an artistic landscape.

multiple and pluralistic, without falling into localisms but valuing intervention
in him of the authors of our Andalusian environment. In this way,
we will try to choose authors who are closer when they show concerns
and proposals similar to those scheduled.

Questions about the works

The best way to understand a work is by raising questions without

complexes, starting from the student's prior ideas and developing a
deconstructive discourse. The mere description of the image can serve as
starting point to begin a debate.

The images provided in this project have been extracted in their

majority of official websites, museums or institutions that offer
additional information and allow printing or viewing on the computer. The
printed image and "pinned" on the board is often a good resource for
to approach her at the necessary moment during the development of the unit
didactics.

The issues should be raised according to the objectives proposed in each

unity and, above all, according to the preferred objective related to art
contemporary. In this way, at times greater emphasis will be placed on aspects
formal, aesthetic qualities or techniques, others in the iconographic or
conceptual and others in the contextual or social.

The issues raised must be suggested by the debate itself, without

arrive at premature answers that do not link to their own
questions. At the same time, they must lead to the treatment of the objectives.

In the proposed project, some issues have been developed that can
to be interesting. They are not the only possible ones and some are almost answers,
therefore they should not be carried out until there is a budding interest from
students. They should be understood only as ideas that may prove useful,
but the specific questions we need to ask will be those that arise from
spontaneously when talking about the displayed works.

To meet our objectives regarding the debate on a content

In general regarding contemporary art, we must keep in mind at all times
moment, where we want to lead the conversation, to which elements
we want the student to pay attention. Although other doubts may arise and
other topics, we must not lose sight of the set goal.

However, what matters is to reach the questions, not to give the answers.
These are not unique, they can even be contradictory. Each student as
the individual must develop their opinions or open their paths and their doubts. The

91
 the goal is not to reach uniform conclusions, but to promote strategies
deconstructive of the discourses that represent the images.

Sometimes, it is important to start from short stories, to observe how values

change when the environment changes. The knowledge of other cultures makes it so that they
have other references when judging and doubt the truths
universals or pre-established.

Apart from all the questions we may raise, the most important
it will always be about involving the student in the artistic experience, of
enjoy the gaze. According to Arnheim1, "whenever the debate has the clear
intention to intensify the experience and understanding of art... such debate
should start from what can be seen in a concrete work, seen, of
fact, in the concrete sense of the expression that conveys the composition.

Approach to processes similar to those followed by artists

Each thematic unit of the area of EPV will be related to movements.

artistic and specific artists that serve as a reference for the resolution
of the unit's contents and, at the same time, contribute to achieving the
concrete objectives regarding the approach to contemporary art.
this way, research through an activity can lead to
understand the process that the artist followed to create their work.

The contribution of images must be controlled with caution, as it can

produce negative effects. Sometimes, the student unconsciously copies the
offered ideas. This is positive if you have managed to synthesize them with your own.
ones, but it can obscure it and not know how to investigate other paths.

Therefore, the proposed activity should never involve copying the works,
It's not about reproducing techniques or formal solutions, but about reflecting.
about the circumstances that produced them. It is advisable that the
activity or process proposed to the student differs formally from
created by the artist and only conceptually coincides.

Drawing as a method for understanding artistic processes

It is at this moment when the importance of drawing will be highlighted as

method of reflection, research and analysis. Both the final drawing and
the sketches or tests that have led to them are important, since
that the idea develops through a journey and not just from the final point.

The importance of the sketch is crucial in this methodology, as the student

is used to easy and quick results without being aware of the
preliminary work that requires any plastic artwork. Observe the tests, trials
and corrections from the artists before creating final works ago
understand and appreciate the results even more.

1
ARNHEIM, R. (1993): Considerations on artistic education, Barcelona: Paidós, p.
76.

92
 The drawing serves to reflect and create spontaneously, so it
convert into the technique that can best draw out the innermost ideas of
individual. In the exhibition program 'Through Drawing' we could
Reading: "Drawing allows us, more than any other contemporary discipline,
the direct access to the particular universe of each artist1.

The drawing can constitute both a project and the work itself. For the
student, it also becomes essential as a more accessible technique and as
study method. Thus, when a technique is required in an activity
pictorial, the student must first make a drawing. The trend
The habitual will be to elaborate ideas without specifying them in notes, but the habit
the drawing will show you how an entire process is necessary beforehand
execution of any work and how, if in this process are contained the
key ideas, their value may be similar to that of the final work.

It is important to break some myths so that the student feels uninhibited.

in the face of various techniques. Generally, it will aim to analyze the reality of
mimetic form and will become frustrated if not skilled. The drawing must be offered
as a discipline of multiple possibilities, very individual and
fragmentary, so that everything that is sincere expression is valid.
This requires reflective effort that must be guided by the teacher. A
excessive zeal in the skill and mastery of proportions and utensils can
provoke the forgetting of the ultimate purpose of drawing, which is to make visible the
ideas. In this sense, Arnheim tells us2In a drawing class
corporal, for example, the eloquent expression of the model's body
immobilized in a specific position falls silent very easily when
the instructor limits himself to discussing measurement, accuracy, proportion or
anatomy, as if the exercise consisted of producing a physical duplicate of the
model. Instead of this, the student should be asked to pay attention to the
concrete expression that is materialized in the posture and the specific gesture
of the model –a proud stance, an aggressive tension, a lazy abandonment-
and that they discover what forms transmit the observed attitude.

Each drawing method implies a way of seeing reality and therefore,

think... "Too often, perspective is presented as a
isolated set of tricks. It is never tried to introduce it with a discussion.
about why a sense of depth is decided to be created and about the
various ways to obtain it.3

The reflection on one’s own work.

The true assimilation of the proposed objectives is only possible if the

the student is aware of what has been learned and knows how to talk about it. Therefore,
every activity must be accompanied by a comment that reflects on it
process carried out, on the results and on the application of the
contents of each unit.

1
QUERALT, R. (1995): 'A drawing from the exhibition': Through the drawing, Board of
Andalusia, Department of Culture, p. 15.
2
ARNHEIM, R. (1989): Considerations on artistic education, Barcelona: Paidós, pp.
40-41.
3
Ibidem, p. 41.

93
The student must acquire deconstructive strategies to apply them to
the works of the proposed artists, as well as their own. The way of
artistic construction is heavily based on intuition, so many
activities can be carried out spontaneously, but once
finished or at a standstill in the creative process, we can start to suggest
Why? We can also investigate if the findings of the activity are
they repeat in companions, in artists, or in our environment and what relationships are
they can be linked to other activities or experiences from everyday life.

It is very common for a student at this age to wonder if they have any.
utility of what has been done. We can make him see that the utility is in the
experience that I acquire and in its assimilation as something my own. If the
activity and the contents are not related to their immediate reality, the
learning will not be merely anecdotal.

The critical capacity will depend on the acquisition of these strategies. The
the student will know how to discern and make decisions about their own work when
be able to interpret it and establish relationships with meanings.

94
III.4. The support of visits to contemporary art exhibitions

Extracurricular activities can be a great stimulus to contribute to

meet the set objectives. The encounter with artistic images outside
the context of the class intensifies the experience, as the
the student is more prone to surprise.

Visits will depend on the circumstances, but it is important to give to

to get to know the institutions and entities closest to contemporary art,
as well as studies of artists or workshops. It may be the time to do
distinguish between Art Center, exhibition hall, and art gallery.

It is also interesting to visit the workplaces of the artists, their

workshops or their laboratories, or invite them to talk about their work in the
classroom.

In the groupidac1we have prepared a guide for a possible visit to a

contemporary art exhibition

Before the visit to the exhibition

It is important to contextualize the sample so that the visitor can extract

significant conclusions of the plastic, symbolic, and stylistic substrate of the
work that is intended to be analyzed, interrelated with previous movements
artistic, from their time and also influences on later ones if there are any;
cultural, social, philosophical or scientific context that motivated such attitudes
artistic. The issues to be addressed would be:

• Historical and social environment of the author/authors; relevant circumstances

to understand the sample.
• Artistic environment
• Relevant data about the author/authors: life, style, etc.
• In-depth analysis of significant works from the exhibition.
• Relevant concepts for interpreting contemporary art.

In teaching, students can be brought up to speed regarding the context.

from the exhibition being part of the work in the classroom. For all of this is
possible to reach an agreement with other subjects and develop a unit
interdisciplinary didactics of a week, always trying to insert it into
a dynamic way within the student's curriculum, that is,

1
Didactic initiatives of contemporary art, course 00-01, working group of the Center of
teachers from Seville.

95
interrelating this subject as much as possible with the rest of the course and
making it simultaneous with the other subjects to make it more
integrator.

It is advisable to connect the concepts with the context of the

student in a way that can assimilate the possible repercussions and can
infer your own conclusions

The tuning process may involve the following phases:

• Detection of prior ideas: knowledge, beliefs, criteria,

opinions, values, etc., made in the form of direct questions or in
debates as deemed appropriate. It is important that they come to light
certain prejudices originating from the adverse environment towards art
contemporary we live in. Among these prejudices, there are some very
clear

What is realistic has more merit because it is more difficult to achieve.

The more complicated it is to do what I see, the better and more valuable.
es.
The art of truth is the art that is made with painting, sculpture,
Recorded, etc. The ready-mades, assemblages,
, etc. are nonsense.
The one who does these things is pulling my leg.
The beauty and value of art lie in the fact that it is handmade.
I do not understand this and I will never be able to understand it.
This is what a little boy does.
The value of art is that it is beautiful.
In order for something to be interesting, it has to resemble something.

The cognitive conflict that occurs in this first phase is

usable so that the visitor finds their own answers, that not
they do not necessarily have to coincide with the expected content
conceptually programmed, thus encouraging a divergent attitude in the analyses
and conclusions that are instinctively encouraged. The contrast between its
opinions and the programmed and anticipated conclusions produce a
meaningful understanding.

• Audiovisual material: educational video, report, or film, which allow

envision, comment, raise questions, take notes, draw conclusions
individualized. It is interesting in this phase not to overwhelm with data or
images to the visitor, rather it would be about opening their curiosity, choosing
previously the part of the appropriate material for the case, at the same time as it
put in a situation by making comments and questions that promote the
investigation on the subject.

• Introductory talk or master class, if deemed appropriate for

the reflection on conceptual, procedural, or attitudinal data, or else
to mark comments on content or objectives, it is not necessary that
be very exhaustive, making it as participatory as possible with questions
within the dynamics of cognitive conflict.

The introductory talk can be integrated into the classroom work in the
educational levels. If the programming is adapted and already has content

96
 relevant contemporary art, the exhibition can be directed towards
relate what the student is going to visit with what they have learned.

• Group work, intended for teaching, where it is handled

dynamic concepts, allowing them to confront each other in an environment
Relaxed short proposals for a later debate or performance.

The most appropriate contents for a first approach could be

the following:

The representation in contemporaneity: figuration and abstraction.

Non-imitative figuration.
The artwork as a vehicle of communication. It is important.
to see how things are made, but it is even more important to see
what do they want to say.
The contemporary artist as a person who comments on things or
raises questions based on what he/she personally experiences; it is
it is necessary to listen carefully to what it wants to tell us and try
understand why it is expressed that way.
Concepts of value and price. The little importance of difficulty.
technique when judging a work. The non-necessity of beauty
as the value of the work. The value of the original, the personal and the
authentic.

During the visit to the exhibition

The objectives of the visit should aim for the visitor to maintain
a receptive attitude on one side and an active one on the other. The methodology used
One must seek the visitor's own discovery based on the proposal.
of issues. These must follow the different approaches previously proposed:
formal, conceptual or contextual

It is possible to deepen the formal analysis if it is about paintings:

What kind of space do you think there is in these paintings?

What color ranges do you predominantly find?
What technique do you think they use to develop those nuances?
What complementary colors predominate in the work?
What contrasting relationship do you observe?
What predominates: the stain or the line?
What textures do you discover in the surface treatment?
Is the atmosphere physical, formal, or rather psychological, symbolic?
Discover the technical treatment, does it seem appropriate to express
What do you think the artist expresses with their work?
What type of composition predominates? Draw its main lines.

They can be directed towards a conceptual analysis:

What does it mean to you...?

Why does it seem to you...?
What does it suggest to you...?
Does the color, the light, the objects, the atmosphere evoke any state in you?
mood, any feeling, any idea?

97
 Does it remind you of something, does it invite you to think of something?
What would you like to change about the work?
What music, what rhythm would you give to the work?
After changing something, do you think it could change for you?
meaning, the sense, the aesthetics of the work?

They can analyze the context:

Do you think this work could have been created in another era?
Do you see any relation between the work and the life of the artist who created it?

We can consider different options depending on whether the visit is guided or not.
directed at one level or another.

Guided tour

The interaction between the guide and the visitors should be constant throughout the.
visit, seeking reflection and meaningful learning through
questions and the sequenced contribution of information. The talk must
be pleasant, interesting, and fun, exemplifying as much as possible for
take a closer pulse on the visitor. It's positive to let them go
asking questions and raising objections, so that we can
answer them and dismantle their prejudices, satisfy their curiosity or impart to them
relevant knowledge. Comparative foreign materials can be provided
to the exhibition or propose games that explore aspects of the display,
thus highlighting the element of surprise.

Visit without a guide.

The visitor can have access to material that helps them follow the
exhibition. This can focus on the discussed approaches and continue the
same methodology: the raising of issues that allow for analysis,
relate, compare and draw your own conclusions.

Student visits.

If the student already has prior knowledge of contemporary art,

The exhibition can serve as reinforcement. Then those will be selected.
contents related to the curriculum, creating a script with
they and asking the students to work on that script. Based on these
instructions will develop a subsequent work, which can be completed
with a class debate or a creation project. The script can focus on
a series of concrete works, within the framework of what is presented or being done
groups according to specific characteristics.

2. If the student does not have too much prior knowledge, the approach
The material should guide you towards the issues that catch your attention. For
example: why do things not resemble anything? Why is such a work
Made with garbage? Why is the object a bicycle wheel? Once in
class, the collected answers would serve for a debate that would provoke the
corresponding teaching process. Following this methodology, it would be
It is advisable not to provide too much prior knowledge before the presentation.

98
 so that the students' own curiosity is the driving force of the process of
learning.

3. The exhibition can be the starting point for a work of

research in the library. The student can contrast what they think about
what has been seen and what the books say.

After the exhibition

Accompanying the exhibition guide material or as a proposal

Complementary is the importance of proposing practical activities.
artistic that allows for a posterior reflection, and gives the visitor the
opportunity to express your sensitivity, creativity, and aesthetics in the
context of the exhibition. It will be important to take into account the level and the
visitor experience with this type of work. Not recommended
to frustrate him with issues that are too complex for his analysis, but rather
enjoy a positive and playful experience.

Shared experiences can be proposed through debates,

contrasting opinions taking out conclusions individualized
selecting and highlighting concepts and finally defining maps
conceptual. Likewise, exhibitions of the works can be held.

The contents of the exhibition can continue to be developed within

of the students' curriculum if they can be incorporated into the
programming.

99
III.5. Contribution to the education of cross-cutting themes

Tolerance towards contemporary art promotes a tolerant attitude

generalized. The fact of discovering the value of rejected approaches a
It is a priority to show the student that the same reality has different perspectives.
view and that all of them can be valid. The approach to art
contemporary can be considered a cross-cutting theme in itself,
since artistic training, as we have previously stated, is
essential in the complete development of the individual.

The analysis of contemporary works can also promote the

treatment of other topics:

• Multiculturalism is, even, an artistic movement, produced by the

intense exchange of cultures that is happening today. Art is
always a reflection of its time but it is also a critic of the
events. Any contemporary work of art can lead us to a
debate of tolerance and respect for other cultures, as well as to the
observation of realities different from our environment.

• Sexism is also a topic addressed as a protagonist in numerous

current works, some openly feminist, others in a more subtle way
overlapping. Any of them will also raise the debate about the
social inequalities, the roles assigned by tradition and the
possibility of changing the negative aspects.

• The treatment of materials, their correct use and recycling is not just a
the objective of the subject, but it is a topic directly addressed by
some artistic works, committed to respect for the environment
environment or criticism of the bad habits of consumer society.

• The knowledge of the environment and its respect is expressly encouraged.

for some proposed activities, as well as for some movements
artistic treaties. Elland arty, more specifically, ecological art
they deal with the relationships between man and the landscape, making some visible
uses that may go unnoticed.

Art is not necessarily a defender of the social values in which

we intend to educate the students, but sometimes it becomes what
on the contrary. But this aspect is also important to point out.

Some artistic manifestations have served to support fascist powers.

the intolerant. The market also supports certain cultures in
to the detriment of others and the crude and rude is the theme of many works

100
current. The relationship between art and moral values has always been irregular,
with defenders of art as an educator and the opposite.

We believe that everything depends on how it is used. Art reflects the

society in good and bad, can be critical and flattering. But this
the same can be the most interesting educationally, as it provides us
an open and free debate, without reservations and without coercion. Thus, in the classroom, the
a student can reach their own conclusions or their own questions
which, over time, will be resolved and will shape their personality.

101
III.6. Analysis of the students' prior ideas.

At the time of conceiving this approach to art

contemporary, we allow ourselves to be carried away by an impression based on multiple
unregistered data. The constancy of the lack of understanding between art
contemporary and the student body is based on observations of their
opinions and their reactions to current works or those of the past century.

In an article from an educational magazine, talking about what the student

we were discussing a work of art1We could point out some
characteristics we expect in those works of 'traditional' Art and that for
Most people constitute the 'guarantee' of artistry in the
object that they contemplate:

• Resemblance of representation to reality (degree of figuration)

high, closeness to mimesis
• Beauty (similar to traditional standards)
• Difficulty in performing it and/or the need for a lot of time (virtuosity)
technical)
• It is made of a splendid material (wood, alabaster, silver,
embroidered in gold...)
• It can be likened to "timeless works" (Sevillian imagery,
Córdoba silverware, Granada ceramics.). Traditional form
• "traditional" themes (customs, cult works,
Baroque ornamentation...)
• It is made 'by hand', with techniques that have traditionally been
artistic
• etc.

Based on these observations, we developed this project that makes

emphasize the aspects on which prejudices are greatest, and that
we have identified six axes of debate on the concept of art2These
they refer to aesthetic qualities, expressiveness, the
procedures, the concept, the context, and the inquiry.

In order to give greater reliability to our assessments, we have

a survey was conducted among the students in which we asked them about
these six issues, in addition to others related to their concept of art
contemporary.

1
ARREGUI PRADAS, R. and AZNÁREZ LÓPEZ, J.P. (2003): “Why can we -and
Should we teach contemporary art? In Perspective Cep, Seville: Department of
Education and Science.
2
Chapter 'I.1. A definition of art as process', p. 12.

102
To keep track of whether there is any change in your way of
understand the art, we have repeated the survey at the end of the course, after the implementation
in the project classroom.

We will develop the results obtained after the analysis of the

polls.

103
IV. APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT TO A TYPICAL CURRICULUM

IV. 1. Design of the didactic project

Based on the trends and approaches presented in the section

I.21We will create a double-entry table for each course, in which we
relate each thematic unit to a content of contemporary art
the six identified as fundamental, so that at the end of each
secondary school course, all students, even if they have not covered everything
artistic movements, at least have addressed all the concepts that are
they have considered key to understanding contemporary art. To delineate a
The concept of another is not easy, nor is it desirable, since these are very aspects
related. Therefore, these tables should only serve as a guide so as not to
forget the essential and diversify the debates, but not only to dedicate oneself to it
marked in a strict manner. Also with the intention of addressing the
most of the artistic movements of the 20th century will be displayed in
another table relating them to the courses in which they will be debated.

According to the contents of each unit, we will choose some authors and some
specific works that help us present the designed topic in the
curriculum and to develop the activities. These authors will also appear
in double-entry tables that relate each artistic movement to
a thematic unit.

We will present below the relationship between the content of the

the thematic unit and the selected works, along with the most suitable methodology
to achieve both the objectives of this unit and the
established in this project.

The curriculum design we have based ourselves on is the one proposed by the
Teachers' Center of Seville coordinated by Manuel Algeciras2, for being
one of the most widespread among teachers at the time when
is carried out and is well documented. Not all have been developed
the topics but only those that have been put into practice and, specifically, the
theme 'The analysis of artistic and aesthetic values in the image and in the'
"works of art" has been overlooked considering that it should not constitute a
independent thematic unit, as it is part of the objectives of the

1
Section "I.2. Approaches that may serve as a basis for an approach to art"
contemporary", p. 20.
2
ALGECIRAS CABELLO, M. (Coord.) (1995): Plastic and Visual Education. A Proposal
thematic and pedagogical, Seville: CEP.

104
 project that, transversally, spans the whole curriculum.

Design of the thematic units of E.P.V.

Each thematic unit chosen to develop an approach to art

contemporary will be presented according to the following scheme:

• Relationship between the unit objectives and the works, authors or

selected artistic movements.

• Preferred objective related to the concept of contemporary art.

• Analysis of the methodology and the proposed activities.

• Proposal for specific works.

• Issues for a debate.

• Activities carried out by the students.

Relationship with the axes of contemporary art.

With the intention of sequencing the content of the debates we want

develop in the classroom, we are going to design some tables that will serve us
follow the scheme.

The six proposals or axes related to contemporary art that

we have marked as general objectives of this educational method are going to
to be situated at the top of the tables in a row.

The thematic units that are going to be designed and developed

they are found on the left side of the table in column form.

The correspondences of each thematic unit with each set objective

they appear as a differently colored intersection from the rest of the
table.

105
 1st Year of Compulsory Secondary Education
BEAUTY EXPRESSION PROCESS CONCEPT CONTEXT INQUIRY

COM.
VISUAL

PERCEPTION

FORM

SIZE

LIGHT-COLOR

SYNTAX

IMAGE
SEQUENCED

2nd Year of Compulsory Secondary Education

BEAUTY EXPRESSION PROCESS CONCEPT CONTEXT INQUIRY

COM.
VISUAL

FORM

LIGHT-COLOR

TEXTURES

SYNTAX

PHOTOGRAPHY

106
 3rd year of Secondary Education INVESTIGATION
BEAUTY EXPRESSION PROCESS CONCEPT CONTEXT
N

COM.
VISUAL

FORM

LIGHT-COLOR

SYNTAX

PHOTOGRAPHY

ADVERTISING

4th year of Secondary Education

BEAUTY EXPRESSION PROCESS CONCEPT CONTEXT INQUIRY

COM.
VISUAL

PERCEPTION

FORM

SIZE

LIGHT-COLOR

TEXTURES

SYNTAX

PHOTOGRAPHY

IMAGE IN
MOVEMENT

107
Selection of authors, works, and contemporary artistic trends

To set up some general inquiry lines that help us to

to control the artistic movements addressed at each moment, we will carry out
two more two-way tables:

In the first table that we present below, they appear in a column

all the artistic movements named in section I.2 and in row, the
four secondary courses. The colored intersection indicates what
movement is addressed in each course, ensuring that we have them
touched everyone throughout high school.

Although many authors are difficult to classify as belonging to one

or another artistic movement, we have tried to summarize as much as possible to not
to complicate the frames excessively. For example, we have considered
Christo, an artist belonging to land art, and Rauschenberg, a pop artist, or
a Beuys, a conceptual artist, to name a few cases. Our goal is
to create a very rough guide that helps us to have control and not to
forget essential artists. And in no case is it intended to follow a story
of rigorous art.

By observing the table, we confirm a color clustering in the part

bottom right, which indicates two things: on one hand, that in the fourth grade
it deals with more artistic movements and the most recent ones in time, already
What is the course with the largest time slot; and on the other hand, what are the movements
the most recent ones are attempted to be addressed in all courses.

The following tables correspond to each course. They show the

didactic units on one side and the previous artistic movements on the other
another, indicating, at each intersection, the chosen authors.

108
 1st Year of Secondary Education 2nd Year of Secondary Education 3rd year of Secondary Education 4th year of ESO

Impressionism

Post-Impressionism

Expressionism

Futurism

Fauvism

Cubism

Neoplasticism

Dadaism

Surrealism

Geometric abstraction

Informalism

Pop

Kinetic

Land art

Conceptual

Minimal

Postmodernity

109
 UNITS
THEMATIC AREAS
1st Year of Compulsory Secondary Education

Seurat
Post-Impressionism Van Gogh Gauguin
Cézanne

Expressionism Kandinsky Giacometti Klee

Cubism Picasso

Pop Gordillo Bacon Liechtenstein

Op, Kinetic Escher

Kiefer
Postmodernism Botero
Baselitz

110
 UNITS
THEMATIC AREAS
2nd Year of Compulsory Secondary Education

Impressionism Monet

Fauves Matisse

Cubism Juan Gris

Neoplasticism Mondrian

Dadaism Schwitters

Miró
Surrealism
Calder

Informalism Rivera

Warhol
Pop
Rauschemberg

Op, Kinetic Vasarely

Room
Postmodernism Ouka Lele
Polka

111
THEMATIC UNITS
3rd year of Secondary Education

Impressionism Rodin

Maillol
Post-Impressionism
M. Hugué

Fauves Matisse

Futurism Delaunay Ball

Brancusi
Archipenko
Cubism
Gargallo
J. González

Expressionism Kandinsky Munch

Moholy-
Neoplasticism
Big

Dadaism Duchamp

Surrealism Dalí Man Ray

Informalism Rothko

Abstraction
Barbadillo
Geometric

Rauschemberg
Pop César
Rottella

Minimal Dan Flavin

Solitude
Postmodernism
Seville

112
 UNITS
THEMES
4th Year of Compulsory Secondary Education

Marc
Expressionism Macke
Münter

The
Cubism Picasso
Corbusier

Pollock
Informalism
Tápies

Albers
Abstraction
Stella
geometric.
Nolland

Out
Pop Oldenburg
chemberg

Soto
Agam
Op, Kinetic Schöfer
The Park
Riley

Christo
Oppenhei
Land
m
Smithson

Gober
Conceptual Beuys Kosuth A. Rainer Bill Viola
Beuys

Sol Le
Minimal Mr. Louis
Witt

P. Villalta
Cindy Nauman
Postmodernism Broto Barceló Sicily
Sherman N.J. Paik
Lacomba

113
IV.2. Thematic Units1

Art as an aesthetic form

The beauty or pleasure of the senses that an artwork produces is a value.

very ambiguous and variable depending on the cultures, the education or the desires
subjective. As we have already mentioned before2every work needs
a way to be perceived, but the importance granted to its
characteristics in relation to other aspects such as the concept that the
Conception or the emotion it provokes is something very relative.

We have highlighted a certain way and how it has been done,

respond to a mode of interpretation and of thought, to a conception
of the world and this is the key that we must make the students discover.

Here are the thematic units and chosen authors to provide the
debate on these topics in the classroom:

• In the first year, the topic 'Size' has been chosen to address the
beauty related to human proportion, the relativity of what
what we consider beautiful in the body and the ways of conceiving it
life that underlies each representation.

• In the second course, the theme is 'Texture', chosen to demonstrate

that the aesthetic appreciation of materials is a plastic achievement of the
contemporary art.

• In the third year, beauty is presented from the world of

Advertising, to discuss the aesthetic ideals that it offers us
the media with commercial intentions.

• In the fourth year, with the topic 'Color', we can delve into the relationship
of aesthetic pleasure with plastic values and in the implication of
our experience and our prior conceptions with enjoyment
of our perceptions.

1
The thematic units developed, with the chosen authors, the images of their works and
the proposed issues, as well as some activities carried out by the students, appear
in Annex I.
2
Chapter I.2, section 'Art as an Aesthetic Form', p. 23.

114
Emotional expression

Self-expression or manifestation of the most subjective and emotional of the

person becomes one of the most remarkable values in some
1
twentieth-century works of art. As we have already noted. when talking about its development,
starting from Van Gogh, the gesturalism and the boldness of spontaneous matter or
informal practiced by many other artists will be symptomatic of
individualism and the search for the most primary energies in being
human.

The expression of one's own emotions is not often enjoyed by many.

opportunities in regulated teaching, so discovering this value
in works of art and practicing it can be of great importance
educational. However, free expression and gesturalism must be
argued. The debates about the most expressionist artists must
to make the student see that, although the playful component is important, it is not
this is the primary objective. This can be the claim of freedom
individual, the identification with the energy of the gesture or of nature or the
manifestation of inner needs that rational concepts do not
satisfy.

The cognitive value that experience entails should not be underestimated either.
aesthetic of artistic expression. Both the perception of the works and their
realization requires a mental effort that can be learned and
educated and whose importance in the full development of the person is crucial.

The artists chosen to discuss these topics in the classroom have been linked
with the following thematic units:

• In the first course, this objective can be addressed in two topics:

"Visual communication" and "Color". In the first case, we will highlight
how the way an image is made can do
transcend, or not, the individuality and character of the one who performs it. To
dealing with color, the relationship of the color ranges will be made visible with the
expression of emotions and its psychological importance.

• In the second course, although the topic remains 'Color', it can

focus more on their interactions and their ability to find
playful and personal universes.

• In the third year, the topic 'Syntax' has been chosen to analyze how
pictorial gesturalism can also be supported by structures,
with content coherent with the expressive intention. It is important
also to show the relationship of historical contexts with the
appearance of expressionisms.

• In the fourth course, we will discuss emotional expression on the topic.

"Texture", differentiating its use in the work of art with three

1
Chapter I.2, section 'Emotional Expression', p. 25.

115
 expressive intentions: as a complement to the form, as
protagonist material or for its symbolic value.

The process of creation

When carrying out his work, the artist relies on a method of work.
which may consist of an inquiry and a selection of procedures to
carry it out. We start here from a conception of art as a process1, for the
that this aspect becomes particularly relevant. The work process
will determine the execution of the work and the result, which ultimately reaches the
viewer, but this process must be understood as an interaction of
different factors: the conceptions of the artist, the characteristics
structural aspects of the work, the chosen procedures, the environment in which it is
conceive, etc.

Frequently, the student places great importance on the virtuosic display that is shown.
work of art, without considering these other factors. The production of a work is
result of a process in which the procedures used to carry it out
they are only a means, not an end in themselves.

We thus have that the process of conceiving the work and its execution are
intimately connected and that this largely depends on the former. Without
to lessen its importance, as it ultimately determines appearance
It is important to make the student see the relativity of technical expertise.
as artistic value, giving more importance to the process of work as a
more complex cognitive work.

To address this debate, the following topics have been chosen:

• In 1st year of ESO, the topic 'Shape' has been chosen, with the aim of relating
the formal appearance of a work with the work process that has it
produced. Simple elements of the image can be analyzed
separately to deconstruct its genesis and its possible
meanings.

• In 2nd year of ESO, the thematic unit "Visual Communication" can cover
how images are the result of prior conceptions that have
determined its structure and way of reaching the viewer.

• In 3rd year of Secondary Education, we choose "Photography", which is a procedure that

It implied, in its origins, a new way of seeing and understanding the world.

• In 4th year of ESO, the thematic unit 'Size' can be related to the
creation processes that address large structures,
questioning the human scale, that of objects and that of the
nature. Likewise, in the thematic unit 'Cinema' you can
offer alternative creation processes to those of the rooms
commercials.

1
See chapter I.1, section 'Art as Process', p. 14.

116
Art as a concept

The expressive and purely plastic values have traditionally been well
accepted as something inherent to the artistic fact. However, not always
it has stood out, and even less in education, the capacity for construction of
meanings that any work of art implies.

In figurative art, iconography refers us to a content or narrative,

while in abstract art, the search for meaning is derived to
sometimes towards the subjective appreciation of emotions based on relationships
formal. Without abandoning these paths, the true meaning of the works
should be framed as a contextualized, open debate that is susceptible to
multiple interpretations.

The construction of meaning is an individualized path that, although

part of an aesthetic experience, it should serve to learn from it. There is
artists more concerned with concepts than others, but ultimately,
Any work is an open path for reflection. So it is not just that they have
not only taken conceptual artists, but it has diversified the
selection

• In the first course, this debate has been linked to the unit.
didactics 'Syntax', to try to make clear that the relationships
formal aspects of an image and the way in which its composition is achieved
they start from concepts and, in turn, can lead to the construction of
other concepts.

• In the second course, the topic "Syntax" is repeated but applied to the
more structured or formal compositions, with the intention of
relate order to modes of thinking.

• In the third year, the didactic unit 'Color' has been chosen,
precisely because it is content considered purely plastic and
to address light and color as concepts as well.

• In the fourth course, two different topics have been chosen. In the unit
Didactics 'Perception' allows for discussions about conceptual artists
more related to language and our way of processing the
perceptions of the environment. In the unit 'Syntax' it is emphasized again
in the creation of the image as a conceptual fact.

The context and the relationship of art with society

Art is a cultural product and is therefore closely linked to development.

from the history of civilizations. Any artistic work is the result of a
determined circumstances, both historical and social and individual.
Therefore, the analysis of these circumstances sometimes becomes the
true meaning of the work.

On the other hand, the perception of a certain work also depends on the
Context. Works created with a certain intention acquire value.
very different in another temporal or spatial location.

117
 In the most recent art, we can observe a trend towards seeking
of social impact, sometimes bordering on anthropology or
collaborating with social insertions.

We thus have the relationship of art with society and its context in general.
can be decisive in the approach to a work. The content of it,
therefore, it must be contextualized and relativized with respect to these
circumstances. To introduce the students to this debate we have
organized the thematic units and the authors as follows:

• In the first course, the topic of "Comic" has been related to an author.
pop, Roy Lichtenstein, to discuss the close relationship of art with
other modes of culture not considered 'fine arts'.

• In the second year, the topic 'Photography' has been chosen due to its
important impact on the dissemination of a way of doing
affordable and popular images. The chosen author is Ouka Lele, for
its special contribution to a playful photography, closely related to
a social phenomenon such as the Madrid movement of the 80s.

• In the third year, we can propose on the topic "Communication

"Visual," Kandinsky's work, for its intentional pursuit of a
social art, and a more conceptual and controversial author like Duchamp.

• In the fourth course, 'Visual Communication' has also been chosen.

to discuss the importance of the social aspect in the artistic work, with the
help from the work of Joseph Beuys. In addition, on the topic
"Photography", we will comment on the work of Arnulf Rainer and Cindy.
Sherman.

Art as a result of an inquiry

Understand art as a process in which inquiry both

external phenomena such as internal, emotional or objective, can be so
more important than the result, is one of the inherent characteristics of
contemporary art is more difficult for students to understand.

The inquiry into a certain concept or concern usually involves

an innovation in the result, which is why this feature tends to form
part of contemporary work. At times, this innovation is sought after
as provocation of the viewer; in others, it is simply the consequence of
an interaction with social or technological changes.

To introduce this debate about the artistic work, we have chosen authors
whose concern has been greater for the process than for the work or whose
innovations have brought about revolutionary changes in the way of
understand art. These artists have been associated with the following content
of the subject:

118
• In the first year, the topic 'Perception' has been chosen for discussion.
how art can become a very personal vision of
world, sometimes emotional, sometimes imaginative, but understanding
both as modes of knowledge.

• In the second course, the topic 'Form' can give us the opportunity to
relating the discovery of shapes to a process of
investigation into nature and our environment.

• In third grade, also with the thematic unit 'Form', we can

introduce the evolution of sculpture and the achievements of forms
contemporary tridimensional. Also forms of inquiry
internals like the ones offered by surrealism or working methods that
They use other disciplines such as mathematics.

• In the fourth year, this debate has been related again to the topic
"Form," to continue the analysis and discovery of forms
understood as specific modes of artistic inquiry.

119
IV. 3. Surveys

Checking the effectiveness of a pedagogical method is a arduous task.

due to the particular nature of education in general. This method is
just a way of familiarization with certain issues, not a
learning of content assessable with a quantitative method. It aims for
which is probably more difficult: changing prejudices. Evaluating the
the achievement of attitudinal objectives through a quantitative method is not
the ideal way, and it is understood, in any case, that the results will be very
guidelines.

For this reason, we have framed the survey as the questioning of an attitude,
an opinion, in which the student is given the option to choose some keys of
art above others. It is not intended for the student to remember content
or concepts discussed in class, nor does he think he is taking a test
about something that should be known, but rather sincerely think about what your
opinion on a topic.

Taking into account the set objectives1and our proposal of keys

related to contemporary art2six points have been chosen that have
treated in different ways throughout the course. The student must list them.
by order of preference and reason your answer.

Instead of addressing the concept of art directly, they

ask, first of all, what do you consider most important in a
work of art. Each option has been translated into a colloquial language for
enhance the fact that it is not an exam and the student knows more
shortly about what is being discussed:

• that she be beautiful

It questions the aesthetic qualities or visual pleasure. Beauty, as

we have already analyzed, it is a very broad and subjective term, but for the
average culture of the secondary school student, this term corresponds to
generally, with an assessment of what is pleasant to the eye. The
The aesthetic qualities of an artistic object have been a debated topic in
class y, generally the student associates the beautiful or pretty with the image
price-conscious, well-finished or with impeccable technique.

• that expresses emotions

1
See in "III.2. Objectives of the didactic project", p. 79.
2
See in "I.2. Approaches that may serve as a basis for an approach to art
"contemporary", p. 20.

120
 It raises what subjective and emotional elements art may have. The term
"express" and the term "emotion" are well associated with the most
personal and temperamental aspects of art. The student usually associates it with the
the ability of art to convey feelings and reveal freedom
individual. It is the most romantic term, in the traditional sense of the
expression.

• that it is well done

This expression has been used to assess skills.

procedural aspects of the work. It is evident that for an artistic professional
It does not mean the same for a student that a work "is good"
made," but it has seemed to us that this expression corresponds
enough with what most of the students understand by expertise
manual. We know that the most abstract or spontaneous work can be
well or poorly done, but they usually relate the difficulty of execution and
the laborious work with "well done." This issue refers to
directly to the prejudice that leads the uninformed to think that a work
from Miró is 'like what my son does'.

• that makes you reflect on something

The conceptual aspect of art has been posed as a provocation to

the reflection. It refers to awakening a different understanding of things
than what had been previously assimilated, if the work presents a new
a speech about something that concerns us or not.

• that reflects what its time is like

The relationship with the cultural moment and the fact that this work is a
commitment to the environment and not a timeless elaboration, it is
expressed this way. This point sometimes requires explanation, especially in
the lower courses in which they may not have a good command of the terms
"reflect" and "era". It is aimed at considering whether it makes sense to carry out
today, for example, a landscape like those made in the
romanticism, or a still life in the baroque style.

• that it be innovative

This expression reflects on the meaning of art as

product of a process and as a result of a series of proposals
unique in a specific context. This term is also difficult
understanding for some students, so it must be explained. The
the key is to question whether the fact that a work is something
unheard of is not important, but above all, think if the artist, to
the time to work, must face new challenges or simply
to use some already known methods.

In addition to these variables, others have been raised that question art.
From the artist's point of view: why do you think an artist paints or creates?
The student can choose from four options:

121
• to express their emotions

The first response refers to the inner need to pour out the
own feelings through artistic creation, to the concept
romantic of the artist whose inner world is superior to his will.

• to have fun

It is a somewhat ironic response, referred to the popular concept that the

an artist is a being who lives away from the real world, who has means to
to be able to dedicate oneself to something as entertaining as art. Or that other one
who dedicates their free time, as a hobby, to painting.

• to show that he/she draws very well

It is also somewhat of an exaggerated response, which alludes to the image.

of the artist with an innate power for drawing or creation in general.

• because it has something to explain

This difficult answer has been chosen to refer to the artist closest to
man of science, who is developing a means of knowledge
of the world that wants to share with others.

After these questions, the student is asked to draft a definition of

art. In addition, to learn about your experience in the artistic world, also
you are asked to name the artists you know and identify those who are from
20th century. Finally, he is asked if he has visited any art museum.
contemporary or some gallery. At the beginning of this survey, the term
the art center was not very widespread yet.

The survey is conducted at the beginning of the course and at the end, so that it can be
to contrast if there has been a change of opinion throughout the year.

122
CONTEMPORARY ART SURVEY
Date Sex:
Educational center:

1. What do you think is more important in a work of art? List by

order of importance and say why.
• May she be beautiful
• To express emotions
• That it is very well done
• That makes one reflect on something
• That reflects what their era is like
• It should be innovative

2. Why do you think an artist paints or creates? List in order of

preference and justify your answer:
• To express your feelings
• To have fun
• To show that he/she draws very well
• Because you need to explain something

3. Explain in your own words what ART is.

Tell me the names of painters you know.

5. Which of these are from the 20th century?

Have you ever been to a contemporary art museum?

7. And to an art gallery?

8. Express your opinion about contemporary art.

123
Survey Results

We will analyze, first of all, each of the six points of the first
issue separately. To do this, we will mainly differentiate by the
moment when the survey is conducted, beginning and end of the course, and within
this variable, by course, date, and gender; to finally group the three
variables and contrast the two previous sections.

The totals of surveyed students from each course1they are very irregular due to
very different circumstances: late incorporation, disregarded responses
due to information leakage or planning failures, absenteeism
typical of the end of the course and even loss. To avoid this discrepancy, it has been
sought to balance the totals at the end of the five courses, so if in one course
there are more surveys at the end of a course and fewer at the beginning, it is balanced with
another of contrary circumstances. The profile of the students is very similar in the
two centers, so this should not lead to misunderstandings.

However, once the statistics were completed, we have assessed the

the convenience of a comparison between the initial survey conducted in the
first cycle and the final completed in the second cycle, as it offers us the
more exaggerated extremes. We believe this is mainly due to
that the initial survey conducted in some second cycle courses is carried out,
in some cases, to a student body that has already conducted the survey in the course
previous. That is, as the surveys are conducted over two or three courses
followed, it is possible that a 3rd or 4th year student has already been
surveyed in the previous course, but it is less likely with a student from
1st or 2nd grade.

The rest of the issues have finally been dismissed, except for observation.
some isolated comments, due to different causes: The second
issue, it was observed that it did not correspond well with the first when reduced to
four options, what were six at that time, so we thought that we would not
provided more data. The rest of the questions were not answered rigorously.
except in some cases, the majority of higher courses. This could have been
due to the lack of attention to these issues by the students and,
Maybe the survey was too long.

As expected, practically no student claimed to have been in

centers, galleries or contemporary art museums in the initial survey. The
The affirmative responses from the final survey were due to the excursions.
organized by the department.

Profile of the surveyed students

The surveys were conducted over five consecutive terms in two centers.
of Compulsory Secondary Education with very similar characteristics:

Both belong to the Sevillian countryside, an area fundamentally

agricultural with medium populations (less than twenty thousand inhabitants). The

1
The most detailed statistics, separated by courses, as well as the graphs,
appear in Annex II.

124
cultural activity in these towns is usually determined by the
municipalities.

Both centers did not have post-compulsory teaching units, so

the ages of the students ranged from twelve to eighteen years. No
There was no reference to the high school diplomas or other training.

The I.E.S. Pintor José de Ribera in Osuna was recently established and showed
serious deficiencies. It was located in an old school in very poor condition and
was suffering from a great lack of resources. This caused discrimination from the
town. In fact, it has already disappeared, absorbed by the other centers.

The I.E.S. Europa occupies a new and better-equipped building; however, the
being, then, the only center of the town without post-
mandatory and with integration units, and having previously been a school,
it also provoked discrimination.

These circumstances allowed for a greater concentration than usual of

troublemaking students, lacking interest in continuing their studies, with
family problems and high absenteeism rate.

We are therefore dealing with a very irregular student body, in which some
few excel over a majority with deficient records.

The training towards contemporary art is practically non-existent, to

exception of the most popular forms like cinema, which is assimilated as
a playful object without critical capacity.

125
 • may she be beautiful

BEAUTY START 1 2 3 4 5 TOTAL 6

1st ESO - WOMAN 5 10 12 6 10 7 50 108
1st Year of Secondary Education - MAN 15 11 8 7 9 8 58
2nd year of ESO - WOMAN 7 12 10 14 18 9 70 134
2nd Year of Compulsory Secondary Education - MAN
18 11 9 3 18 5 64
3rd ESO - WOMAN 1 7 16 33 36 23 116 187
3rd ESO - MAN 10 10 15 12 15 9 71
4th Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 2 1 4 8 7 11 33 48
4th ESO - MAN 1 1 4 5 2 2 15

TOTALS 59 63 78 88 115 74 477

TOTAL WOMEN 15 30 42 61 71 50 269
TOTAL MEN 44 33 36 27 44 24 208
% total responses 12.37% 13.21% 16.35% 18.45% 24.11% 15.51%
% resp. Total Woman 5.58% 11.15% 15.61% 22.68% 26.39% 18.59%
% resp. Tot. Man 21.15% 15.87% 17.31% 12.98% 21.15% 11.54%
Subtotal 1st and 2nd 45 44 39 30 55 29 242
% total responses 18.60% 18.18% 16.12% 12.40% 22.73% 11.98%

FINAL BEAUTY 1 2 3 4 5 6TOTAL

1st Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 0 5 4 8 13 11 41 95
1st ESO - MAN 6 4 7 5 13 19 54
2nd year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 3 9 4 9 8 7 40 97
2nd ESO - MAN 20 3 5 14 5 10 57
3rd ESO - WOMAN 6 4 14 24 32 23 103 163
3rd ESO - MAN 3 8 9 10 15 15 60
4th ESO - WOMAN 0 1 7 11 16 25 60 74
4th ESO - MAN 0 1 2 4 4 3 14

TOTALS 38 35 52 85 106 113 429

TOTAL WOMAN 9 19 29 52 69 66 244
TOTAL MEN 29 16 23 33 37 47 185
% total responses 8.86% 8.16% 12.12% 19.81% 24.71% 26.34%
% resp. Tot. Woman 3.69% 7.79% 11.89% 21.31% 28.28% 27.05%
% resp. Total Man 15.68% 8.65% 12.43% 17.84% 20.00% 25.41%
Subtotal 3rd and 4th 9 14 32 49 67 66 237
% total responses 3.80% 5.91% 13.50% 20.68% 28.27% 27.85%

Variac. % responses -3.51% -5.05% -4.23% 1.36% 0.60% 10.83%

Var. % resp. Woman -1.89% -3.37% -3.73% -1.37% 1.88% 8.46%
Var. % resp. Man -5.48% -7.22% -4.88% 4.86% -1.15% 13.87%
Variac. % 1st 2nd/ 3rd 4th -14.80% -12.27% -2.61% 8.28% 5.54% 15.86%

126
 BEAUTY

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

-5.00%

-10.00%

-15.00%

-20.00%
Valuation

Men Women Global 1st 2nd / 3rd 4th

Conclusions:

At the beginning of the course, the position that the students have given to beauty as
The defining aspect of art, at a higher percentage of 23.97%, has been the fifth. This
leads us to think that, in a generalized way, the student without broad
prior knowledge about art, already thinks that beauty is not from the
most determining elements for an object to be considered
artistic. In fact, the first position, the one that values beauty the most, is the
least chosen with 11.19%.

However, we can highlight some significant figures: in first and

In the second course, the highest number of boys has opted to value
but beauty has given her the top spots, unlike the girls,
for those that coincide in all courses the lowest figures with the highest
valuation.

At the highest values, 1, 2, and 3, the corresponding percentages to the

girls are inferior to boys, while in values
lower ones, this trend is reversed. That is to say, generally,
Boys tend to value beauty more than girls.

At the end of the course, the position that the students give to beauty moves to sixth.
place with 26.22%, a percentage somewhat higher than that granted to
fifth place at the beginning of the course. Furthermore, the fifth place increases to 24.83%,
so that the sum of both positions exceeds 50% of the students.

127
Among the boys, however, there is still a high percentage that
values beauty above other qualities of art, at 15.68%. This
the figure is largely due to the responses of the 2nd year of ESO students. It
has raised the possibility that this may be due to some anomaly in some
second course, but the results are not the consequence of one but of several
different courses, unrelated to each other, which has been considered
valid.

We can also observe how in some courses the number 0 appears in the
First of all, something that did not happen at the beginning of the course. This happens among the
girls from 1st year of ESO and both among the boys and girls of 4th.

Analyzing the variation of responses between the beginning and the end of the course,
we see that the highest percentage of variation occurs in the value 6, which
increases by 9.78% and the lowest in value 5, which was already the highest before.
The three highest values, 1, 2, and 3, decrease, while the lowest ones,
4, 5, and 6 increase.

Differentiating by gender, we see that among boys this is accentuated.

trend, decreasing the first values more, a -4.22% compared to a -
1.10%, and increased more recently, by 13.58% compared to 6.99%. Without
embargo, starting from a higher valuation than that made by the girls, it
they keep above.

In the subtotal of 1st and 2nd courses at the beginning, compared to the subtotal of 3rd and 4th.
In the end, we can observe this trend much more pronounced. In the graph
(orange line) we see a clearer upward line, indicating both a
greater decrease in the initial values as an increase in the values
last

We can conclude that:

• After applying this pedagogical method, these students tend to vary

your opinion on the importance of beauty as a determinant of
the artistic nature of a work of art, considering it less relevant.

• The difference between sexes does not break this trend, but a distinction is found.
greater proportion of boys who value beauty more, both at
beginning as at the end of the course.

128
 • that expresses emotions

EMOTION START 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st ESO - WOMAN 8 9 10 14 7 2 50 108
1st ESO - MAN 9 9 11 11 12 6 58
2nd ESO - WOMAN 16 12 13 12 8 9 70 134
2nd Year of ESO - MAN 12 13 14 10 9 6 64
3rd ESO - WOMAN 42 38 14 9 9 4 116 187
3rd ESO - MAN 14 17 20 10 5 5 71
4th ESO - WOMAN 11 10 6 4 0 2 33 48
4th ESO - MAN 0 12 1 1 1 0 15

TOTALS 112 120 89 71 51 34 477

TOTAL WOMAN 77 69 43 39 24 17 269
TOTAL MEN 35 51 46 32 27 17 208
% total responses 23.48% 25.16% 18.66% 14.88% 10.69% 7.13%
% resp. Total. Woman 28.62% 25.65% 15.99% 14.50% 8.92% 6.32%
% resp. Tot. Man 16.83% 24.52% 22.12% 15.38% 12.98% 8.17%
Subtotal 1st and 2nd 45 43 48 47 36 23 242
% total responses 18.60% 17.77% 19.83% 19.42% 14.88% 9.50%

FINAL EMOTION 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st ESO - WOMAN 13 12 6 5 3 2 41 95
1st ESO - MAN 24 10 8 6 4 2 54
2nd Year of ESO - WOMAN 15 11 6 5 2 1 40 97
2nd ESO - MAN 15 15 14 6 3 4 57
3rd ESO - WOMAN 57 23 14 4 3 2 103 163
3rd ESO - MAN 23 18 8 4 6 1 60
4th ESO - WOMAN 26 23 5 2 3 1 60 74
4th ESO - MAN 5 5 1 1 2 0 14

TOTALS 178 117 62 33 26 13 429

TOTAL WOMAN 111 69 31 16 11 6 244
TOTAL MEN 67 48 31 17 15 7 185
% total responses 41.49% 27.27% 14.45% 7.69% 6.06% 3.03%
% resp. Tot. Woman 45.49% 28.28% 12.70% 6.56% 4.51% 2.46%
% resp. Tot. Man 36.22% 25.95% 16.76% 9.19% 8.11% 3.78%
Subtotal 3rd and 4th 111 69 28 11 14 4 237
% total responses 46.84% 29.11% 11.81% 4.64% 5.91% 1.69%

Variac. % responses 18.01% 2.12% -4.21% -7.19% -4.63% -4.10%

Var. % response. Woman 16.87% 2.63% -3.28% -7.94% -4.41% -3.86%
Var. % resp. Man 19.39% 1.43% -5.36% -6.20% -4.87% -4.39%
Variac.%1º2º/3º4º 28.24% 11.35% -8.02% -14.78% -8.97% -7.82%

129
 EMOTION

35.00%

30.00%

25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%
5.00%

0.00%

-5.00%

-10.00%
-15.00%

-20.00%
Valuation

Men Women Global 1st 2nd/3rd 4th

Conclusions:

At the beginning of the course, the students have valued the importance of emotion in
the work of art in second place, but not far from first place.
In addition, the sum of the percentages of votes for the first and second
position, 24.28% and 25.61%, make up almost half of the total. The degree of
the least chosen evaluation has been the lower grade. This implies that the
student, before receiving this method, already mostly thought that the
The transmission of emotions is something inherent to art.

Analyzing some figures, we can see how, especially in the first

Courses, the boys do not seem to show clearly in favor of this appreciation.
In 1st year of E.S.O., there are more boys who place emotion in the number one spot.
five that in the rest, and in 2nd and in 3rd, the highest number occurs in the position
number three.

In the total percentages differentiated by sex, we see that the highest value
high in the girls is in the first position, while in the boys it is
the second, but barely differentiated from the third, which shows a
a greater predisposition in girls to value emotion more.

At the end of the course, the highest rating, number one, becomes
the most voted with a great differentiation from the others. The students continue
opining that emotion is important, but now up to 41.74% think
what is most important. The lower degree is still the least
chosen, but it even decreases, remaining at only 2.98%.

130
The figures correspond quite well with the percentages and we do not find
no conflicting data. This implies a homogenization of opinion of the
student body towards emotion.

The variation in response percentages clearly shows us the

upward trend of the first values, being the first degree of
evaluation the one that differs the most positively, with an increase of 17.47%.
The grade that varies the least is the second one, and all the others decrease.

In the graph, we can see the descending lines indicating the change towards
an increase in the appreciation of the expression of emotions in art. The
the orange line further emphasizes this trend.

We can conclude that:

• Once the courses where this method has been applied are finished, the
students have clearly and predominantly tended to value the
emotion as the most determining factor in art.

• Without a significant variation, this trend is more pronounced.

among the girls than among the boys.

131
 • that it is very well done

START PROCESS 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 11 7 11 7 9 5 50 108
1st Year of Secondary Education - MAN 10 12 14 6 7 9 58
2nd ESO - WOMAN 12 14 7 9 15 13 70 134
2nd Year of ESO - MAN 20 11 12 8 5 8 64
3rd ESO - WOMAN 10 10 19 17 29 31 116 187
3rd Year of ESO - MAN 14 7 10 12 9 19 71
4th ESO - WOMAN 0 2 8 7 10 6 33 48
4th ESO - MAN 0 0 3 2 7 3 15

TOTALS 77 63 84 68 91 94 477
TOTAL WOMAN 33 33 45 40 63 55 269
TOTAL MALE 44 30 39 28 28 39 208
% total responses 16.14% 13.21% 17.61% 14.26% 19.08% 19.71%
% resp. Total Woman 12.27% 12.27% 16.73% 14.87% 23.42% 20.45%
% resp. Total Man 21.15% 14.42% 18.75% 13.46% 13.46% 18.75%
Subtotal 1st and 2nd 53 44 44 30 36 35 242
% total responses 21.90% 18.18% 18.18% 12.40% 14.88% 14.46%

FINAL PROCESS 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st ESO - WOMAN 2 4 7 3 12 13 41 95
1st Year of ESO - MAN 5 5 7 11 12 14 54
2nd ESO - WOMAN 3 2 10 6 7 12 40 97
2nd year of ESO - MAN 3 14 10 9 13 8 57
3rd ESO - WOMAN 6 6 9 19 34 29 103 163
3rd ESO - MAN 5 10 6 7 17 15 60
4th ESO - WOMAN 2 4 3 9 21 21 60 74
4th ESO - MAN 0 2 2 3 2 5 14

TOTALS 26 47 54 67 118 117 429

TOTAL WOMAN 13 16 29 37 74 75 244
TOTAL MEN 13 31 25 30 44 42 185
% total responses 6.06% 10.96% 12.59% 15.62% 27.51% 27.27%
% resp. Tot. Woman 5.33% 6.56% 11.89% 15.16% 30.33% 30.74%
% resp. Total Man 7.03% 16.76% 13.51% 16.22% 23.78% 22.70%
Subtotal 3rd and 4th 13 22 20 38 74 70 237
% total responses 5.49% 9.28% 8.44% 16.03% 31.22% 29.54%

Variac. % responses -10.08% -2.25% -5.02% 1.36% 8.43% 7.57%

Var. % response. Woman -6.94% -5.71% -4.84% 0.29% 6.91% 10.29%
Var. % resp. Man -14.13% 2.33% -5.24% 2.75% 10.32% 3.95%
Variac.% 1st 2nd/3rd 4th -16.42% -8.90% -9.74% 3.64% 16.35% 15.07%

132
 TECHNIQUE

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

-5.00%

-10.00%

-15.00%

-20.00%
Valuation

Men Women Global 1st 2nd/3rd 4th

Conclusions:

At the beginning of the course, we checked how there is no clear inclination in the
student body towards the appreciation of technique as a determinant in a work
of art. The most chosen level of valuation is the lower one, but there is no one
relevant difference with the other indicators. Between the value with a
percentage of responses lower, the second with 13.03%, and the highest, the
sixth with 19.75%, there is only a little more than six points difference.

Observing the differences by sex, we actually see that in boys it is the

the first value is the most chosen, while for girls it is the fifth. If
we observe the courses, we can appreciate that the figures that cause this
They are from the first three courses, while in the fourth, no one has chosen.
technique as the first inherent element of art.

At the end of the course, the trend to give less importance to technique is
makes it clearer. The most voted value is number five, barely differentiated.
of six, and the sum of both exceeds 50%. Furthermore, the difference between this
And the least voted value, number one, is already above twenty points.

Between girls and boys, there is no significant difference, although it is clearer in

the girls the difference between the last values and the first ones.

In this way, when analyzing the percentage of variation, we appreciate the

drop of the first three and the increase of the last three, being the
first value the one that varies the most.

133
In the graph, we see a curve very similar to the first one, the one corresponding to
beauty. It is a very clear upward curve and more pronounced also in the
orange line, the one related to the 1st and 2nd year courses at the beginning, placed in
comparison with 3rd and 4th at the end.

We can conclude with this:

• The students, after taking this method, tend to mostly

downplay the technique or skill required to perform a
work of art.

• The difference of opinion between the sexes on this topic is little.

relevant, although with a slight tendency in boys towards a
higher valuation.

134
 • that makes one reflect on something

CONCEPT START 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 12 9 4 9 10 6 50 108
1st ESO - MAN 9 4 8 13 17 7 58
2nd Year of ESO - WOMAN 16 15 14 12 10 3 70 134
2nd ESO - MAN 10 13 11 12 10 8 64
3rd ESO - WOMAN 44 40 14 9 4 5 116 187
3rd ESO - MAN 22 17 11 8 11 2 71
4th ESO - WOMAN 16 10 3 1 2 1 33 48
4th ESO - MAN 11 0 3 1 0 0 15

TOTALS 140 108 68 65 64 32 477

TOTAL WOMAN 88 74 35 31 26 15 269
TOTAL MEN 52 34 33 34 38 17 208
% total responses 29.35% 22.64% 14.26% 13.63% 13.42% 6.71%
% response. Total. Woman 32.71% 27.51% 13.01% 11.52% 9.67% 5.58%
% resp. Total Man 25.00% 16.35% 15.87% 16.35% 18.27% 8.17%
Subtotal 1st and 2nd 47 41 37 46 47 24 242
% 19.42% 16.94% 15.29% 19.01% 19.42% 9.92%

FINAL CONCEPT 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st ESO - WOMAN 18 10 3 8 2 0 41 95
1st Year of ESO - MAN 11 19 7 5 8 4 54
2nd ESO - WOMAN 11 12 7 6 1 3 40 97
2nd Year of ESO - MAN 13 13 9 8 8 6 57
3rd ESO - WOMAN 27 51 10 8 4 3 103 163
3rd Year of Secondary Education - MAN 17 16 7 9 6 5 60
4th ESO - WOMAN 29 25 4 1 0 1 60 74
4th ESO - MAN 9 3 1 1 0 0 14

TOTALS 135 149 48 46 29 22 429

TOTAL WOMAN 85 98 24 23 7 7 244
TOTAL MEN 50 51 24 23 22 15 185
% total responses 31.47% 34.73% 11.19% 10.72% 6.76% 5.13%
% resp. Total Woman 34.84% 40.16% 9.84% 9.43% 2.87% 2.87%
% resp. Total Man 27.03% 27.57% 12.97% 12.43% 11.89% 8.11%
Subtotal 3rd and 4th 82 95 22 19 10 9 237
% total responses 34.60% 40.08% 9.28% 8.02% 4.22% 3.80%

Variac. % responses 2.12% 12.09% -3.07% -2.90% -6.66% -1.58%

Var. % response. Woman 2.12% 12.65% -3.18% -2.10% -6.80% -2.71%
Var. % response. Man 2.03% 11.22% -2.89% -3.91% -6.38% -0.06%
Variac. 1st2nd/3rd4th 15.18% 23.14% -6.01% -10.99% -15.20% -6.12%

135
 CONCEPT

30.00%

25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

-5.00%

-10.00%

-15.00%

-20.00%
Valuation

Men Women Global 1st 2nd/3rd 4th

conclusions

At the beginning of the course, there is a trend towards valuing the concept or content.
of the artistic work over other elements, by almost thirty percent
one hundred of the students who choose the first value, which added to the second exceeds
50%. The percentages are clearly progressive, starting from the lower value,
the sixth, which is the least voted, with only 6.75%, the average values very
similar, and the second closest to the first.

The differences by sex are not decisive, but we can appreciate a

slightly higher rating from the girls. Observing the
percentages, we see that the second most voted value among the boys is the
fifth, breaking the general progression.

At the end of the course, the most chosen value is the second instead of the first. Without
embargo, both this value and the first one are not very differentiated and are rising,
which implies that the valuation of the concept in the work of art increases, and
now the sum of the first two values amounts to more than sixty percent
one hundred.

Among the boys, the percentages of these values remain below

the girls', but they maintain order.

The value that increases the most is, as we can see in the variation of
answers, the second. And the one that decreases the most, the fifth.

136
In the graph, we see the three lines corresponding to the two almost joined.
genders and the global, highlighting the little difference between the three. While
the orange line shows that, again, it displays the same trend but more
marked. Both the increase in the valuation of the first values and the
the decrease of the last ones is more exaggerated.

These curves resemble those of emotion, but with the peak at the
second value instead of the first.

We can thus conclude:

• Students, after this method of artistic education, tend to value

more the content of a work of art, its meaning, what it does
reflect. There is a higher number of students who consider it the
second most important element of the artistic work.

• The girls have given a little more value to this component of art than
the boys, but without significant differences.

137
 • that reflects what his era is like

START CONTEXT 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st ESO - WOMAN 8 11 8 10 5 8 50 108
1st ESO - MAN 6 15 6 11 12 8 58
2nd Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 10 12 17 11 7 13 70 134
2nd Grade of Secondary Education - MAN 1 8 10 17 12 16 64
3rd ESO - WOMAN 9 16 34 21 12 24 116 187
3rd ESO - MAN 5 10 8 17 14 17 71
4th ESO - WOMAN 3 6 5 5 7 7 33 48
4th ESO - MAN 2 2 3 4 1 3 15

TOTALS 44 80 91 96 70 96 477
TOTAL WOMAN 30 45 64 47 31 52 269

TOTAL MEN 14 35 27 49 39 44 208

% total responses 9.22% 16.77% 19.08% 20.13% 14.68% 20.13%

% resp. Total Woman 11.15% 16.73% 23.79% 17.47% 11.52% 19.33%

% resp. Total Man 6.73% 16.83% 12.98% 23.56% 18.75% 21.15%
Subtotal 1st and 2nd 25 46 41 49 36 45 242
% total responses 10.33% 19.01% 16.94% 20.25% 14.88% 18.60%

FINAL CONTEXT 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 1 6 11 8 5 10 41 95
1st Year of Secondary - MAN 6 7 15 18 5 3 54
2nd year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 5 5 6 5 12 7 40 97
2nd year of Compulsory Secondary Education - MAN
4 7 11 10 16 9 57
3rd ESO - WOMAN 4 7 30 23 12 27 103 163
3rd ESO - MAN 7 3 19 16 6 9 60
4th ESO - WOMAN 3 5 14 17 11 10 60 74
4th Year of ESO - MAN 0 2 3 1 6 2 14

TOTALS 30 42 109 98 73 77 429

TOTAL WOMAN 13 23 61 53 40 54 244

TOTAL MEN 17 19 48 45 33 23 185

% total responses 6.99% 9.79% 25.41% 22.84% 17.02% 17.95%

% resp. Total Woman 5.33% 9.43% 25.00% 21.72% 16.39% 22.13%

% resp. Total Man 9.19% 10.27% 25.95% 24.32% 17.84% 12.43%
Subtotal 3rd and 4th 14 17 66 57 35 48 237
% total responses 5.91% 7.17% 27.85% 24.05% 14.77% 20.25%

Variac. % responses -2.23% -6.98% 6.33% 2.72% 2.34% -2.18%

Var. % resp. Woman -5.82% -7.30% 1.21% 4.25% 4.87% 2.80%
Var. % response Male 2.46% -6.56% 12.97% 0.77% -0.91% -8.72%
Variac.% 1st 2nd/3rd 4th -4.42% -11.84% 10.91% 3.80% -0.11% 1.66%

138
 CONTEXT

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

-5.00%

-10.00%

-15.00%
Valuation

Men Women Global 1st 2nd/3rd 4th

Conclusions:

At the beginning of the course, we do not see a clear trend among the students towards a
grade or another form of assessment, in fact, a tie occurs between the two
most chosen values, four and six, with 20.13%; although there is a
greater tendency towards lower values.

The differences are so minimal that, among the girls, the most voted value is
the number three, which is the third in the totals, while in the boys it is
the four. This, as we say, does not contradict the general trend,
Well, the differences are not clear. The students do not clearly lean towards
give a low or high value to the fact that a work of art reflects how it is
context.

At the end of the course, we cannot say that there has been a clear change of
trend. The most chosen value becomes the third, which it already was in the
girls, and closely following is the value number four.

Both the first two values and the last one have fallen,
Focusing the votes, something more, on the average values.

We can observe the same trend in the graph. The curve is very
horizontal, except for a decrease in the number two value and the clear
rise of the value number three. We can also observe how the green line
corresponding to the boys is the one that oscillates the most.

139
The orange line, in this case, is quite similar to the others, so it does not
provides us with more data.

We can assume that, although it is not a very clear trend to value

more or less the context, the students have tended to organize their ideas,
placing the contextual aspects behind the emotional ones and the
argumentative, but before procedural or pleasurable aspects.

We can conclude:

• At the end of this artistic education method, the students give a

medium importance to the relationship that an artistic work should have with
its context, with a higher percentage of students who place it
in third place. This does not imply a significant difference with
regarding the prior opinion.

• There are no significant differences between sexes regarding this.

theme, although it is the boys who vary their opinion the most in the
final polls.

140
 • that it be innovative

INNOVATION START 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st ESO - WOMAN 8 4 6 3 6 23 50 108
1st ESO - MAN 7 7 9 10 7 18 58
2nd year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 8 5 9 13 13 22 70 134
2nd year of ESO - MAN 4 3 8 15 12 22 64
3rd ESO - WOMAN 4 9 19 31 26 27 116 187
3rd ESO - MAN 4 6 10 12 17 22 71
4th Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 1 4 7 9 6 6 33 48
4th ESO - MAN 1 0 1 2 3 8 15

TOTALS 37 38 69 95 90 148 477

TOTAL WOMEN 21 22 41 56 51 78 269
TOTAL MEN 16 16 28 39 39 70 208
% responses
totals 7.76% 7.97% 14.47% 19.92% 18.87% 31.03%
% resp. Total Woman 7.81% 8.18% 15.24% 20.82% 18.96% 29.00%
% resp. Total Man 7.69% 7.69% 13.46% 18.75% 18.75% 33.65%
Subtotal 1st and 2nd 27 19 32 41 38 85 242
% total responses 11.16% 7.85% 13.22% 16.94% 15.70% 35.12%

FINAL INNOVATION 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL

1st Year of Secondary Education - WOMAN 7 4 9 9 6 6 41 95
1st ESO - MAN 3 8 9 9 12 13 54
2nd ESO - WOMAN 2 2 8 8 11 9 40 97
2nd Year of Secondary Education - MAN 1 2 9 10 18 17 57
3rd year of ESO - WOMAN 5 13 29 24 16 16 103 163
3rd ESO - MAN 6 5 12 15 8 14 60
4th ESO - WOMAN 0 2 29 19 8 2 60 74
4th ESO - MAN 0 2 5 3 1 3 14

TOTALS 24 38 110 97 80 80 429

TOTAL WOMAN 14 21 75 60 41 33 244
TOTAL MEN 10 17 35 37 39 47 185
% answers
totals 5.59% 8.86% 25.64% 22.61% 18.65% 18.65%
% resp. Total Woman 5.74% 8.61% 30.74% 24.59% 16.80% 13.52%
% resp. Total Man 5.41% 9.19% 18.92% 20.00% 21.08% 25.41%
Subtotal 3rd and 4th 11 22 75 61 33 35 237
% total responses 4.64% 9.28% 31.65% 25.74% 13.92% 14.77%

Variac. %
answers -2.16% 0.89% 11.18% 2.69% -0.22% -12.38%
Var. % response. Woman -2.07% 0.43% 15.50% 3.77% -2.16% -15.47%
Var. % response. Man -2.29% 1.50% 5.46% 1.25% 2.33% -8.25%
Variac.% 1st 2nd/3rd 4th -6.52% 1.43% 18.42% 8.80% -1.78% -20.36%

141
 INNOVATION

25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

-5.00%

-10.00%

-15.00%

-20.00%

-25.00%
Valuation

Men Women Global 1st2nd/3rd4th

Conclusion:

At the beginning of the school year, students show a clear inclination not to
grant great importance to innovation in a work of art. More than
Thirty percent places this characteristic of the artwork in sixth place.
The percentages related to the other values are almost in progression.
from the least voted, number one with 7.76%, very similar to number
two, approximately double for three, and a little more for four and the
five

There are no differences between sexes that break this trend, we can only
appreciate how the number three appears with a slightly higher percentage
elevated among girls and value number six, something higher among boys.

At the end of the course, we see how the valuation that the students have increases.
it creates innovation. The most chosen value becomes the third, followed by the
fourth.

We can now see a difference by sex, so that the

girls clearly show this trend, while in boys, it
it continues to be the most chosen, the value number six.

The greatest variation in responses occurs in the value number six, which
decreases by more than twelve points, followed by the value number three which increases
more than eleven points.

In boys, although these are also the two values that fluctuate the most,
we see that they do it to a lesser extent.

142
The graph shows this trend with the four curves very close together and barely
differentiated in the third value, which is the one that students in general pass
to value more. We also see how the decrease in values is accentuated.
inferiors, with the number six being the one that decreases the most.

We can thus conclude:

• After these arts education courses, the students' opinion

towards the importance of innovation or originality of a
work of art, increases. 25.64% chose this feature as the
third in value.

• The boys have been slightly more reluctant than the girls.
to change his opinion.

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V. CONCLUSIONS

We began the argumentation of our thesis by reflecting on the

distance of a large part of society from artistic manifestations
contemporary project and we have proposed with this project to demonstrate that a
an approach to these works is not only possible, but also provides numerous
educational benefits.

We have focused on the subject of Plastic and Visual Education in the

courses corresponding to compulsory secondary education. In this
stage, adolescence, cognitive development involves a large amount of decision making
of decisions and the art begins to be attended only by those who have already chosen
for an artistic training.

We have argued, however, that a change of attitude towards art more

recent can provide very cognitive and emotional experiences
positive, as the contemplation and reflection on artistic works
they constitute an ideal vehicle for addressing everyday problems and
address them from different perspectives. In our project, we have
intended to bring the topics addressed by the artists closer to the interests
daily lives of the students, so that the debate about the processes
artistic skills can be transferred to the questions that the teenager faces
he/she reflects on his/her own training.

Objections to the project

Mainly due to the time elapsed between the project's design and its
In conclusion, new developments have emerged in the field of didactics.
like in the artistic that makes us think about the convenience of certain
changes if the project were to be put into practice again.

Thus, despite being adjusted to the most recent changes based on art
postmodern both in its conception and in its methodology, the design
the curriculum on which the sequence is based has become somewhat outdated. For
updating it would require reviewing, more than the general objectives that we
we initially marked the content of the thematic units and their
distribution.

On the other hand, the approach towards social constructionism that we pointed out
timidly in this design could be made more prominent. The practices
the most recent artistic movements also point in this direction
that focus on cultural and sexual diversity, the mismatches
economic issues or education in values are becoming more frequent.

144
 We believe, in any case, that these changes could be complementary.
and that they would not transform the foundation of the project. Our intention to contribute
reflection strategies about the environment is precisely the most important to
the time to learn from artistic experience and to apply it
learning as social beings.

The conclusions according to the polls

The surveys conducted have been based on the six aspects extracted from
argued concept of art, that is, in art as an aesthetic form, the
emotional expression, the procedures, the concept or idea, the relationship with
its social and cultural context and the capacity for inquiry and innovation.

We have already discussed the conclusions of the responses to each section of the
survey so that we can now make a comparison that allows us
draw more general conclusions.

We observed that one of our main interests, that of making it clear to

student how art is not necessarily a pleasure for the senses, it has been
substantially achieved and the students have mostly moved on to
question this aspect as a determinant in a work of art.

We consider that the idea is socially quite widespread that the

artistic work does not aim for beauty understood as the main objective
more 'classic' sense of the word, although this does not translate
necessarily in an acceptance of what is not harmonious or 'beautiful' as
art. We can observe this incongruity in some surveys of the
first courses in which this aspect is not valued in the
questionnaire, but when asking the students about their idea of art, they explain that
It must be something beautiful. These incongruences are no longer common in the
end-of-term surveys not even in higher courses.

The importance given to the expression of emotions is accentuated, but

it also started from a very favorable opinion. We cannot argue,
therefore, that the method applied has served to significantly vary
this point and perhaps we should consider here that we are in the phase
defined by Parsons as that of 'expressiveness', or the third phase, in which the
the viewer understands art as something very subjective, which stems from a
inner need. In any case, there is a greater clarity in the
favorable opinion towards this term.

The assessment given to the mastery of procedures is one of those that

more variations occur between the beginning and the end of the course. The student goes through
clearly downplaying the importance of manual skill in favor of others
aspects of the work.

The evolution of the evaluation of the capacity of the artistic work of

providing reflective content is less clear. The initial surveys already
they show a high appreciation for this aspect, less high than at the end of the
surveys but even surpassing the emotion. We could consider whether in
the first courses the student is not in the phase called second because
Parsons, in which the value given to the subject is higher. Thus,
students would have moved to a third phase in which this aspect continues

145
 being important, even more so, but not above the capacity
expressive.

The importance given to context is one of the aspects that least

varies between the beginning and the end of the course. It is true that they are reduced
minimal values but we cannot draw significant conclusions. Perhaps
the idea of context as such is not well understood by the students of this
educational level or do not quite know how to locate this aspect within the
concept of art.

The sense of innovation is indeed more valued clearly at the end of this.
project, so we can conclude that it has been conveyed to the
students show a somewhat more open attitude towards the novelty that suggests
contemporary works of art. This aspect, in any case, does not
consider among the clearly most important ones that are emotion and the
concept.

We can generally highlight that the concept that students have of it

what art is varies positively, overcoming some prejudices about the
overvaluation of less determining aspects and opening up towards
possible innovations.

The conclusions according to the activities

The set of activities carried out by the students does not differ from a
an obvious way in which other students could have done without
apply this method. However, the use of the debate about art
contemporary that has taken place in the classroom has been of great use for the
selection of work processes and the acquisition of content in a way
more flexible and with more possibilities of application.

When faced with a problem or activity, whether it is the creation of a

image with a specific intention or the application of certain content
learned, the students must put their creativity into action and it happens with
frequency that simply waits for "something to come to mind". When presenting in
the classroom different creative processes, the student has found references
that, without being a copy, have been able to show her ways for her to arise
ideas and then carry them out.

We see references to artists who have been exhibited in many activities.

in class, but do not copy. It has been intended, and in large part it has been so,
it is the way of composing or working that has been followed and not the
result.

We have also been able to observe the approach of their creations to

intimate problems and those of their environment. The expression of their own emotions,
concerns and interests are reflected in their work, which has
provided a means to question these matters and reflect on
them. The contextual reflection, both of the artistic works and of the
its own, we believe it has borne fruit.

The multiplicity of styles, works, and creation processes that have been contributed
has allowed that, especially in the fourth year of high school, the solutions to the

146
 problems have been very varied. This shows the flexibility developed
to devise different inquiry processes, to change from
procedures, materials, and resources according to intention, even for
apply what has been learned to different problems. We have observed with pleasure
that, in response to a certain exercise, the student has remembered ways of
to face it related to artists different from those that were proposed, but that
at that moment they were the ones providing the possible solution.

In addition to the described cognitive benefits, one of the main achievements

it is the approach to a current culture, of our time. The students have
stopped being amazed by the novel and, to a greater or lesser extent, it
feels empowered to experience a work that goes beyond the
parameters of the images you are used to seeing.

The conclusions according to the objectives of the teaching project

Recalling the objectives we set in our educational project1,

we said that the students should:

• Interpret the different aesthetic values, not always in accordance with

the ideals of beauty imposed by the media, tradition or
sectors of society, understanding them as representation of
ideologies and attitudes that can be decoded.

We believe that the fact that students value the content and the
expressive values above sensations like pleasure or
technical virtuosity reflects a great achievement in this regard. Through the
debates and activities, the students have been able to acquire
strategies for interpreting images and knowing what questions to ask
before a work that is unknown.

• Assess the capacity of contemporary art for expression

emotional and its playful possibilities, as well as the stimulation
about the aesthetic feeling, but linked to a reflection that allows
the interpretation of these expressions.

Thanks to the continuity of the visualization of contemporary works, the

students have been forgetting prejudices, which has allowed them a greater
enjoyment and use of the artistic experience. Both in the
activities like in the surveys, we can see the high appreciation of it
affective and emotional in the artistic act.

• Understanding artistic works as an open process,

formal, expressive, and cognitive values related to
your environment, without prejudices and without overvaluing the techniques and
skills.

Open debates have allowed for varied responses to the same

artistic manifestation, with what we consider that the students have
started to understand that artistic works are not closed in their

1
Section "III.2. Objectives of the didactic project", pp.85-87.

147
 meaning and expression, and that its creation process responds to intention
to create these cultural meanings or symbols.

• "Understanding art as a method of knowledge that leads to the

reflection on human concerns, in which the
the construction of meanings is established through creation,
perception and reflection on the works and their processes.

One of our main interests has been to relate the processes

creatives of the artists with those used by the students. In each debate
these processes have been confronted with everyday concerns of
student and these concerns have been reflected in the activities. From
way we see how students can value the concepts of the
works of art and feel the artistic work as something closer that helps them
to know oneself.

• "Understanding the values of art as something versatile, different in "} vez

different eras, related to their time, since they are their
reflection and at the same time influence it, but with the possibility of being
appreciated differently depending on individuals and the
contexts.

The relationship of art with its historical time, its social and cultural context is
something that has been attempted to be shown in the debates, but that is not always
perceived by the students due to their lack of historical perspective at this age.
However, in his activities and comments we can observe the
reflection of its closest environment and the introduction of reflections on the
social structure.

• "To experience the contemplation and reflection that the works provide"
artistic, valuing their innovative character as a consequence
of an inquiry and a process in accordance with a context.

Both through activities and reactions to works of art

contemporary, we can observe that the students have evolved
positively towards greater tolerance and acceptance of the new, and has
started to understand the works as a result of such an important process
How are you?

We believe that a great advancement has been made towards the achievement of
our most general objective: 'to understand art as an interactive process'
between the individual, artist, and context, which is established through the work and that
allows both emotion and reflection, influenced by the concerns of a
environment.

Final conclusions

The main objective of our thesis was to bring contemporary art closer to the
compulsory secondary education and check its contribution to development
cognitive and the knowledge of current culture. We consider that we have
offered arguments to conclude that the benefits of this project
Didactic ones are important.

148
On one hand, artistic processes are presented to us as mental processes.
that have helped students develop different skills. Both the
creativity as the flexibility for problem solving and the
knowledge transfer to other fields has benefited.

On the other hand, a way has been offered to approach the artistic fact.
contemporary. The assimilation of a previously strange culture, despite being
the own, is perhaps one of the main achievements. It may be that
students, when faced with a contemporary work of art, can assimilate it with
greater or lesser critical spirit, to experience it to a greater or lesser degree, but
At least, it will no longer seem so strange to him and he will have some minimum clues.
to know what one should ask when faced with something unfamiliar.

Ultimately, the prejudices that the students had about the concept of
art have been seen positively varied, towards a more tolerant concept,
more open and with more possibilities to experience art as something
everyday and useful for life, like a path to get to know ourselves
ourselves and our environment, and to do it while enjoying, with tolerance and with
freedom.

149
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