Ellis Bartholomeus
Making Space to Get Perspectives by Sharing Perspectives: Creating a playful tool for higher art education
“That’s kind of what it feels like: there are these props, these toys, and if you pick them up, you can move into some new thinking and a new set of relationships, a new way of being together, thinking together. In the end, it’s the new way of being together and thinking together that’s important, and not the tool, not the prop. Or, the prop is important only insofar as it allows you to enter, but once you’re there, it’s the relation and the activity that you want to emphasise.”
(Stefano Harney and Fred Moten, ‘The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study’, p. 106)
This research started off by my being intrigued with the ambiguous role that assessment plays in art education. I asked myself: Why, when and how do we judge or are we being judged as one of the instruments in learning in/with art? I designed several prototypes and experiments to untangle the complexity at stake. This resulted in the development of a game, a playful dialogical tool, to facilitate a delicate conversation between all stakeholders involved in assessment, so that all those involved can feel heard in their need to perform.
In this game, the players are the ones who make the magic happen; and a game is just one tool in many that can contribute to the process of studying. Most crucial is to care for trust: what is prepared and framed by the institute should be communicated and questioned transparently at the right moment with the right people. There is interplay in context and content, but what is most important to learn from is the interplay between people. The interplay between stakeholders (e.g., students and teachers) toward a joined agreed result has yet to be defined. This uncertain end is scary and vulnerable, yet exciting at the same time.
Thesis: