The research-project "Creating responsible aesthetic experience situations" is about the multidimensional and future-oriented transformation of art education with the aim of innovation, internationality, and highest quality in responsible, sustainable artistic design (analog/digital, participative, interactive, per-formative), research and teaching. These considerations refer to a contemporary, future-oriented positioning of art education as a multi-part aesthetic experience situation, the art and educational sciences and current artistic strategy amid groundbreaking changes in analog and digital artistic forms of expression, society (cultural change) and education (personality development through aesthetic education) (Winner/Wenrich 2023). In addition to the linking of analog and digital production, communication and mediation processes, the areas of augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) are particularly important for the transformation of art education. The latter fields of design and work are used in art as well as in basic and applied research at colleges and universities and are fundamental for the development of responsible aesthetic situations of experience as spaces of sustainable and future-oriented mediation.

The following project steps are named for the development and implementation of this project:

• Promotion of sustainable artistic practice, teaching and action-oriented epistemic configurations (Rheinberger 2007) through innovative artistic strategies, teaching and research programs.
• Implementation of an active and critical examination of, among other things, social and ecological issues in the context of art and education.
• Linking arts practitioners, teachers and researchers to build a strong and diverse research and working group.
• Develop responsible aesthetic spaces of experience for artistic, intellectual, and scientific inquiry (Dewey 1988)

The project includes the conception and implementation of responsible, innovative, and future-oriented strategies for a multi-part research, teaching and transfer project with the aim of acting collaboratively in an international research consortium. The linking of art and educational science in the field of tension between analog and digital artistic forms of expression and design (here: from hand drawing to digital image production, gamification, and AI) and artistic research also combines overall social responsibility (for education) and educational policy signal setting.

The considerations connect to already existing international teaching and research cooperation of the project partners. For this purpose, internationally cooperative project networks from universities, schools, and non-school educational contexts (e. g. museums, consulting agencies) are included. The aim is to develop standards, curricula and media-supported teaching and learning strategies in the sense of a changemaker approach (Loffredo/Wenrich et al. 2022), based on theory and on international research findings for responsible art education in the 21st century as a culture of knowledge (Knorr-Cetina 2002). Within the framework of empirical and artistic research, indicators for the conception and implementation of responsive art and cultural education and for new study programs to be developed are to be developed.

The project includes the development of an overall concept that, now that the first quarter of the 21st century is almost complete, brings together themes and frameworks that are relevant to art education, the arts, and society. The predominantly alarming and crisis-based justification of art education as a normative phenomenon in recent years is to be abandoned in favor of a formative reframing of art and educational science for the framing of a new normal. 

From the beginning, it seems relevant to be able to rely on an awareness of comparative-historical developmental strands of previous art education (Winner/Wenrich 2023). In this context, the Anglo-American area and its numerous historical, methodological links play a central role as a frame of orientation. Existing preliminary work and research findings will be incorporated into the overall concept (e. g. Wenrich 2020, Wenrich/Knebel 2021).

Art education, as art and education science (Art & Education), finds itself in the current 21st century in a clearly recognizable situation of upheaval. It is becoming increasingly apparent that art instruction in schools and art education at universities and art colleges are based on non-contemporary curricula (cf: Art history teaching based on a Eurocentric canon, as a history of innovation and style instead of parallel developments of different forms of artistic expression, viewing and researching creative output as visual cultures, recognizing concepts such as global art as a hegemonic project) and little precise standards that can likewise no longer be considered contemporary (Wagner 2023). Often, art classes are cancelled, or they are taught by non-subject teachers. These are usually driven by the notion of limiting the already reduced art instruction to the bare minimum. This leads to a continuing loss of status and quality of art instruction, which cannot be compensated for in the foreseeable future. The extent to which art instruction can be maintained as a fixed component of school timetables then remains questionable. Here, the focus is on visual practice and the teaching of basic knowledge of art history. The latter follow a conception of a Euro-centered canon, which recapitulates the well-known masterpieces of primarily male artists in observations. A diversity-sensitive or culturally responsive art education or the discussion of the social relevance of artists and their works are not in the foreground. This is where the project "Development of Responsible Aesthetic Situations of Experience" comes in. In addition to a historical-comparative view of the developments in art education with special consideration of existing findings in the international literature, also from the educational sciences, the concept is linked to the concept of the digital humanities.

Analog and digital media, the teaching of their responsible, sustainable use and their use in research and teaching are included. This takes place in a flowing transition; the necessary knowledge is acquired exploratively. Theory and practice are combined, and the sustainable use of the acquired knowledge is ensured. Digitality and different, theoretically based conceptions of education are woven into the overall conception together with the consideration of values and basic ethical concepts. The focus of an art education for the 21^st century is based on the foundations of the so-called 21^st Century Skills, which consider critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration. In a next step, already existing concepts for image reading competence are applied in school as well as in extracurricular contexts. All in all, it becomes clear that trans-formation means rethinking art education, art pedagogy and art teaching. In the sense of sustainability from an ecological perspective, the focus is on "super-green art education", the aim of which is to consider and continuously weigh up the use of different materials in the conception of teaching and learning environments for art education, in visual practice, and in the respective tasks and teaching situations.

The Eurocentric canon of art history education mentioned above and conveyed so far will be examined regarding the work of historical artists. The central point of view must be opened from the hitherto predominantly European perspective, from which an inter- and transcultural art education as responsible art education with a view to art and visual cultures emerges. All insights gained and added by the research will be evaluated by researchers, teachers, and artists as critical friends. Findings from inter- and transdisciplinary research in the fields of art, psychology, education, sociology, and philosophy are united in the overall concept. Creativity (Amabile 1996) and entrepreneurship represent further components of a transformation of art and educational science. Finally, the critical discourse on art, art practitioners, and art science contours art mediation for the 21st century, which discusses phenomena of disruption, different dispositives (Foucault), artistic creation, and the space of art as hetero- and dystopia. In relation to the whole mediation process, responsivity and affordance, resilience, sustainability, responsibility and social justice, mindfulness, inclusion, cultural diversity, find application in this diverse framing (Wenrich 2023).

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Rainer Wenrich

Running time: Starts autumn 2023

Funding: Third-Party funded

The research and publication project in collaboration with Ellen Winner (Boston College/Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education) is a historical comparative study of international art education with a focus on the Anglo-American context. The project is taking place at a time when art education and the associated teaching of art in schools, as well as art education in extracurricular settings, are undergoing a significant transformation that will have an impact on future educational concepts and curricula. Art education and the associated academic and school subject are closely linked to the major issues within the educational context of our time and to all future developments in the education system. These include, among others: digital transformation, digitality and education, visual literacy, transcultural art education, resilience, responsiveness, sustainability, and responsibility.
The relevant literature on the history of art education in the US mentions that the influences of German-speaking art education have been clearly visible since the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nevertheless, the histories of German-speaking and American art education are mostly documented in parallel. American art education has been influenced by numerous factors from the German-speaking world. These are documented in a central location and can be found in the works of renowned authors such as Arthur Efland, Peter Smith, and Ellen Winner (most recently in 2022). In German-speaking research on art education, however, there have been only isolated references to prominent representatives of Anglo-American art education. Anglo-American literature on the history of art education often points out that essential German-language sources could not be consulted because the language barrier made it impossible to examine these texts in detail.

Directors: Prof. Dr. Rainer Wenrich, Prof. Dr. Ellen Winner (Boston College, Harvard Graduate School of Education)

Duration: 2022-2024

Funded by: Bavarian Science Alliance

In collaboration with dancer and choreographer Alan Brooks, dance projects are being designed and implemented in Bavarian schools. The scientific support focuses on the following areas: personality development through aesthetic education, physical experience in space, and spatial representation skills of children and adolescents. Quantitative and qualitative data is collected on an item basis and addresses the participating students (N= approx. 1200) and the supervising teachers (N= approx. 400) after the completion of each project.

Head: Prof. Dr. Rainer Wenrich, AkadDin Petia Knebel, Alan Brooks

Duration: Since 2017

Funded by: Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture
 

Within the framework of the aesthetic experience contexts “Three-dimensional design” and “Spatial experience” (sculpture and body in space), continuing education formats for teachers are being designed and implemented. To this end, teachers' assessments of continuing education formats, didactic-methodological application and dissemination, and aesthetic experience are collected and evaluated.

Head: AkadDin Petia Knebel, Prof. Dr. Rainer Wenrich

Duration: Since 2018

Funded by: Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture

We support our international art education research partner Spoke Context in providing invigorating education through public art and a powerful, public-facing medium for artistic expression and the use of analogue and digital media. Our projects are created within the specific context of each community to encourage youth to equitably contribute to the cultural landscape and exercise civic voice. Our chair and lab has taken over the scientific monitoring of this project. Within this framework we developed a conceptual framework and take over the evaluation of the project using qualitative and quantitative empirical research methods.

Project-Leader: Elif Ucan M. A. (Founder of Spoke Context), Prof. Dr. Rainer Wenrich (KU)

Running time: Since 2020 ongoing

Funding: Third-Party funded