It is your life - Ludwig Museum program
Coordinator: Zsófia Somogyi-Rohonczy
Partners and teachers: Barbara Nagy, Laura Somogyi, Zoltán Pólya, Angéla Vincze, Eszter Wolf
Schools: Burattino Primary School, József Attila AMI, Tandem Secundary School, Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Central Special Children’s Home
Partners and teachers: Barbara Nagy, Laura Somogyi, Zoltán Pólya, Angéla Vincze, Eszter Wolf
Schools: Burattino Primary School, József Attila AMI, Tandem Secundary School, Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Central Special Children’s Home
Context
Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art
The Collection of the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art Budapest is based on the donation of the German collector couple Irene and Peter Ludwig. In 1989, the Hungarian Republic became the owner of 70 artworks from the Aachen Ludwig Foundation. The Permanent Collection is successfully rearranged year by year, based on the concept of the collecting mission that focuses on social and artistic issues of the Central European region and is focused on the art world of the 60s and 70s. The interest of Irene and Peter Ludwig can also be discovered both in the Hungarian and the international collection. Living and acting on the periphery is still a relevant question in our region. Therefore, this comparative approach manifests itself in the exhibition strategy of the Ludwig Museum even today. In harmony with the Central European focus, political question of the area is highly represented in the Ludwig Museum. The museum educational activities are focusing on disadvantaged visitors: visually impaired, physically disabled, people with understanding disability or social disadvantage.
Colleagues are working for developing interpretative materials in the Center for Contemporary Art Education and Methodology and manage professional events to built up a strong community with teachers and museum educators who are dedicated to teaching contemporary art.
The coopertion of the Ludwig Museum and the Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Central Special Children’s Home was a great challenge in the AMASS program. The three main activities of this correctional institution are reformatory education, pre-trial detention of juvenile offenders and special home care (for forsaken or endangered in their families children). The invited artists (TUU133 artists’ collaborative – Laura Somogyi and Eszter Wolf) and the museum educator (Zsófia Somogyi-Rohonczy) spent more than 3 months with seven young girls at the pre-trial detention department. The girls were not allowed to leave the institution; therefore, they could not visit the museum and have a personal experience with the artworks. The young girls spent months in the institution till their trial, and were confronted with many uncertainties. They came from different families, committed diverse crimes, some of them had to leave their child being when arrested. However, arts-based interventions can help a lot in this intensive and strained emotional atmosphere and give a chance to express fears and problems.
Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art
The Collection of the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art Budapest is based on the donation of the German collector couple Irene and Peter Ludwig. In 1989, the Hungarian Republic became the owner of 70 artworks from the Aachen Ludwig Foundation. The Permanent Collection is successfully rearranged year by year, based on the concept of the collecting mission that focuses on social and artistic issues of the Central European region and is focused on the art world of the 60s and 70s. The interest of Irene and Peter Ludwig can also be discovered both in the Hungarian and the international collection. Living and acting on the periphery is still a relevant question in our region. Therefore, this comparative approach manifests itself in the exhibition strategy of the Ludwig Museum even today. In harmony with the Central European focus, political question of the area is highly represented in the Ludwig Museum. The museum educational activities are focusing on disadvantaged visitors: visually impaired, physically disabled, people with understanding disability or social disadvantage.
Colleagues are working for developing interpretative materials in the Center for Contemporary Art Education and Methodology and manage professional events to built up a strong community with teachers and museum educators who are dedicated to teaching contemporary art.
The coopertion of the Ludwig Museum and the Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Central Special Children’s Home was a great challenge in the AMASS program. The three main activities of this correctional institution are reformatory education, pre-trial detention of juvenile offenders and special home care (for forsaken or endangered in their families children). The invited artists (TUU133 artists’ collaborative – Laura Somogyi and Eszter Wolf) and the museum educator (Zsófia Somogyi-Rohonczy) spent more than 3 months with seven young girls at the pre-trial detention department. The girls were not allowed to leave the institution; therefore, they could not visit the museum and have a personal experience with the artworks. The young girls spent months in the institution till their trial, and were confronted with many uncertainties. They came from different families, committed diverse crimes, some of them had to leave their child being when arrested. However, arts-based interventions can help a lot in this intensive and strained emotional atmosphere and give a chance to express fears and problems.
Objectives
Identify good practices: we revealed the advantages and difficulties in the cooperation between school and museum and supported the development of teamwork among artists and educators.
Use ontemporary art as a “creative illustration” for the communication of actual problems: we can call public attention to current social issues through the artworks.
Disseminate knowledge about contemporary art as teaching tool at our teacher training courses: we offered new perspectives and inspiration for experienced teachers strengthen their motivation for teaching.
We developed art literacy that our courses developed offers an effective platform for speaking about complex and difficult issues.
We increased self-knowledge and self-consciousness with the recognition that they can be creative
We built up a supporting community by the collaborative painting and other creative activities. These led to a recognition of the power of supporting each other and individual responsibility.
A bi-directional learning process: museum educators and teachers also learnt a lot from the participants and gained new perspectives about youth, especially Roma children. The strong collaboration between teachers and museum educators ensured a deeper understanding of the educational context of art education.
Identify good practices: we revealed the advantages and difficulties in the cooperation between school and museum and supported the development of teamwork among artists and educators.
Use ontemporary art as a “creative illustration” for the communication of actual problems: we can call public attention to current social issues through the artworks.
Disseminate knowledge about contemporary art as teaching tool at our teacher training courses: we offered new perspectives and inspiration for experienced teachers strengthen their motivation for teaching.
We developed art literacy that our courses developed offers an effective platform for speaking about complex and difficult issues.
We increased self-knowledge and self-consciousness with the recognition that they can be creative
We built up a supporting community by the collaborative painting and other creative activities. These led to a recognition of the power of supporting each other and individual responsibility.
A bi-directional learning process: museum educators and teachers also learnt a lot from the participants and gained new perspectives about youth, especially Roma children. The strong collaboration between teachers and museum educators ensured a deeper understanding of the educational context of art education.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: The Trialogical Learning Model
Media pieces are created in a collaborative environment, where the roles of mentor and mentee, teacher and student are not hierarchical. While learning, joint knowledge is built and shared among a group or community. Knowledge building interactions enable participants to experience creativity development supported by group interactions, inspiring them to grow.
We apply the Trialogical Learning Model to invite tutors and learners to develop, transform or create artifacts, realizing shared knowledge and media objects. Trialogical learning focuses on the interaction, not the final product and engages participants in collaborative creativity not just between the learner and the teachers ("dialogical approach"), or within one's mind ("monological" approach). Combining digital technologies with traditional means of expression supports the Trialogical learning design: digital tools enable the transmission of knowledge from individual learner’s knowledge to a communal knowledge repository: media channels on Hungarian Roma culture.
Media pieces are created in a collaborative environment, where the roles of mentor and mentee, teacher and student are not hierarchical. While learning, joint knowledge is built and shared among a group or community. Knowledge building interactions enable participants to experience creativity development supported by group interactions, inspiring them to grow.
We apply the Trialogical Learning Model to invite tutors and learners to develop, transform or create artifacts, realizing shared knowledge and media objects. Trialogical learning focuses on the interaction, not the final product and engages participants in collaborative creativity not just between the learner and the teachers ("dialogical approach"), or within one's mind ("monological" approach). Combining digital technologies with traditional means of expression supports the Trialogical learning design: digital tools enable the transmission of knowledge from individual learner’s knowledge to a communal knowledge repository: media channels on Hungarian Roma culture.
Participants
Students
Children with different types of disadvantages (social challenges, learning and integration problems).
Primary and secondary school groups:
14 children, mostly of Roma origin from the Burattino Primary School (13-14 years old) mainly from Children’s Homes (state care), and 18 students from the Tandem Secondary Grammar School (16-17 years old). The flexible timetable in these schools ensures that the comforting atmosphere and personal development opportunities fits their needs and ability. The curriculum contains traditional art and visual culture lessons, without an emphasis on contemporary art and no museum visits. The visual art classes give free vent to instinctive creativity, but without enough time for creation, conscious observation and understanding. After the first occasions, we perceived the interest in the children for the artworks and also their reluctance for creative activities. They were not used to employ their subject knowledge in analysing artworks. Therefore, the first step was to show them that they knew more about the historical background of the artworks than they had believed before.
Young girls in the Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Central Special Children’s Home:
• 6 girls out of 7 came from Roma families, but just a few of them can speak their traditional language and have limited knowledge about their traditions
• 1 of them used to draw as a leisure activity before the course
• nobody had any previous experiences in painting with acrylic or oil painting
• nobody had been interested in contemporary art or had visited any museums before the course
• in the pre-trial detention, they have to learn at the school of the centre and observe the regulations – the art program meant a special event for them, a period of freedom
Professional partners:
Eszter Wolf and Laura Sipos are two Hungarian painters who have formed the Tuu133 collaboration to integrate their painting practice with their communal, arts-based participatory activities, educational research, and other process based art experiences. The Tuu133 collaboration is at the same time a creative artistic process, a form of shared thinking and living, and making creations accessible to others. The artists have developed and executed the arts-based intervention program at the Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Special Children’s Home.
Students
Children with different types of disadvantages (social challenges, learning and integration problems).
Primary and secondary school groups:
14 children, mostly of Roma origin from the Burattino Primary School (13-14 years old) mainly from Children’s Homes (state care), and 18 students from the Tandem Secondary Grammar School (16-17 years old). The flexible timetable in these schools ensures that the comforting atmosphere and personal development opportunities fits their needs and ability. The curriculum contains traditional art and visual culture lessons, without an emphasis on contemporary art and no museum visits. The visual art classes give free vent to instinctive creativity, but without enough time for creation, conscious observation and understanding. After the first occasions, we perceived the interest in the children for the artworks and also their reluctance for creative activities. They were not used to employ their subject knowledge in analysing artworks. Therefore, the first step was to show them that they knew more about the historical background of the artworks than they had believed before.
Young girls in the Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Central Special Children’s Home:
• 6 girls out of 7 came from Roma families, but just a few of them can speak their traditional language and have limited knowledge about their traditions
• 1 of them used to draw as a leisure activity before the course
• nobody had any previous experiences in painting with acrylic or oil painting
• nobody had been interested in contemporary art or had visited any museums before the course
• in the pre-trial detention, they have to learn at the school of the centre and observe the regulations – the art program meant a special event for them, a period of freedom
Professional partners:
Eszter Wolf and Laura Sipos are two Hungarian painters who have formed the Tuu133 collaboration to integrate their painting practice with their communal, arts-based participatory activities, educational research, and other process based art experiences. The Tuu133 collaboration is at the same time a creative artistic process, a form of shared thinking and living, and making creations accessible to others. The artists have developed and executed the arts-based intervention program at the Rákospalota Correctional Institute and Special Children’s Home.
Methodology
Museum education programs:
The systematic work with the Time Maschine exhibition was planned according to these topics: personal identity, modern city life and memories, minority and majority society. Each thematic unit consisted of three elements: a preparatory lesson in school, a museum program, and a follow-up lesson in school. Each program was built on the other, based on continuous consultation and evaluation discussions between the museum educator and the teacher.
The program was linked to age-appropriate primary and secondary school curricula and emphasized developing skills such as independent learning and creative work, group work, association, and visual and verbal expression.
The program began with an interactive guided tour of the Ludwig Museum's Time Machine exhibition with each group, where we observed which works caught their attention. Based on these impressions, the original program was modified. During the museum program, there was no expectation or obligation to create your own works of art, but rather an emphasis on experiencing the artworks personally. The creation of objects was carried out in the school environment, in the context of the discussion lessons to broaden and deepen knowledge about contemporary art.
The program in Rákospalota needed a different methodology. We had to prepare the participants in four workshops to paint and be brave to work with contemporary art. The second part of the program (6 workshops at the institution) was dedicated to the methodology of drama therapy and to create the final result, the collaborative painting exhibited on the show.
Museum education programs:
The systematic work with the Time Maschine exhibition was planned according to these topics: personal identity, modern city life and memories, minority and majority society. Each thematic unit consisted of three elements: a preparatory lesson in school, a museum program, and a follow-up lesson in school. Each program was built on the other, based on continuous consultation and evaluation discussions between the museum educator and the teacher.
The program was linked to age-appropriate primary and secondary school curricula and emphasized developing skills such as independent learning and creative work, group work, association, and visual and verbal expression.
The program began with an interactive guided tour of the Ludwig Museum's Time Machine exhibition with each group, where we observed which works caught their attention. Based on these impressions, the original program was modified. During the museum program, there was no expectation or obligation to create your own works of art, but rather an emphasis on experiencing the artworks personally. The creation of objects was carried out in the school environment, in the context of the discussion lessons to broaden and deepen knowledge about contemporary art.
The program in Rákospalota needed a different methodology. We had to prepare the participants in four workshops to paint and be brave to work with contemporary art. The second part of the program (6 workshops at the institution) was dedicated to the methodology of drama therapy and to create the final result, the collaborative painting exhibited on the show.
Major results - skills development and attitude change
Research questions and answers
How can museum education school-based learning be integrated?
The cooperation of teachers and museum educators, the units we jointly developed for the school lessons, and the museum visits could prove that it is possible to organize more and more museum learning sessions in collaboration with educational institutions. The attitude of the students and teachers during the program became more and more favourable, despite the organisational difficulties.
Can art help to elaborate traumas and find new perspectives for the future?
Although art is not a wonder substance to undo past mistakes or grievances, it can create an open and safe environment where participants can open up more quickly during the creative process (e.g. painting, teamwork), and may arrive at a deepened state of consciousness. Regardless of the work's quality, the paintings facilitate a deeper understanding of the maker and can therefore be used as an analytical tool for child and youth support professionals.
How can we share our experiences in the most effective way?
Learning from a creative process and sharing our experiences is the most effective way to disseminate the methodologies of art education. The accredited teacher training demonstrated that incredible intellectual resources of educators are not sufficiently utilized in our country, and that collaborative knowledge construction is the best form for peer learning.
- Enhanced visual literacy: ability to observe artworks and express personal option
- Positive self-image as individuals with important thoughts and ideas, who are entitled to form an opinion about art
- Self-consciousness and faith: they can reflect on an artwork in a creative way, even if they are not an artist
- Learn about art as self-care: experience with the positive impact of artmaking, and recognize art as a medium to work with emotions, communicate fears, traumas and desires
- Finding their voice: art can be the “place” where everybody is able to have a personal opinion, and the others have to respect these ideas, even if they do not come from a curators or an art historian.
Research questions and answers
How can museum education school-based learning be integrated?
The cooperation of teachers and museum educators, the units we jointly developed for the school lessons, and the museum visits could prove that it is possible to organize more and more museum learning sessions in collaboration with educational institutions. The attitude of the students and teachers during the program became more and more favourable, despite the organisational difficulties.
Can art help to elaborate traumas and find new perspectives for the future?
Although art is not a wonder substance to undo past mistakes or grievances, it can create an open and safe environment where participants can open up more quickly during the creative process (e.g. painting, teamwork), and may arrive at a deepened state of consciousness. Regardless of the work's quality, the paintings facilitate a deeper understanding of the maker and can therefore be used as an analytical tool for child and youth support professionals.
How can we share our experiences in the most effective way?
Learning from a creative process and sharing our experiences is the most effective way to disseminate the methodologies of art education. The accredited teacher training demonstrated that incredible intellectual resources of educators are not sufficiently utilized in our country, and that collaborative knowledge construction is the best form for peer learning.