Absurdity in art creates bizarre juxtapositions that expose, and question conflicted, even dangerous, aspects of life which have become normalized. Absurd art appears in troubled times, subverting moments of extreme contradiction in which it appears impossible to think differently. For example, Dada (1917–1923) used nonsense to reflect the nonsensical brutality of WW1. The power to unsettle in this

The wall paintings adorning the south transept apse of Santa Maria at Terrassa are among the most notable surviving items pertaining to the iconography of St. Thomas Becket. Recently found documents in which diplomatic archives reveal English connections are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon. The presence of an Anglo-Norman canon—Arveus or Harveus

In response to COVID 19 higher education worldwide underwent a rapid shift, moving learning and teaching to the online environment. This shift in pedagogy and practice fundamentally challenged a number of disciplines and disciplinary norms, none more so than studio-based art and design institutions. As a result, academic staff and those in professional service roles were required to rapidly engage

This study outlines a multi-year collaboration journey between academics in two widely disparate disciplines: art/design and business/management. Eventually this culminated in co-designing and co-developing a folded paper zine, and related processes, to improve private reflective practice, particularly of managers and students of management. This zine co-design journey was articulated through the lens

In-person, introverted students fade into the background. Online they disappear. Typically, introverts are expected to conform, but it’s valuable to allow them to participate on their terms. Thoughtful introverts synthesise information and share feedback based on deep reflection, which is valuable to the design process. This article discusses how to support introverted students in the virtual design

In 2020, because of a pandemic and the subsequent necessary and immediate pivot to online and distance education, physical art and design studio learning dispersed and instantly became (and, it can be argued, irreversibly) remote via a range of university-approved digital platforms. This article examines a study conducted after distance education had been universally implemented in one college of art

Although teamwork is essential in design, interior design education can be competitive and individualistic. The role of design educators is to structure projects seeking to promote inclusive group dynamics and democratic participation among team members. Navigating the challenges of group work should not rest solely on the shoulders of students. Repeated group work in educational settings does not

Much has been written about the necessity for induction programmes that help students bridge the gap between secondary and tertiary education. Oftentimes the language around this issue focuses on perceived student deficit rather than institutional shortcomings, not least in discussion of students from Widening Participation backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to use action research to critically

This article argues that a UK education system is required such that it specifically recognises the particular dynamic, co-constructive nature of complex and rapid contemporary entanglements (both human and non-human) and how they inform the epistemic and ontological development of students. This article draws from posthumanist theory and uses the concept of ‘lifeworld’ to cast new light on the lived-experiences

Art and design students’ occupation and use of physical studio spaces have decreased and altered during the Covid 19 pandemic, and online learning spaces have become increasingly important. This case study explores the value of collective memories of shared space in the creation and inhabitation of online studio, using recalled narrative and thematic analysis to inform refinement of the virtual studio

Before his international breakthrough shortly before the turn of the century, Belgian painter Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012) had a long career that reaches back to the 1960s, when he was associated with Roger Raveel and the so-called Nieuwe Visie (New Vision in Dutch), Belgium’s variation on postwar figurative painting that also entails Anglo-Saxon Pop Art and French nouveau réalisme. Dealing with De

This study investigated whether the content of children’s drawings of an event changes over three successive interviews about that event. It also assessed whether children recall more details verbally than they draw. Twenty-seven 3- to 6-year old children witnessed a live event which ended with one actor stealing a cuddly toy. They were interviewed about it 1 day, 2 weeks, and 6 months later. At each

Colored glass in the form of stained-glass windows has been used to decorate buildings for over a thousand years. Due to various late-twentieth-century technological achievements, this material allows for a broad spectrum of design solutions. Glass can be used both in contemporary and historical buildings. This paper presents an analysis of the work of Tomasz Urbanowicz, an artist who works with glass

This communication paper addresses the role of ephemeral and temporary artistic interventions into the systemic problem of homelessness and the question of sustainability in social art practice. I approach these issues through my work with homeless service agencies that are shaped by rules and procedures intended to increase predictability, whereas, as an artist, my work resists such rigidity by carving

ABSTRACT This paper investigated newspaper editorial framing of the change in the date of the commemoration of Democracy Day. The study adopted framing analysis as its research method. Drawing from Van Dijk’s (1992. “Discourse and the Denial of Racism.” Discourse and Society 3 (1): 87–118) model of editorial analysis which focuses on Definition, Evaluation and Recommendation, this research interrogates

ABSTRACT This study gives a corpus-assisted discourse study of the recontextualization of “One Country, Two Systems” in Chinese, British and American newspapers. It proposes to analyse the recontextualization of “One Country, Two Systems” at four levels: (1) Lexicalization; (2) Grammatical functions; (3) Evaluation; and (4) Perspectivation. The findings show not only the systematic differences between

ABSTRACT The contexts of Indigenous dance practices in postcolonial African environments have continued to evolve. The phenomena of dance bears on the meanings that individual dance practitioners construct as active agents in Indigenous dance knowledge production. This work draws on the following question to examine how contexts of practice impel the reimagining and reimaging of dances, dancing, and

ABSTRACT While the number of North Korean defectors in South Korea has increased, their portrayal in the mainstream media remains marginal and biased. Given this context, this article explores how North Korean defectors have gradually engaged in self-representation through new media technologies, such as personal broadcasting on digital platforms. In so doing, it reveals that the defectors at least

ABSTRACT Twenty five years after the advent of democracy in South Africa, indigenous language education for San communities in South Africa is a goal that still needs to be realised. There have been various attempts, though none of these have resulted in sustained programmes or projects. In particular, attempts to implement the recommendations of a report on Khoe and San language education in schools

ABSTRACT This paper interrogates the wounds inflicted by the representation of the war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda. The paper presents Kanyo, Love and Gang Kikome and Other Things We Left Behind, artistic works within the exhibition When We Return, as a staging ground to interrogate symbolic repair. Gang Kikome and Other Things We Left Behind is an artwork-as-archive

(2021). Social media and everyday life in South Africa. Critical Arts. Ahead of Print.

Aesthetic disposition has been defined as the propensity to prioritize form over function and to approach any object as potentially valuable from an aesthetic standpoint. In this study, we examined whether and how aesthetic disposition was predicted by educational capital, personality trait openness, and sex. In addition, we investigated the association of educational capital and sex with openness

This essay explores David Bowie’s so-called “Berlin Triptych”: Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger. The essay takes issue with previous interpretations that have claimed that the albums do not form a “triptych” of any meaningful kind, and that this pretentious term was only applied ex post facto as a marketing strategy. At the heart of my argument is the concept and experience of migration. In the mid-1970s

ABSTRACT This paper is a reflection on curation as engagement that encourages a rethinking of how objects are displayed in museums, using the example of the engraving and boulder displays at the Origins Centre museum. Reflecting on the colonial legacy of museums, the paper examines the provenance, curation and display of the boulders with/without rock art at the Origins Centre and whether these colonial

Note: In lieu of an abstract, this is an excerpt from the first page. The temporal frame of this Special Issue of Arts—the long eighteenth century—comprises a complex period of development in the Spanish colonies of Latin America that reverberates throughout the region’s visual culture [...]

In this article, we present our analysis of how one of Belgium’s largest auction houses has creatively dealt with the forced transition to online auctions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observation conducted at Bernaerts Auctioneers in Antwerp over a period of three months between February and April 2021, we show how the auction house has succeeded

ABSTRACT The goal of this article is to compare and contrast the traditional Western versus the postmodern colonization of the mind. How is the current technological age barbaric? I investigate Aimé Césaire’s writings, refer to Lea Ypi’s definition of colonialism, and discuss society’s use of psychopolitics to find the answer.

The day of the last live auction at Sotheby’s in the spring of 2020 was on 19 March 2020 as multiple coronavirus lockdowns forced auction rooms to close worldwide. In the following months, hundreds of live auctions were cancelled or postponed, and combined revenue at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips for the second Quarter 2020 plummeted 79% year on year from USD 4.4 bn in Q2 2019 to USD 0.9 bn in

(2021). Adapting endings from book to screen: last pages, last shots. Critical Arts. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT In the South African Sesotho-language Western Five Fingers for Marseilles (2018), Tau flees his hometown of Marseilles in the aftermath of a violent incident. Returning after apartheid ended, Tau finds his hometown in ruins at the hands of some of the very individuals—his childhood friends—who were supposed to protect it. Tau seeks to save Marseilles from those who corrupt it and seeks redemption

Victorian artists were remarkably literate; they wrote autobiographies, diaries, and essays and befriended writers and journalists. Writing had become a way to present themselves on the open market and to generate a public image as individuals and collectively within the new professionalism emerging in the century. Letter writing was purposed to solidify and improve artists’ social capital, and their

The church of San Miguel of Almazán (Soria, Spain) houses a twelfth-century antependium ornamented with scenes of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom. Discovered during restoration works in 1936, its origin and its original location are unknown. The aim of this article is twofold—to frame its manufacture chronologically in light of recent research on late-Romanesque sculpture in Castile, and to use this information

Due to the lack of social systems supporting the cultural productions of migrant societies in Turkey, the venues and opportunities to which migrant musicians have access for the maintenance of their musical practices are limited. Under the given circumstances, especially in the first years after their arrival, street musicianship emerged as a new musical practice for Syrian musicians in Istanbul, and

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the aestheticisation of environmental disaster in George Osodi’s series of photographs Oil Rich Niger Delta (2003–2007). Depicting the horrific effects of oil drilling in his home country, Osodi chose to make art from real life suffering caused by environmental disaster. Visual analyses of individual photographs reveal carefully chosen compositions and colour selections

During the pandemic many museums and galleries pivoted from onsite, in-person delivery to develop a remote offer and to create digital learning resources and activity packs for children and young people. In this article, I draw upon my experience as practitioner researcher on the schools and teachers’ programme at the Fitzwilliam Museum to consider different approaches to supporting participatory creative

(2021). Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By (2nd edition). Critical Arts. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT The discovery of South Africa's mineral wealth from the 1870s transformed what was a pastoral backveld amongst Britain's imperial possessions. Tent towns sprang up overnight as diggers and labour migrants “rushed” to the Diamond Fields. The colonial boundary was expanded rapidly to incorporate the new tracts; conquest followed in the region. The telling of Kimberley's history tends to valorise

Hans Baldung (1484/85–1545) emerged as an artist under the shadow of Germany’s most famous contemporary artist, Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), thus as a younger rival with considerable catching up to do. His time as a young artist with Dürer in Nuremberg (1503-ca. 1507) prompted Baldung to develop his own innovative imagery, even as it prepared him with the skills of later activity in drawings, woodcut

On the 9th of October, 1170 Pope Alexander III resided in Anagni, which had been the ancient residence of the court of the Popes for at least two centuries. He wrote to two influential local archbishops for help in pacifying King Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket, who had been in dispute for six years. Sensing Becket’s looming tragic fate, Alexander III began slowly to encircle the archbishop with

This article is a contribution to arts-based approaches to education. It makes a proposition for pedagogy of dissensus, a pedagogy inspired by Jacques Rancière, that is informed by the characteristics of art that possibly enables transformations and de-territorialisations of the subject. The ongoing project My stunning stream – Made with a little mischief (2020–) combining art and running in a repetitive

(2021). Internet Memes and Society: Social, Cultural And Political Contexts. Critical Arts. Ahead of Print.

As most GenZ and Millenial students now study at home, young people have shifted their media content consumption, with streaming platforms being among GenZ and Millenials favorites since the first lockdown. Could ‘Netflix and chill’ be turned into a creative learning activity for design students? As theoretical online learning is often associated with unliteral conference calls with no participation

ABSTRACT While the history of Norwegian museum acquisitions and collection formation has long been a topic of research, the extent to which colonial structures are still embedded in various Norwegian collecting institutions is seldom addressed. In this paper, we discuss the legacy of colonial collections in Norway through two case studies; Inge Heiberg’s collection of Congo ethnographica in various

The subject of this work is the monumental art of Jerzy Nowosielski (1923–2011), one of the most outstanding contemporary Polish painters, who combined modernity with the orthodox icon aesthetics. This work discusses the monumental realizations of Nowosielski, especially the architectural polychromes made by the artist in Catholic and Orthodox churches in Poland in the years 1950–1999. The aim of the

Basic Design is the beginning of design course series in architectural education which initiates architecture students to both architectural education and the profession. First-year design curricula have generally common goals of students’ acquisitions about design knowledge, skill and competence; however, ways of teaching may vary. Here, we discuss our approach to teaching basic design during the

The COVID-19 pandemic has led most countries to adopt precautionary isolation measures to prevent the spread of the virus. In this context, teaching through online studios has become a necessity. This study aimed to identify students’ practical experiences in fully online interior design studios and determine whether these experiences differ according to students’ educational levels to help improve

Design and craft education, like that of the Swedish school subject, Sloyd, has great potential for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). With so many possibilities, it is relevant to investigate what teachers teach about sustainability, and how. Therefore, the aim of this article is to examine what Sloyd teachers express that they do as they educate for sustainability in design and craft education

Teaching complex studio processes requires methods beyond linear step-by-step instruction and methods more consistent with authentic studio practices. Instructors have to be able to deconstruct their own decision-making processes, processes that have become somewhat automatic through experience, and then use this insight to anticipate how learners with less experience might respond when presented with

Museums and galleries have long welcomed, and long valued, visiting family groups, and many offer ‘family workshops’. In practice, most workshops are primarily directed at children, and accompanying adults are left to observe. However, we suggest that in actively observing and also pitching in, adults too are engaged in learning. Using the theoretical lens of intent participation, we discuss data from

Insistence on verbal literacy as a key skill occurs throughout education. There needs to be a greater awareness of literacy as a sensory capacity: creative voices are seen, heard and performed. I argue that all the senses form embodied understanding, and obstructing this flow can impede learning. This article questions how we can use embodied, sensory and performative methods to enable student ownership

Art educators are increasingly interested in the affective dimensions of pedagogy. This article explores students’ reports of feeling more relaxed and less stressed in the art room, data drawn from a three-year study of thirty arts-rich secondary schools. Drawing on recent scholarship on affect, we suggest that these feelings were in part the result of ‘atmosphere’ – mobile bodies in (1) a curated

At a time of widespread concern over the decline of art teaching in schools, this article considers the findings of a practitioner led action research project exploring the potential of art museum and artist-led CPD (Continued Professional Development) programmes to develop primary teacher knowledge, skills and confidence teaching in art and design. The project involved 68 teachers from over 40 primary

This article explores how the Museum, Art and Wellbeing project brought primary school children and seniors from the same local community together to engage in explorative activities designed to reveal individual and mutual assets for wellbeing. The Museum, Art and Wellbeing project undertook a participatory arts-based approach to investigate how the assets of a large public institution such as Museums

This article explores the potential of the idea of ‘research-creation’ when working with children making films in the context of a project that explored children’s experience of school. The proposition of the article is that rather than see children’s work as something to be discussed or extracted from, if it is seen as ‘the work’ it is differently situated. In the article, an artist and an ethnographer

France numbered second only to England in its veneration of the martyred archbishop of Canterbury. Nowhere in France was that veneration more widespread than Normandy, where churches and chapels devoted to Saint Thomas, many embellished with sculptures, paintings, and stained-glass windows, appeared throughout the Middle Ages. A nineteenth-century resurgence of interest in the martyred archbishop of

(2021). Functional Approach to Professional Discourse Exploration in Linguistics. Critical Arts: Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 112-114.

In 1783, Nicolas De Launay copied Les Baignets by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, stating it was made “by his very humble and very obedient servant”, an evidence of the hierarchical tensions between painters and printmakers during the eighteenth-century. However, De Launay’s loyalty is not absolute, since a critical artistic statement is found at the edge: an illusory oval frame heavily adorned with leaves

The article surveys continuities in the Yiddish song world from 1920–2020 despite the radical disjunctures of eastern European Ashkenazic Jewish life, profiling singers born nearly 100 years apart. The approach is synchronic, a useful method for music and mobility studies.

Timber frame structures have a long and rich tradition. In addition to their functional and structural value, they are important elements of the cultural landscape. At the turn of the 21st century, concern for nature, resulting from the threat of environmental degradation, contributed to a growing interest in wooden constructions. For these reasons, we have observed the erection of buildings with wooden

The aim of the article is to present the results of research on colors carried out in two residential buildings in Brussels, designed by Victor Horta: The Tassel House (1893–1894) and The Horta House (1898–1901), representing the Art Nouveau style for which the main source of inspiration was nature. The purpose of the research was to check whether the selection of colors in the buildings was also inspired