RAW # 2

Ok. So here is Part 1 of the response the essay article When Form Has Become Attitude -- And Beyond by Thierry de Duve. I say it is only part one because, like many of my classmates and friends, I am waiting to have a very insightful discussion about this article, and to try to make a little bit more sense out of it. Yes, it was a tough read, and I certainly had to read parts over to try to really capture what de Duve was trying to say, so here are some of my thoughts about that...

In the whole article, he seems to be comparing the Academic model for education against the modern, Bauhaus model for education. He is not for or against either, he rather presents the pro's and con's of both models in a relatively objective way. He also, at the end of the article, poses a question to his readers, almost as a call of action: what do we do next? what is the model an educational institution could take...

First off, my immediate response to this question was: well, let's mix up the old and the new, heck! Why not??? But is it as simple as that? I mean, ok. Let's try to mix both the Academic model along with the Bauhaus model and create something else. Well then, things begin to get messy and contradict each other (as both models have multiple contradictions to each) and then I wonder what about taking other cues for a new model from other masters? For instance, in the introductory part, de Duve touches on how there are many pedagogical programs that are based and developed on creativity, and that some "teaching programmes [are] based on the reduction of practice to the fundamental elements of a syntax immanent to the medium". Here, he points at Kandinsky and shows how because of his ideas, most school have 2D and 3D studio classes. Well, then he also says, why not take our cue from Cubism and have a 1D and a 4D class as well, to which my response was YES! WE SHOULD! So here is where I get stuck because I think of all these pedagogical models, like Montessori for example, and then I think of the Academic model, and I seem to reject that over the Bauhaus model, but then there are things I dislike about the Bauhaus as well, so where are we headed? Is it all about a model based on conceptual art now??... Maybe I'll go into this a bit later.

So. The Academic model of education is based upon talent, metier, and imitation. While in opposition, the Bauhaus model is based on creativity, medium, and invention. That is what de Duve presents here....

(Sorry, I have to finish this post later! Also, after talking about this article in class, I think things might be a lot clearer in my head to put the down in writing. Until then!)