Art as a radical rejection of certainty

In the penultimate chapter in Art, Artist and Pedagogy John Baldacchino discusses with Gert Biesta his wide ranging research on ‘unlearning’ in the arts.

This term is discussed with reference to John Dewey and many others, while considering how students are allowed to err to ‘break into the unknown’ allowing them to form a representation of their own reality. Touching on art and aporia, or contradiction, an argument is made that art engages between what may be perceived as what exists, and different kinds of reality. Continuing this argument, Baldacchino advances that reality, perceived by our aesthetic response, engaging in ‘illusion’, provides the object whereby we can unlearn, by creating a critique of certainty. In a useful comparison of new and old technology a discussion around mannerism is made, in which it is urged we seek a place to remove ourselves from our immediate context; to ‘roam’ back and forth to seek art through unlearning and removing any ‘expectation’ in the art event.

For more information on Art, Artists and Pedagogy visit the website: Art, Artists and Pedagogy the page or Routledge website.