In relation to art, a sociocultural perspective breaks with the view of aesthetic response as being rooted in the individual psyche, an autonomous and self-sufficient analytical unit in which the social resides. A sociocultural approach instead understands aesthetic judgment, like human social and mental functioning, as developed, shaped and mediated through sign systems such as natural language. This understanding is particularly crucial when approaching twentieth century art from the historical avant-garde onwards, as a means of understanding the implications of the constitutive processes of discourse for works of art on microgenetic as well as sociogenetic levels.
How are high school students introduced to key concepts in modern and contemporary art in art classes in schools, in point-to-point-videoconferences between schools and museums, and in face-to-face gallery tours in art museums? This study examines howinstitutional practices in schools and museums structure the talk and activity of high school students in encounters with works of modern and contemporary art.
This project examines ways in which meaning is constituted in situated encounters with works of art; in museum galleries, in classrooms, in online exhibitions, and in videoconferences. A sociocultural perspective is employed in analyzing processes of narrative constructions, and the use of narrative as a mediating tool.
The methodological approach employed in this study is discourse and interaction analysis of art education activity (Jordan and Henderson, 1995; Wells, 1996, 2002; Mercer, 1995).In addition to analyses of talk, tools employed in the different instructional settings, including slides, powerpoint presentations, worksheets, videoconferences, and online resources and written texts produced by students and teachers are considered.
In my study of how meaning develops from modern and contemporary art, the basic unit of my anlysisis the discourse that is produced, mastered, and appropriated in specific social settings.
Phd thesis in 2005.
Pierroux, P. 2003. ‘Communicating art in museums: language concepts in art education.’ Journal of Museum Education. 28 (1) 3-8.
Pierroux, P. 2004. ‘Dialog som det nye kunstparadigmet’. kunstkritikk.no
Pierroux, P. 2002. ‘Kommuniserende kunst’. SKIKT Tema-conference. Digital kommunikasjon: forskning, praxis og politik. 9 April 2002.
Pierroux, P. et al. 2003. ‘Lek i det offentlige rom.’ Norsk Kulturråd.
Pierroux, P. 2004. ‘State of the arts in art education’. Public lecture. Faglig-pedagogisk dag, UiO 2004.
Stuedahl, D. & Pierroux, P. 2004 ‘Activity of telling. Constructing narratives in museums’. Paper presented at ISCAR 3rd Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research. September 3-5, 2004, Copenhagen, Denmark