USING CONTEMPORARY
ART IN TEACHING AND
LEARNING POLITICAL
ECONOMY
Raúl de Arriba and Gherardo Girardi
HEA conference, Aston University,
Birmingham, 2-3 July 2014
Overview
1.Pedagogical framework
1. Why art?
2. Why contemporary art?
2.An experiment in Spain
1. Method
2. Results
3.Suggestions for future development
4.Conclusion
5.Key references
1. Why art?
(from McIntosh and Warren, 2013)
• Art is a multi-faceted and multi-layered form of expression, and
can generate rich insights
• Teaching and learning through the arts is a holistic approach
integrating different functions, e.g. cognitive, affective, somatic,
intuitive, spiritual and analytical
• Where art is produced by students, it allows them to engage in
their own creative process
• Art can facilitate a fresh awareness beyond pre-existing
cognitive frames of understanding (transformative learning),
sometimes through taking the observer out of his comfort zone
• Art can enable people to relax, open their minds and become
more motivated to learn
1. Why art?
• Art often relies on symbolic expression and can transmit
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messages not possible by more literal language
Art makes it possible to ‘humanize’ learning by moving
beyond depersonalized ways of knowing and learning
(e.g. the techno-rationalist approach in mainstream
economics)
Art enables one to learn through playfulness
Art is often enjoyable
Art, especially when it is beautiful, can be therapeutic
2. Why contemporary art?
• Contemporary artists are likely to be sensitive to the
positive and negative aspects of the society in which they
live, possibly more so than the average individual (both in
terms of intensity and the kinds/number of aspects)
• In particular with regards to problems affecting our
society, perhaps some artists have expressed through
their art solutions to the problems.
3. An experiment in Spain - method
• 12 students taking the Master’s in International Studies at the
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University of Valencia
The module in which the experiment is performed is
International Political Economy
Most students have a background in law or politics, only one in
economics; 7 women and 5 men aged between 23 and 32
Students had to select a piece of contemporary art, relate it to
problems of international political economy and submit an
essay; they also had to present in class
For guidance, the tutor presented them with a list of possible
sources of contemporary art, namely well-known museums
around the world such as the Tate Gallery in London and the
Museum of Modern Art in NY.
The exercise constituted 20% of the overall grade
3. An experiment in Spain - method
• The tutor presented the following examples:
(The message reads “Please save
the banks”)
4 An experiment in Spain - results
• A questionnaire was distributed: students found the
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exercise useful in terms of encouraging reflection on
economic topics, and encouraging self-learning
Most students had no prior experience of a similar
exercise
Half the students found the exercise difficult, and just
under less than half found it easy
Most student put in a lot of effort in reflecting on their
chosen pieces
Most students thought that art can be an effective
teaching tool
4 An experiment in Spain - results
• However, most of the art chosen was simply images from
flickr and picasa and not contemporary art
• Most students chose art which did not have an obvious
economic content, and then made the link with economics
• Some examples follow on the next slide:
4 An experiment in Spain - results
Greenspan encouraging “selfregulation” of the markets
The effect of booby traps
5. Future developments
• Given that many students did not choose works of
contemporary art, and that some students did not choose
works of art with a clear economic content, one possibility
is to restrict students to choosing works from a list put
together by the tutor. A disadvantage of this approach is
that it may prevent students from choosing pieces of art
that really speak to them.
• Another possibility would be to invite an artist to speak to
students, perhaps after he or she has had an opportunity
to make his or her own selection of contemporary works
of art. An advantage of this approach is that it may expose
students to new ways of thinking that are not typical of
economics lecturers.
6. Conclusion
• Teaching and learning through the arts presents a range of
advantages, an important one being that it is a holistic
approach encouraging students to use many functions at the
same time.
• Contemporary art probably reflects artists’ impressions of what
is wrong in our society (and maybe also what is right), and may
even offer solutions for our society’s problems.
• In the experiment that Raúl performed in Spain, results were
mixed: on the one hand students reflected deeply on the pieces
they chose and found the exercise useful, on the other hand
most of the works they choose were not examples of
contemporary art (unless one has a very broad definition of this
term!)
• Future developments include encouraging students to focus
more on works of contemporary art with a clear economic
content, and of inviting an artist to come and speak to students.
References
• Watts, M., & Christopher, C. (2012). Using art (paintings,
drawings, and engravings) to teach economics. The
Journal of Economic Education, 43(4), 408-422
• McIntosh, P., & Warren, D. (2013). Creativity in the
classroom. Intellect Books, Bristol.