The Pedagogy of the Pedagogical Turn

By introducing readers to the educational turn in contemporary art, this chapter shows how contemporary artworks and exhibitions can offer educational experiences in themselves. Furthermore, that such artworks constitute a radically expanded or situated form of art teaching. I argue that educational turn art issues an important challenge to conventional methods of education which are still rooted in the classroom. The first section of this chapter surveys the art of the educational turn, demonstrating its pedagogic effects and innovations. The second section of this chapter draws on some of the lessons of these artworks, alongside some of the ideas from critical pedagogy (Dewey, 1916; Freire, 1996 [1970]; Rancière, 2010, 2009, 2004, 1999, 1991) which complement them. In conclusion, I attempt to synthesise both into the outlines of a pedagogy of the pedagogical turn, based on principles of humanism, institutional critique, and democracy.