Learning media art

OR HOW IS MEDIA ART TAUGHT?

Ideas for and examples of art pedagogical and media artistic work

Learning media art presents examples of creative processes and lesson examples for teaching art with digital media, and aims to build up a comprehensive archive of teaching units. The projects featured here, which partly originated within the scope of the » KUBIM development programme, were structured and multimedially prepared as theory, practice and technology modules.
School pupils, students, artists and teachers will find all kinds of ideas and suggestions for teaching media art to different age groups at various educational levels and also for integrating new media e.g. in German and Art lessons.
Infoflyer for Learning Media Art: › Screen Version [PDF | 4 MB], › Print Version [PDF | 10 MB] (Only available in German)
Brochure about Teaching with digital media: › [PDF | 3 MB] (Only available in German)

Learning matrix

This › matrix is a navigation tool for the learning area and provides an overall view of the teaching approaches of the model projects presented here. It shows the type of educational establishment and educational level that each project is suitable for, as well as the core themes dealt with in the teaching of the new media. Not only does the matrix give an overview of all the model projects, furthermore all the individual teaching units of the projects are once again separately presented here, allocated in terms of the two headings type of educational establishment/educational level and content/main focuses.
The matrix can be called up via the interface switch in the left menu bar.

Learning archive

All teachers can build up the netzspannung.org archive of teaching models by adding their own teaching concepts tested out in practice. In "netzkollektor", the platform`s public input channel, users can enter their contribution, making it accessible to other teachers. › netzkollektor input

Types of educational establishments and educational levels

Primary school

The teaching unit › World of Dragons teaches primary school pupils how to program an interactive stage for a music revue. The teaching units › Swimming in the net and › Kids make art with media are suitable for primary schools and schools for handicapped children.

Secondary schools

› Scrap Metal Robot (Schrott-Robot) was tried out in Year 6 of a "grammar school" (Gymnasium), as was the project › Scissors animation (Scherereien), which deals with object animation. Suitable for Year 9 of a comprehensive school is › Real, Unreal, No real difference?, a mixed-reality exhibition and › Tinguely meets Fischli/Weiss, in which kinetic objects are combined with the computer. › Scampers (Systemwusel) is a challenging teaching project for Year 13 and deals with topics such as interactive art and programming. › Patches of Grass (Rasenstücke) is suitable for Year 11 and teaches both digital and analogue image editing techniques. A school art extension course invented the › ScanMan. The teaching concepts of › Me[i]Mus are suitable for Music lessons of all levels. Upper school can also make use of the › Hypermedia tele-lecture.

Integrative learning

All teaching units of the projects › Swimming in the net and › Kids make art with media were developed for primary schools and for handicapped children.

University

› Codekit is a model project for art students, introducing Java programming for artistic productions. The › Hypermedia tele-lecture teaches art history multimedially. The music tools of › Me[i]Mus can also be used for Music lessons at University.

Workshops

The workshop › I see what you hear was run with a heterogeneous group of art and art therapy students as well as highly gifted young people. They designed interfaces with the aid of theremins.

Content/main focuses

Art & aesthetics

In › Scrap Metal Robot, school pupils design assemblages that are brought to life. In the › Patches of Grass - project, they experiment with different drawing techniques, using them to depict, imitate and reinvent an area of lawn. In › ScanMan they scan objects with mobile equipment to create images with a painterly effect that are generated spontaneously and intuitively. The practical artistic work in the › Scissors animation project involves among other things drawing with coloured pencils and painting with opaque colours: the subsequent object animation leads to a clown-like circus trick. In the › World of Dragons, children construct scenery and props which react visually and acoustically to events on stage. In › Real, Unreal, No real difference? school pupils use self-made soft statues and painted holographic images to create an interactive installation. The artistic creativity in the › Scampers project lies in designing the scampering objects and in shaping the interactive concept of the installation. In › Magic of Objects traditional art lessons are combined with digital graphic design and typography. › Images of fight, › Sound Images and › Cloning around are about teaching art history. In the workshop › I see, what you hear, the participants design and create various interface objects with theremins.

Language & Literature

The teaching units › Torin's Passage and › The Kitten Rosalind offer perspectives for German lessons. Meanwhile › Witchcraft, › Mimicry Charts and › Sorcerer`s Apprentice open up new approaches to language and literature.

Music & sound

The project › Me[i]Mus is about using new media in Music lessons. Music tools are being developed, e.g. an online synthesizer and a virtual keyboard on screen. In the music revue › World of Dragons children produce sounds and train their musical sensitivity. In the project › Real, Unreal, No real difference? schoolchildren compose rap songs. In › Sorcerer's Apprentice Goethe's ballad is transformed to Rap. Sound background is created for the projects › Witchcraft and › Sound Images.

Theatre & play

In › World of Dragons children develop a stage show, which they perform in front of an audience. In › Witchcraft pupils and others play scenes with witches invented by themselves. In › Images of fight they put details of paintings in scene and in the project › Sorcerer's Apprentice stage direction is part of the task. The children participating in the project › Mimicry Charts perform sign language. In the workshop › I see, what you hear, the participants play action games to practise structures of sensory perception.

Programming & technology

In › World of Dragons children program an interactive stage. In "witchcraft" pupils and others play scenes with witches invented by themselves. In "Images of fight" they put details of paintings in scene and in the project "Sorcerer's Apprentice" (all under development) stage direction is part of the task. The children participating in the project "Mimicry Charts" perform sign language. The › Scampers project teaches school pupils to handle programming software so that they can create an interactive installation. In › Scrap Metal Robot schoolchildren learn control techniques as a first step towards programming. › Tinguely meets Fischli/Weiss is a computer-controlled chain reaction. In the workshop › I see, what you hear, the participants solder the theremins themselves, which they incorporate afterwards in interactive installations. In › Codekit art students learn to use a Java programme archive for creating media art projects.