Making Creative Spaces: The Art and Design Classroom as a Site of Performativity

Abstract

Rather than taking a transformational role in schools, new art and design teachers quickly become subject to ‘school art’ orthodoxy. Theories of subjectivity and the development of professional identity within communities of practice can feel far removed from the classroom. This article seeks to make clearer the processes by which teacher identity and practice becomes normalised and proposes ways that such processes may be resisted. With reference to Foucault, Lyotard, Bruner, Wenger and Bey, the classroom as a site of performativity is contrasted with alternative heterotopia-like sites away from the spectre of observation, where different identities and behaviours can be explored. These temporary sites of difference are an antidote to the orthodoxy of the ‘school art’ condition and open up the possibility for teachers, both new and experienced, to implement a more hospitable, participatory pedagogy.