Why Learn Artistic Thought?

Abstract

My presentation collage looks at image productions that were individually (but also collectively) developed by my students within the concept of art education during their studies for a degree in Art Education. This is combined with the search for the semantic content of the terms "thought", "aesthetic thought" and "artistic thought". Where these aspects are concerned, I am interested in the question as to how artistic art education differs from other concepts. On the one hand, other concepts eliminate the mediation of art because there is apparently nothing to learn and therefore nothing to teach about art (see Ehmer et al.) but on the other hand, they legitimise the existence of art lessons in schools by reducing them to display procedures focusing on image analysis and/or the pragmatic examination of images (Bering, Niehoff et al.) or favour the everyday aesthetic experiences of children and young people without reaching more in-depth and independent transformational processes as a result. The ultimate question that needs to be asked is what are the educational potentials and methods of art education that focuses on training artistic thought? “If you don't want to think, you're out!” (himself) (Joseph Beuys, 1977, documenta 6 in Kassel, Germany) (Image: Beuys card)