Project Development March 2003

The School of Art at Anglia Polytechnic University, offers four degree pathways at BA level: Modern Visual Culture, Art History, Art (Practice and History) & Art with another subject. There are approximately 550 students registered and most complete combined degrees. There are 60 single degree Art History students. The focus of the Art History courses, until recently, was on European art traditions, with the exception of the Modern Visual Culture pathway, where students debate issues around cultural diversity, representation, and display at an early stage. Recognising the need to be more expansive, Paul Shakeshaft, Field Leader of Art and Art History, used the GLAADH funds to improve the Library resources and persuaded colleagues to review five of the on-going modules. Research and development of the modules took place during the summer 2002 and the revised courses were offered during the Autumn term 2003. Each module now includes a one-week lecture on a non-European subject at levels 1, 2 and 3. This 'Evelyn Welch' approach (see 1st GLAADH workshop, Italy to Africa by Evelyn Welch), which aims to incorporate wider debates and cultural traditions into existing courses, was chosen as the most practicable strategy given that the department has no 'specialists' in less traditionally studied cultures.

Two of the most successful examples of this strategy are the Objects in Space and Visual Theories modules, both requirements at levels 1 and 2 in three of the main BA degree pathways. The level 1 reconfigurations were felt to be the most successful, where 'expertise' (or lack or) was less of a question. The Objects in Space module begins with a four-week block that introduces students to representations of the human figure in three-dimensional form across different cultures and periods (European, Classical Greek, Medieval, African). Enthusiastic questionnaire reports suggest that it is a popular course amongst the Practice and History degree students. This module references specific museum collections, for example integrating a lecture on West African and Pacific Oceanic Art at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge. The site visit introduces students to different types of collections and displays, while dealing with issues of value, representation and context. References to African Art were usually made in passing within the module's former framework as an introduction to 20th century sculpture, but their qualities, and contexts were rarely discussed. By introducing Western African and Pacific Oceanic Art as independent traditions students were able to compare the different approaches to depicting the human form. The assignment of an assessed essay focused on the figure. This approach made students aware of the limited number of sources available in this area and the need to increase research in the subject. The lecturer was impressed by the way in which students actively debated the merits of the different traditions and in particular the limits of western sculpture.

Inhabiting Time, an existing level 1 module looking at architecture, is to be withdrawn, while two other modules, exploring traditions of painting and display, are being modified. These are beginning to address their present eurocentric focus by engaging with the Chinese paintings and Persian miniatures in the Fitzwilliam Collection, displays of African and Oceanic Art at the University of East Anglia's Sainsbury Collection, and collections at Kettles Yard and Tate Modern.

The Visual Theories module now includes a week's teaching of ethnological texts. During the first trial, a new lecture on cultural difference and anthropology was offered by an anthropologist working on Aboriginal art to engage students with a contemporary tradition. The lecture was complemented with a visit to the Sainsbury's Collection at the University of East Anglia, where students discussed problems of research and classification. This two-pronged approach confronted students with some of the problems of western methodology, in particular when analysing objects imbued with a spiritual and social function. To highlight and encourage an engagement with some of the methodological problems, students were asked, in their first written assignment, to compare objects from western and 'non-western' contexts and consider what methodological approaches were most suitable for each object and whether they were equally appropriate for both objects, thereby raising questions around access and the establishment of narratives on a culture.

A new set of lectures and visits have also been incorporated into a level 3 course, which involved a visit to Kings College Chapel and a consideration of the relationship between Islamic architecture and English traditions. However, Paul Shakeshaft is reticent about the success of the option and due to the lack of expertise at this level. The opportunity for research development in this area might help to alleviate this concern.

GLAADH has facilitated strategies towards curriculum expansion that do not rely on specialist appointments, although it is hoped that such an appointment focused on non-western art will eventually be made. Most of the work on curriculum change has been concentrated on level 1, with GLAADH funds enabling the purchase of basic books. Although there has not yet been formal assessment of the success of all the revised courses which are currently being taught for the first time, student feedback has been positive. Full course outlines will be available on the GLAADH website.

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