What is the future of art, of design, of the art academy? In The Netherlands art academies are looking for new forms of education fitting the wants and needs of an accelerating society. Last friday the Lectorate Art Theory & Practice of the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague organised a seminar ‘Culture 3.0: Prosuming the art academy’ about the impact of the digital revolution on art and design practices. Do students have to become prosumers?
The lectures by Robert Hewison (UK, 1943) about creating the creative industries from a British perspective, Bas van Beek’s (NL, 1974) talk about the multiple personality disorder of the designer, Theo Ploeg (NL, 1969) talking about designing for the new world and David Jablonowski’s (DE, 1982) story about his own art practice combining old and new media and reflection strongly on our current society were both inspiring and challenging. Also read Theo Ploeg’s article about the artist and the world.
The discussion afterwards, with participants from nearly all art schools in The Netherlands, made clear that there isn’t a single answer. And that is a good thing. The future isn’t fixed, isn’t modernistic with a one solution fits all mentality.
Erwin Slegers, head graphic design at the Art Academy Utrecht (HKU), made a short documentary about the changing landscape of design. Although sometimes a bit superficial – what is that new world that we are designing for? – the documentary is a must see for designers, artists and teachers at art schools.