artVoices Occasional Papers in Visual Arts Education NSW
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
visual arts artVoices is an independent publication of occasional papers to support visual arts education in NSW schools.
artVoices: Occasional Papers in Visual Arts Education NSW Vol. 1 No. 1, 2016 Published January 2016 Sydney, Australia © Rah Kirsten (Editor) and contributing authors 2016 Enquiries and proposals for submissions to artVoices can be made to the Editor at: r.kirsten@unsw.edu.au
Cover image
Product and event information included in artVoices is correct at the time of publication and is to be used at the reader’s discretion. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of the publisher.
Zabou, ‘Twins of Brick Lane’ (detail), 2015, London UK
Photograph: Karen Profilio
2
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016

CONTENTS
4
Editorial
5
Contributors
6
Carpe Diem: A Premier’s Teacher Scholarship journey or making the syllabus work for you by Karen Profilio
18
The new aesthetic? Considering the digital, relational and multimodal and the visual arts by Rah Kirsten
3
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
Welcome to artVoices, a new, independent publication of occasional papers to support visual arts education in NSW schools.
students investigate the agencies of the artworld through opportunities provided through skillful teaching practice. A unique connection between students in North Sydney and street artists in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States of America and Argentina was established in 2015 through the work of Karen Profilio at North Sydney Girls High School. In her article Carpe Diem: A Premier’s Teacher Scholarship journey or making the syllabus work for you, Karen outlines the network of events that led to her research about street art across three continents. It enabled her students to examine gender representations in street art, and, to tangibly engage with agencies in the artworld, building on their previous learning.
artVoices shares the many and varied voices of Visual Arts teachers from across education sectors in NSW. It also features the voices of artists, museum and gallery educators, academics and others with interests in art education. The NSW visual arts curriculum is acknowledged nationally and internationally as ‘best practice’ for good reason, and this publication documents and celebrates the way that curriculum is enacted in contemporary school cultures. Referencing current practices, it showcases sophisticated and unconventional approaches to programming visual arts curriculum; incites ideas for how the complex practices of artists and the artworks they produce might be framed for classroom investigations; explores how the visual arts as a field of practice provides fertile territory for dynamically evolving investigations in the art classroom; and, enables some of the discourses from within the field of art education to be documented.
The second article in this edition seeks to illustrate how the practice of British artist James Bridle can be used to think about the digital, relational and multimodal as a domain in the visual arts. It suggests ways Bridle’s practice can be framed to facilitate student understanding in artmaking, critical and historical practices. I hope you enjoy the launch edition of artVoices –your feedback is always most welcome.
This edition begins with an exceptional exemplar of the unorthodox relations that can occur when
Rah Kirsten Editor
4
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR Karen Profilio
Head Teacher Creative Arts North Sydney Girls High School Karen Profilio has a distinguished record as a Visual Arts teacher in a wide variety of schools since 1977. Karen has been involved in many aspects of art teaching practice in and beyond the classroom including serving as HSC Visual Arts Supervisor of Marking, a member of the HSC Examination Committee, a Critical Friend at the Art Gallery of NSW and member of the Te a c h e r ’ s C o u n c i l a t t h e M u s e u m o f Contemporary Art Australia. Karen was CoPresident (Advocacy, Support and Membership), of the Visual Arts and Design Educator’s Association, NSW (VADEA NSW) for six years. In 2014, Karen was awarded the NSW Premier's Copyright Agency Creativity and Innovation Scholarship, the first time the scholarship had been awarded to a recipient in the field of visual arts education. Karen has delivered many papers in art teaching practice including at conferences in Australia, North America and Italy. In 2016, Karen has accepted an invitation to be a Visiting Scholar at Illinois State University (ISU), and will present a joint paper with ISU at the National Art Education Association Conference in Chicago, building on her professional relationship with ISU over many years.
5
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
Stephanie Rond, ‘Pink Ghost Girl’, 2015. 3D magnetic stencil piece that can be placed in any location. 27 x 15 cm. Gift of the artist. Photograph: Karen Profilio
6
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
CARPE DIEM: A PREMIER’S TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP JOURNEY or making the syllabus work for you
Karen Profilio was the 2014 recipient of the NSW Premier's Copyright Agency Creativity and
Innovation Scholarship. Karen focused her study on the work of female street artists. A Scholarship Report, outlining the findings of her research, will be published through the Premier’s Teacher Scholarships in the near future. The following is an account of how Karen approached the scholarship, and enabled her students to work with street artists from across the globe.
KAREN PROFILIO Advice For The Young At Heart, Tears For Fears
study is published on my Street SmART website.
We persistently tell our students that they should ‘seize the day’, make the best of their time at school, to never give up, try new things and to do more than they think they can. However, do we as teachers listen to our own sage-like advice?
My advice to all is to look at the syllabus, mix it with your passion and then go for it! This advice is not only oriented to a Premier’s Teacher Scholarship but to any exciting teaching opportunities that come your way. The following outlines what has been one of the best experiences of my teaching career.
What follows is an account of how I was awarded the NSW Premier's Copyright Agency Creativity and Innovation Scholarship and what it enabled me to achieve. The teaching and learning program I developed from the
Don’t Fence Me In, Bing Crosby With a penchant for working beyond the classroom in the real world, and also for trying inventive things, I have participated in a
7
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
Karen Profilio with Nina Kunan in front of her work in Almagro, Buenos Aires Photograph: Jeff Profilio
number of projects that were good warm-ups for the Premier ’s Teacher Scholarship application process.
thereby testing the power of visual communication. Titled Dandelion Deeds it was very successful in enabling students to present works in a contemporary cultural context and to interact directly with an audience. It provided a new way for students to examine interactions between the agencies of the artworld, as outlined in the Conceptual Framework (Board of Studies NSW, 2009, p. 23). In 2014, this project morphed into codex_urbanite, where students–exploring their emerging practice–tested theories around notions of identity and sites of significance for C21st urban dwellers. Social intervention was central to this re-imaged project. In 2013, in conjunction with the VADEA NSW conference and street artist Mini Graff, I organised Off the Wall, a specialist workshop and gallery tour. In 2014, my students and I worked with artist, Tina Fox and North Sydney Council to design Signal Box murals for the Colouring our Habitat project.
In the last six years I have piloted, designed and taught a range of creative and innovative projects that aimed to empower students by exposing them to situations beyond the classroom. In each project, students conducted public interventions, exploring practice through the making of innovative installations and learning how such investigations communicate meaning. In 2012, I was invited to participate in Cultivating Urban Ecologies – an adjunct project to the Curating Cities initiative. In this project we used QR codes combined with hybrid ‘floriography’ on student-designed postcards that were intended to test and track the viability of unplanned communication in public city spaces. The truism style messages were revealed by reading the QR code with a Smartphone,
8
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
Leake Street Art Tunnel (completed works), 2015. Leake Street Tunnel (under Waterloo station), London. Site of the Femme Fierce Reloaded 2015 event. Photograph: Karen Profilio, one day after the event.
These experiences led to Street SmART – socially connected visual arts, which is the title of my Premier’s Teacher Scholarship project. It was an iterative advance on the previous projects I had developed, building upon each of them through the investigation of publiclyoriented events. What I wanted my project to provide was a model for future multifaceted socially-engaged art projects that address aesthetic considerations and collaborations, as they are enacted within a variety of social and economic contexts.
at North Sydney Girls High School (NSGHS); artworks I love; and, my out-of-school interests, and tried to decode linkages between all and any of my ‘places’. A number of things became obvious to me – I enjoy working outside the parameters of the classroom (I already knew this), I have loved art and interventions in the streets (aka street art) for some time, my students are always willing to go forward and try new (fun) things, and, I am always up for a challenge in new places and with interesting people.
I Don’t Know Why I Love You But I Do, Clarence Frogman Henry
With all of this in mind, I developed the thesis for my study and began to research how I could make it materialise. This was one of the most exciting parts of the process as the internet opened a whole new world. I often serendipitously landed on gems that shone a light my ideas, and, the project begin to crystallise.
The next part of the process was to hone the direction for my study and pin down some points for moving forward. I went to a number of destinations to do this: the bookmarks on my computer; my photo library; the internet; the Visual Arts Stage 6 syllabus; my students
9
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
An extensive search led to the discovery of Femme Fierce. Ayaan, the Street Art Coordinator of the Femme Fierce group in London, invited me to be part of their Leake St Tunnel Takeover in March 2015. The background to this event is that in 2014, one hundred female street artists came together in London and painted street art murals along the 300-metre tunnel (under Waterloo Station) as a powerful symbol of female strength. It was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, on the 9th March and in 2014, it supported breast cancer awareness. For 2015, their attention was directed to Plan UK, a charity focussed on children’s rights. Their campaign Because I’m a Girl piqued my interest with the charity’s philosophies of social responsibility beyond the notion of self.
enabled them to make art that intervenes in life. Many invitations were sent to tempt female street artists to be part of my project, and ultimately I had great success. It appeared that a number of these contemporary urban artists agreed with the directions I intended to pursue, and were happy to meet me in their home towns and then to mentor my students (albeit digitally), to produce socially relevant and globally-linked art.
We Are The Champions, Queen Travel, appointments, interviews and studio visits were locked in and thus began the whirlwind of a 35-day study tour. The female street artists I ‘pinned down’ all had interests, v a r i o u s l y, i n g e n d e r p o l i t i c s , u r b a n existentialism and consumer culture–all central tenets to my project. Their ongoing focus was on creating positive change via partnerships and their artworks. The cities I visited were Berlin, London, New York, New Orleans and Buenos Aires. To read a more fulsome account of my travels (with images), visit the blog section of the project website Street SmART.
The invitation to be involved with this recognised project was the first step in the model I developed for the Sydney project I implemented at NSGHS. I believe many contemporary artists create projects designed to intervene in life, and in many cases, with an aim to improve life for audience participants. It was upon this premise that the design of my project was constructed.
The female artists I met were accommodating and willing to share information. This generosity relates directly to their practice, ideas about the artworld, and how for them one of the most interesting parts of their existence is interacting directly with their audience. This, to me, and later to my Year 11 Visual Arts class, was the epitome of the Conceptual Framework in action. These interactions and interconnections are also closely aligned to domains of practice (Thomas, 2015), and in particular the domain of rebellion, transgression, difference and the visual arts.
My application (and ultimately, my project) had two aims: 1. To e s t a b l i s h c o n t a c t a n d d e v e l o p partnerships with contemporary female street artists, as a catalyst in supporting my teaching with students. My role as the research investigator contributed to a range of innovative and creative practices in art education; 2. To empower female high school students to extend their social understanding of, and contribution to, the world. This aim assisted students in moving beyond their oftentimes hyper-individualistic impressions of self and
10
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
Zabou, ‘On the Run’, 2015. Bethnal Green, London. Photograph (in situ): Karen Profilio
The Stars (Are Out Tonight), David Bowie
Stephanie Rond, Columbus Ohio, USA (interviewed in Brooklyn, NYC)
Any of the artists I met with (see the Street SmART website for a list of artists from the project) would be suitable for further investigation by students. They each have rich potential for the development of case studies in areas such as artist’s practice, feminism and collaborative associations. For me, it has been the pleasant case of information overload, as I now have a hard drive full of many hours of video, audio interviews, thousands of pictures and multifarious pages of written notes. However, with all of this rich material it is sometimes difficult to select which expanse to pursue!
The work of Stephanie Rond dovetails well with the mentor-orientated aims of my project. As an active street artist and committed feminist, she asserts that equality of the sexes is the driving force behind her work and that we [females] need to reclaim spaces to express this axiom. Rond states “street art is not a product, it’s something you experience, no one can own it–except the person walking by it” (S. Rond, personal communication, 21 March 2015).
The following excerpts include abridged versions of my interviews with Stephanie Rond, a street artist based in Ohio, USA, and Nina Kunan a porteño of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Rond has formal art training and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. In 2007, she began to utilise spray paint as her primary medium. She is very interested in interacting with her [street] audience and always uses her own name. “I want other women and girls out there to know I’m doing it–it is easier to deliver my message
11
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
Berlin Studio and personal gallery of Rabea Senftenborg, 2015. Photograph: Karen Profilio
when you know who I am. If my message is kind, it gives people a platform to think about it more” (S. Rond, personal communication, 21 March 2015).
Nina Kunan, Almagro, Buenos Aires, Argentina Street Art isn’t legal in Argentina. Like many South American countries its government has bigger problems to worry about…in Buenos Aires authorities simply turn a blind eye. A severe economic crisis hit the country in 2001, resulting in high unemployment, huge public debt, devaluation of the Argentinian peso and looting of shops. Afterward, Street Art became a cathartic way for many people to express themselves. (Fox-Tucker and Zauith, 2010, pp. 11-12)
Rond sees herself as a strong and effective role model who is ‘entrenched in gender equality’. It was this element that drew me (and ultimately my students) to her practice. “It’s all about who owns the environment, who owns the space. Outdoor space is a very male-dominated space to be in, so most of the reason I do street art is to show the ladies that it can be safe for us to work here too; it can be our space as well. There is a way to do it that is not loud and aggressive” (S. Rond, personal communication, 21 March 2015).
The residents of Buenos Aires, known as porteños, are very tolerant of street art.
12
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
There’s no need to obtain authorisation from the local authority, all that is needed is the consent of the property owner. Artists frequently work collegially, and often the best designs are left alone for years out of respect for the artists and the works. This makes the street art produced in Buenos Aires unique in size, form and subject matter. All of these aspects drew me to investigate this exceptional context and the artists that thrive within its ‘warm embrace’.
Her audience is important to her and it is the interchange between the two that enriches her works: “I like to just get in touch. It is the exchange all the time with other’s opinion and other’s imagination, it is a way of knowing the reality around you” (N. Kunan, personal communication, 1 April 2015).
Another Brick In The Wall, Pink Floyd A mentorship, even though a contemporary buzzword, was the novel way I utilised the knowledge and information gained throughout my study tour. My Year 11 class made contact with their 14 allocated artists, and began the digital dialogues that have lasted well beyond the scope of the project.
Nina Kunan took me on a ‘gallery tour’ of her main works. This entailed a walk around her home neighbourhood of Almagro, not far from the recognised nerve centre of Buenos Aires Street Art, Palermo. Kunan states: I just like the street, the street is the most immediate, the real thing. Everything happens in the street [describes people]; if you want to get close and in contact with what you have near you and what surrounds you, do your work in the street. I just like being in that place, I like to give something of what I know to that place, my intentions are good. (N. Kunan, personal communication, 1 April 2015)
Themes were selected from a list that I prescribed, so that each joint investigation elicited works that were on point for the participants.
And give she does, painting massive murals using spray paint and brushes. Kunan does not use stencils and her formal training is in art history, although she has had residencies at artist’s ateliers. Her works have both human and abstract elements and she enjoys expressing what it is to be a woman.
Each theme was supported through a further focus on the use of street art to: • convey sophisticated ideas • endorse causes • empower females • change and highlight social malaise • collaborate across time and space.
It’s not always easy being a woman. I like to paint women to make them strong. Women have to deal with things that are invisible, they have to fight – this is why I like to put them on the map. I paint as a woman, for women. (N. Kunan, personal communication, 1 April 2015)
The students developed works with the input from the artists, myself and their classmates–a rich three-way collaboration. We worked from the beginning of Term 3, 2015, both in and out of the classroom and students even threw in a whole Saturday session to complete the wall, which is located at the end of the Visual Arts block at NSGHS. Students spent at least ten hours of class time and additional hours out of
The themes were: • social conscience (comment) • gender politics • urban existentialism • consumer culture.
13
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
class as necessary (as it was occasionally difficult to work in tandem, over and under each other directly on the wall at school).
• How can the Conceptual Framework be used in a significant way? • How can domains enhance student understanding and contribute to classroom practice in powerful ways? (Thomas, 2015) • How can personal ideas/quests be synthesised into programs? • What original and first-hand information can be presented to students for their case studies? • How can mentorship programs be incorporated into classroom contexts?
One of the most successful collaborations was with Stephanie Rond, whose work can be seen on the far right of the Street SmART wall (see Street SmART Wall image). We photographed her ‘paired’ student, Dani, and then sent the photo to Stephanie. Rond made her signature pink ghost girl from the photo, sprayed it and posted it back to us to affix it to the wall. Dani also made her ‘sorry’ paste-ups and they were sent to Rond to be incorporated into one of her works in the USA. This was a collaborative work that transcended time and space and realised a personal goal both for myself as well as for the project.
I am constantly on the lookout for ways to embolden my programs and the resultant student works. I have included a list of article references in my teaching and learning program (see the Street SmART website) and hope that some of the listed topics might stimulate your thinking and ‘start you up’.
The individual wall works and the student statements can be viewed on the Street SmART site in the STREET SmART WALL section and the individual student lead-up works in the STUDENTS section.
Start Me Up, Rolling Stones Contemporary artworld practices and theories were germane to the Street SmART project.
It's My Life, Bon Jovi
The mentorship at NSGHS between students and street artists: • extended conventional understandings of artists’ practices and relationships within the agencies of the artworld through a focus on collaborative and participatory practices • provided opportunities to engage with theoretical approaches to artmaking such as Nicholas Bourriaud’s (2002) work on relational aesthetics • investigated rich social programs for communities that focused on empowering female students in a variety of social situations • allowed a deeper understanding of the complexities of practice and provided a richer understanding of specific artworks and forms.
This represents a personal account of how I approached the award of a Premier’s Teacher Scholarship and the opportunities that it afforded. My dream is that others might read this and think, ‘It’s now or never!’ and create something great. My work serves as a model for how the Conceptual Framework may be approached from different perspectives. Although one of my core frameworks, it is certainly not the only way to move forward with the rich information that the project has provided. In considering how to approach syllabus content in new and diverse ways, I suggest asking questions that some might overlook as obvious. For example:
14
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
The Years 7-10 and Stage 6 Visual Arts syllabuses are underscored by the premise that when students are making art they want their work to be creative. However, there is no guarantee that a work is creative unless it is judged by ‘gatekeepers’ such as expert teachers or others qualified in their knowledge that the work compares favourably with others (Bourdieu, 1997, Thomas and Chan, 2013).
and, all of the extraordinary street artists, gallery directors and local experts I met who gave me their time, expertise and ultimately their friendship and support. I couldn’t have done it without you all!
I Want To Thank You - Otis Redding REFERENCES
Participation in this project and the subsequent pairing with a knowledgeable practitioner was of great value to students, not only in their artmaking decisions, but also in their consequent approach to life in the C21st.
Board of Studies NSW, (2009). Visual arts stage 6 syllabus. Board of Studies NSW: Sydney, Australia.
Just do it!
Bourdieu, P. (1997). The logic of practice. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
PS What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong
Bourriaud, N. (2002), Relational Aesthetics, Les Press du Reel.
I have been very fortunate to have a coterie of people who have helped me on my journey to this point. I would like to enthusiastically thank them for having faith in me, constantly helping me and putting up with me!
Fox-Tucker, M. & Zauith, G. (2010). Textura Dos: Buenos Aires Street Art. NYC: Mark Batty Publisher Thomas, K. (2015). 8.6 The visual arts as a field of practice (working draft). Unpublished paper.
Dr Kerry Thomas – erudite, a kind and fabulous sounding board for ideas and idea enhancements. Lauren Barlow – film editor and Adobe professional extraordinaire. Sueanne Matthews – fellow scholarship awardee, who shared clever insights to make it a smoother process. Yue Xing Chen – staff member at NSGHS, who helped with multiple school based logistics. Ayaan Bulale – the inspiration behind Femme Fierce and a positive, connected supporter. Jeff Profilio – personal assistant, cameraman, sound recorder, bag wrangler and great husband.
Thomas, K. & Chan, J. (2013). Negotiating the Paradox of Creative Autonomy in the Making of Artists. In Studies in Art education: a Journal of issues and research. 54 (3), 260-272. To cite this article: Profilio, K. (2016). Carpe Diem: A Premier’s Teacher Scholarship journey or making the syllabus work for you. In R. Kirsten (Ed.) artVoices: Occasional papers in visual arts education NSW. 1 (1) 6-17. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/artvoices
15
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016

Street SmART Wall (detail) 2015, North Sydney Girls High School.
Photograph: Karen Profilio
16
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016

Street SmART Wall (detail) 2015, North Sydney Girls High School.
Photograph: Karen Profilio
17
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016

James Bridle, Drone Shadow (detail), Sao Paolo, installed by Elo3 for Mostra 3M de Arte Digital. Creative Commons.
THE NEW AESTHETIC? Considering the digital, relational and multimodal and the visual arts
The following is a short extract of a paper presented at Change Agents? Critical practice and discourses in Visual Arts curriculum, a NSW Department of Education state conference for Visual Arts teachers held at UNSW on 20 February, 2015. The conference was attended by approximately 180 secondary Visual Arts teachers and academics from across NSW. This extract seeks to illustrate how the the digital, relational and multimodal as a domain in the visual arts as a field of practice, can be framed by classroom practitioners to facilitate student understanding in artmaking, critical and historical practices. The paper was developed in response to a proposal by Dr Kerry Thomas, Associate Professor UNSW, for amendments to the Visual Arts Stage 6 Syllabus (Board of Studies NSW, 1999). The proposal (Thomas, 2015a and 2015b) references the Literature Review of the National Review of Visual Education commissioned by the Commonwealth Government of Australia (2006) by Dr Neil C. M. Brown, Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Professor, iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research, UNSW. While led by Dr Thomas, the proposal has received wide support through consultative discussions at events hosted by UNSW, the NSW Department of Education and VADEA NSW. Dr Thomas and Dr Karen Maras (UNSW) are currently in discussion with senior officers at the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW (BOSTES) regarding the proposal. The proposal has informed the discussions of the Visual Arts Cross-Sectoral Reference Group convened by BOSTES throughout 2015.
18
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
RAH KIRSTEN Art critic, curator, and historian Nicolas Bourriaud put forward the term ‘relational aesthetics’ in his 1998 book of the same name (Bourriaud, 2002). The very first words in this book, question the misunderstandings surrounding the art of the 1990‘s–the very same decade in which our current senior syllabus was developed and first published, leading us to consider how we think about the relational in art education. For example, how have we approached relational aspects of art to date, are the ways in which we frame and interpret these practices current, and how will we approach teaching this content into the future?
‘how do we position contemporary art?’ When we begin to consider answers to these questions, we can see how content positioning the visual arts as a field of practice could be revitalised for the works that students might make and study now. In considering the relational, I’d like to reference the work of one artist to help us consider this content in a practical sense. The following can be thought of as a convergence between the fields of art and political science. I use the idea of convergence in the sense of a meeting place for the intersection between the fields of art and political science. This convergence will be examined through investigation of an ongoing body of work by British artist James Bridle, titled Dronestagram.
In his theory, Bourriaud begins with an outline of relational form, where artistic activity is described as a game, “whose forms, patterns and functions develop and evolve according to periods and social contexts” (Bourriaud, 2002, p.11). We can draw parallels to current discourses for the time in which we now find ourselves and our profession, and the social contexts through which artmaking and critical interpretation are enacted in classrooms.
Bridle states that his practice is concerned with the convergence between literature, culture and network, all of which contribute to his research around the term ‘new aesthetic’–a term that Bridle claims to have coined in 2011 (Bridle, 2013a). Bridle’s use of the term ‘new aesthetic’ speaks to a blending of the virtual and physical, which although not such a new phenomenon at this point in time, is a recurring area of intrigue in contemporary cultural discourses.
In essence, relational art is described as “an art taking as it’s theoretical horizon the realm of human interactions and its social context, rather than the assertion of an independent and private symbolic space” (Bourriaud, 2002, p.14) in a manner that permeates all cultural phenomena.
In this regard, Dronestagram exemplifies a blending of the virtual and the physical, and exists as a body of work on Instagram, claiming to be the ‘drone’s eyeview’ (Instagram, 2015). In the work, Bridle takes images from Google Earth referencing geographical locations where drones are sent
At this point in time, these concepts are now no longer new. However, they lead us to reflect on questions such as ‘how have we been framing relational aspects of art to date?’ and
19
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
James Bridle, Drone Shadow Handbook (2013). Creative Commons. (L) Spray-paint with tape stencil on paving and gravel. (R) Professional road-marking with paint and tape stencil on paving.
for military surveillance in war zones. Controversially, it reveals information that is meant to be hidden and secretive, and exposes it to a worldwide audience by posting images of the landscapes of drone strikes to the online platform of Instagram (Bridle, 2012).
insofar as it was not a government agency concerned with protection of military knowledge that de-commissioned the work, but rather, a government agency charged with the function of supporting artistic work. On his website, Bridle states:
A related series of works–Drone Shadows– are works that exist as street art installations, where the shapes of drones are outlined on public surfaces such as streets or buildings, creating the outline of a drone ‘shadow’. In 2013, Bridle was invited by the Brisbane Writers Festival to install a drone shadow, Drone Shadow 005, at the Queensland State Library and permission was granted from the Library for the installation of the work. However, the installation did not eventuate due to an intervention from Arts Queensland. Bridle states that this occurrence is the only time a drone shadow work, has been blocked by bureaucracy (Bridle, 2013b). This controversy constitutes a fascinating study in the politics of power and sources of authority within a field,
The actions of Arts Queensland in this case have been both incredibly frustrating and boringly familiar: they have stalled, dissembled, obfuscated and lied, all in the service of silencing an artistic work and preventing a proper debate occurring, either about the work, or the government’s censorship of it. (Bridle, 2013b) A further iteration to Bridle’s body of work on drones, is the Drone Shadow Handbook (Bridle, 2013c), a guide to drawing drones that can be downloaded from Bridle’s website. The handbook invites people to draw their own drones with the tagline “you can draw drones too” (Bridle, 2013c). This invitation prompts
20
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
consideration of the pervasive technology network that envelops our cities and every aspect of culture by making public infrastructures of secrecy and surveillance. Interpretive reasoning can be put to work when Bridle’s practice is questioned through a range of interesting viewpoints. For example, Dronestagram is a work that: • marks territory. It juxtaposes a device that transcends territory (i.e. the drone) with the use of aerial photography to mark definitions of territory (specifically, territory that will become scarred through a drone strike). This notion is explored further when street art is used as mark making on surfaces that are often viewed as forbidden for such purposes. In these ways, Bridle’s practice draws attention to surfaces and locations that are not intended for exposure. It exposes binaries that can be investigated between public and private, hidden and exposed, sanctioned and forbidden, reality and representation. • crosses boundaries. The Instagram work exposes hidden locations and in this exposure Bridle crosses the controversial t e r r i t o r y o f n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y. T h e segregations that exist between online and offline are shattered. We might also consider how Bridle’s practice crosses cultural boundaries as we contemplate the sensitivities contributing to the decision by Arts Queensland to block the installation of Drone Shadow 005. In exposing the hidden secrets of government agencies (and consequently fostering very public debate about it), Bridle’s work was silenced by a government agency. • juxtaposes near and far. By using a platform such as Instagram, Bridle brings what is often perceived as ‘foreign’ conflict (such as the War on Terror, the war in the
James Bridle, Drone Shadow Handbook (2013). Creative Commons.
Middle East and so on) onto devices that can be viewed in your hand. The distance of war is obliterated through the framing of vast expanses of territory onto devices through which the audience for the work can can swipe through images in a matter of seconds. Using a platform such as Instagram, Bridle foregrounds the actions of governments to the realm of citizens. • questions authenticity in art. In Dronestagram, Bridle represents landscape through unconventional forms; makes use of aerial photography from online sources; exhibits work to social media sites and public surfaces; and produces books to
21
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016

James Bridle, Drone Shadow Handbook (2013c). Creative Commons. Top: Blueprint for Global Hawk / RQ-4A, p. 14 Bottom: Drone Shadows should be 1:1 representations: they should be the exact dimensions of real drones, pp. 4 & 11
22
artVoices
Vol 1, No. 1, 2016
encourage replication through the use of templates.
shorttermmemoryloss.com/portfolio/project/ drone-shadow-handbook/
In sum, Bridle’s works are spectacular exponents of the collision that sometimes occurs in the convergence of diverse fields, and how public debate can be generated as a result of such collisions. They help us to consider how Bourriaud’s theory of relational aesthetics is exemplified in the practice of one artist, and how the digital, relational and multimodal can be examined practically in the art classroom. We also see that Bridle’s practice is nested within an array of domains, existing not in isolation, but in relation.
Brown, N. C. M. (2006). Literature Review of the National Review of Visual Education commissioned by the Commonwealth Government of Australia. Foster, H. (2003). Arty Party: Hal Foster reviews relational aesthetics. London Review of Books. Retrieved 2 February, 2015, from http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n23/hal-foster/artyparty Instagram. (2015). Dronestagram. Retrieved 2 February, 2015, from https://instagram.com/ dronestagram/
REFERENCES Thomas, K. (2015a). 8.5 The Frames (working draft). Unpublished paper.
Bourriaud, N. (2002). Relational aesthetics. Franc: Le presse du réel.
Thomas, K. (2015b). 8.6 The Visual Arts as a Field of Practice (working draft). Unpublished paper.
Bridle, J. (2012). Dronestagram: The bird’seye view. Retrieved 2 February, 2015, from http://booktwo.org/notebook/dronestagramdrones-eye-view/
To cite this article: Bridle, J. (2013a). The new aesthetic and it politics. Retrieved 2 February, 2015, from http://booktwo.org/notebook/new-aestheticpolitics/
Kirsten, R. (2016). The new aesthetic? Exploring the digital, relational and multimodal and the visual arts. In R. Kirsten (Ed.) artVoices: Occasional papers in visual arts education NSW. 1 (1) 18-23. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/ artvoices
Bridle, J. (2013b). Statement on the Brisbane drone shadow. Retrieved 2 February, 2015, from http://booktwo.org/statement-brisbanedrone-shadow/ Bridle, J. (2013c.). A guide to drawing drone shadows. Drone Shadow Handbook. Retrieved 2 February 2015, from http://
23
artVoices: Occasional Papers in Visual Arts Education NSW Vol. 1 No. 1, 2016
Published January 2016, Sydney, Australia © Rah Kirsten (Editor) and contributing authors 2016