Reflections.

Tate BAN and Leap into Action Critical Performative Pedagogies in Art and Design.

Wednesday 3rd February 2021

Pauline de Souza joins Tate BAN Steering Group.

BRITISH ART NETWORK
SHARING EXPERTISE, RESEARCH AND IDEAS ON BRITISH ART
WHAT IS THE BRITISH ART NETWORK?
The British Art Network (BAN) promotes curatorial research, practice and theory in the field of British art. Our members include curators, academics, artist-researchers, conservators, producers and programmers at all stages of their professional lives. All are actively engaged in caring for, developing and presenting British art, whether in museums, galleries, heritage settings or art spaces, in published form or in educational settings, across the UK and beyond.

BAN provides a place for sharing expertise, helps forge connections, and creates time and space for critical exchange and debate. Our activities are defined by our membership and reflect a broad range of expertise, experience and viewpoints. At the heart of everything we do there is a collective commitment to expanding definitions of British art, acknowledging complex historical truths and their present-day resonances, and communicating the continuing public value of British art collections and curatorial expertise around the UK.

Pauline de Souza discusses her involvement in the publication Critical Performative Pedagogies in Art and Design edited by Lee Campbell published by the American publisher Peter Lang

Pauline de Souza's interview

Leap into Action asks: "What happens when performative arts meet pedagogy?" and views performative teaching as building students' understanding of complex ideas and concepts "through action." It provides the theoretical, philosophical, and conceptual terrain by setting forth the scholarly rationale as to what performative pedagogy is at this moment across Art & Design education. How can everyone engage with performative pedagogy? Leap into Action is intended to prompt new angles from which to examine one's practice including and beyond pedagogy, mainly in terms of art, design and performance, and disciplines further afield. Whilst Leap into Action engages with performative pedagogies through disruptions, interruptions, tricksters, liminalities, affective bodies, sensory encounters, and technoparticipation, it calls into question what risk-taking means in an arts school context, including for those who want to create and offer alternative art schools or act as mentors. Whilst engagement with performative strategies may be a 'risky' strategy, the rewards can be great. Enter the unknown, take a leap into action, and have fun by exploring new ways of thinking and doing.