A HISTORICAL BASIS TO THE PROGRESSIVE PRACTICES OF ART EDUCATION IN THE XXI CENTURY – BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

Abstract

Through theoretical analysis, the paper discusses the conceptual connection between the educational practice of Black Mountain College, an American college from the first half of the twentieth century, and contemporary practices that occur as the formation of the educational turn, artistic and cultural tendency noticeable from the mid-nineties of the twentieth century to the present. As one of the progressive art schools of the first half of last century, the Black Mountain College has developed a specific educational practice, which was specific by experimentation, practical and artistic approach to the problems and learning in the anti-hierarchical, cooperative atmosphere. Since interdisciplinary practices of educational turn put focus on the process, collaboration, and the use of different teaching methods and situations within and beyond the narrow institutional frameworks of art and art schools/academies, Black Mountain College is being established as an important historical basis in conceptual terms. However, in addition to pointing out the similarities in the ideas of the College and the educational turn, it is of great importance to point out the differences in circumstances and contexts of these types of educational practices and merely posing the questions about the significance and potential of Black Mountain for the contemporary art education.