Organised under the Expanded Education Programme (EEP), a key initiative of the ongoing Students’ Biennale in Kochi, the aim was to engage with students and teachers to identify existing frameworks of learning in art schools in India and imagine new directions in pedagogical practices.
Art education in India, dependent on British-era curriculum and practice, has been badly in need of change for a long time now. Institutions like the much vaunted JJ School of Arts, which was founded in 1857, continue to heavily depend on portrait painting and face drawing. “The syllabus hasn’t changed for over a century,” rues artist Kausik Mukhopadhyay, who led the workshop at JJ School. “It is necessary to think of new material, see our own city as an inspiration,” adds Mukhopadhyay, who is well known for his kinetic sculptures relating to life in a city. “But there is an intent to change, which is encouraging,” he says, referring to the wholehearted support he received from the JJ School administration for the workshop that challenged the old style of learning art. Mukhopadhyay’s workshop taught students to think about their city as an extended studio.
....