Research in Visual Arts Education - The National Society for ...

BETWEEN VISUAL ARTS AND VISUAL CULTURE
In recent years the researchers of the unit and their colleagues have decided
to get more involved in the international collaborations offered by the International
Society of Education through Art (InSEA), where Mie Buhl is
the Danish contact person. During the last five years the congresses of this
organisation have shown a strong orientation towards visual culture education,
which is of special interest for Danish research. In addition, contacts
have been made with researchers in Great Britain, Spain, Germany and the
United States, in the form of informal exchanges rather than as a formalised
network.
At the national level an informal Danish network in visual culture studies
was established in 2003 with participants from seven universities and
research institutions. This network has been very important for the development
of this new research field in Denmark. As a result of the network
activities a group of researchers is now publishing an extensive volume on
Danish visual culture research, including a section on the construction of
knowledge in and through visual culture (Christensen & Illeris, 2008 Forthcoming).
Journals
In Denmark the National Association of Visual Arts Teachers (Danmarks
Billedkunstlærere) publishes the only existing Danish journal entirely dedicated
to visual arts education: Billedpædagogisk Tidsskrift [The Journal of
Art Education]. The four issues published every year mainly feature three
kinds of articles: 1) Examples of experimental practice, mainly from the
Folkeskole but also from voluntary art education, upper secondary schools,
teacher training colleges and art galleries. These articles are usually written
by teachers or educators, 2) Research-based articles, mainly written by
researchers and teacher trainers, and 3) Articles by invited writers, mostly
artists and researchers from other fields such as philosophy or psychology.
For example, the Danish psychologist Mogens Hansen, specialised in relationships
between art, cognition and education, has published extensively
in Billedpædagogisk Tidsskrift. Furthermore, the journal publishes news
from the association including extensive reports on seminars and conferences
and annual reports from the chair.
Other educational journals such as Unge Pædagoger [Young Educators] and
Dansk Pædagogisk Tidsskrift [The Danish Journal of Education] also accept
articles on arts education and related issues. For example, the research unit
Visual Culture in Education edited a special issue of Unge Pædagoger entirely
dedicated to visual culture (Buhl, Flensborg & Illeris, 2003).
Scholarly Danish articles are preferably published in international journals.
In the Nordic countries, Nordisk Pedagogik [Nordic Educational Research],
Nordisk Museologi [Nordic Museology] and Nordisk Psykologi [Nordic Psy-
86 NORDIC VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION IN TRANSITION