Clout Culture - Youth Cultures in Changing Societes Conference

THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF YOUTH – INTERNATIONAL
COMPARATIVE STUDIES
ANDREA KÁRPÁTI (CORVINUS UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST, INSTITUTE OF
MARKETING- AND COMMUNICATION SCIENCE)
Abstract
Visual communication has become dominant in adolescence, and art
education curricula need to integrate their new forms of expression with
culturally relevant, traditional ways of imaging (Kárpáti, 2019). In educational
systems where “high art” is still the main and often only focus, adolescent
form peer learning communities to acquire skills, be inspired and grow. These
Visual Culture Learning Communities have been formed to respond to the
needs of a new generation of digital and multimodal visualizers (Freedman et
al. 2013, Buckingham 2009).
In a cultural anthropological study of In Visual Culture Learning Communities,
undertaken in 2010–2011 in Amsterdam, Budapest, Chicago, Helsinki, Hong
Kong, Istanbul, and Montreal, we revealed how young visualisers function and
why their peer-to-peer art and design training is so popular. (Freedman et al.,
2013, Kárpáti et al., 2016). Participant observations and documentation of
group processes and creative products enabled researchers to map the
“informal” visual language of youth, describe educational practices that
seemed to be both motivating and effective, and characterize their
collaboration in knowledge building creative networks (Freedman et al., 2013,
Kárpáti et al., 2016). A decade later, in 2019, we showed how groups
restructured and embraced new, multimodal visualisation practices (Kárpáti,
2019).
The central question for both studies was the same: why do adolescents and
young adults engage in visual identity formation so intensively? Why are
visual processes of creating an image to symbolise their identities so
important for them? Image analysis shows that religious faith, cruelty of war
or burning desire have been pre-formed, experienced at school
conscientiously and in the media unconsciously, then re-used in youth
communities with their inherent historic layers that shine through even the
most advanced digital representation.
The first and second decades of the 21st century show different group
22
LECTURE