Project for secondary education and high school students

Visits- debate: Dilemmas and utopias. Using the MACBA Collection to map the 20th century

The project is split into two sessions. The first will take place in the classroom. For the first session, a Museum guide will go to the school to lead the activity. The second will take place at the Museum where students will visit the Collection, leady by that same guide. We suggest that there also be follow-up activities to solidify the knowledge acquired in the sessions.

The classroom activities hope to help students construct a criteria with which to understand works of art, going from Art and Cultural History to an aesthetic and cognitive appreciation based on direct and personal contact between the work of art and the observer. This understanding takes into consideration, on the one hand, the relationship between different genres and artistic practices, and on the other, considers the complex relationships that exist between economy, society, politics, science, art, and culture. . . This session is based on a few questions presented to students with the goal of encouraging reflection so that, through their own contributions, they construct the referential point of view. During the lesson, students visualize a variety of works of art found in the Collection. Following that, they will be able to see the actual works. This at once encourages dialogue with the students and promotes their participation.

In the follow-up session at the Museum, students will be able to see the actual works of art and play with different ways of analyzing them through constructed notions. It is about debating feelings, emotions and opinions in a group setting, contrasting them with specific information supplied by the Museum guide conducting the tour.

The project opens a wide range of possibilities to teachers who want to continue referring to it throughout the school year, be it in reference to the artistic or any other field that lends itself to discussion using the original topic of study as the basis for further work.

The proposed themes articulate key problems that certain works present; specific works and artists, and identifiable historical moments or nuclei. The four proposals form a relatively chronological set that can work as a single unit or as separate parts. Though each theme is presented in a specific period, it can also show a specific rundown of the general period covered by the Collection: the latter half of the 20th century.

There is a possibility of focusing the two sessions on different themes. Really, they are debates about specific alternatives, dilemmas, and opportunities that come up throughout. In the end, we hope that students can eloquently visualize the complex conflicts and positioning that go into making a point of view.

At the beginning of the '06-'07 academic year, the following will be available:

1- Between documentary and poetry (40's and 50's to the 60's)

2- Nostalgia for the Body: between criticism and games (60's and 70's)

And during the year, the following will become available:

3- The painting of Modern Life: the conflicts surrounding the representation of the city (80's)

4- Between the Museum and the Street: art and social movements (90's, 2000...)

The general schedule is adaptable to: first year ESO, second year ESO, and Seniors. At the same time, they are also preparing specific versions with a different format so that they can be counted as synthesis credits, or as research.

These educational projects have been developed with the collaboration of David Armengol, Ariadna Miquel, Joan Roca, Yolanda Jolis, and our team of Museum guides, Clut'art.