Teaching re-seeing: Deploying archives in art and design education

Abstract

This is a work-in-progress attempt to analyse, digest and ultimately develop a toolkit of methods for using archives in art and design pedagogy. We are interested in strategies that deploy archives in an active way ‐ moving beyond notions of static collections and including an analysis of embedded power and authority. We provide examples from our own teaching practices, discuss them, and frame their elements into a broader approach to archives that may teach our students to be effective re-seers: critical and disruptive thinkers, reflective practitioners, with a sense of agency about their practice. We explore the factors at stake and notice different threads emerging from teaching. We promote an approach to teaching that celebrates an interweaving and intermingling of life, art and education in ways that constantly challenge the status quo.