College of Art and Built Environment of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana : Handwerklichkeit als Existenzstrategie

Dieckvoss, Stephanie (2017) College of Art and Built Environment of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana : Handwerklichkeit als Existenzstrategie. Kunstforum International(245), pp. 118-131. ISSN (print) 0177-3674

Abstract

This paper uses the College of Art and Built Environment of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi in Central Ghana as a case study to investigate thinking through making in arts education and describes the unique position at KNUST in balancing traditional European academic art education with Ghanaian cultural traditions. Built on a long history of art education spanning the full 20th Century, the article brings to light the ambitions of a group of passionate tutors and students to create in the context of tradition and innovation and develop a language of art practice that situates itself in local traditions while making relevant contributions to a global contemporary art practice. This article is part of the themed issue of the German art publication “Kunstforum” (Volume 245, March/April 2017. It is titled: Kunst lernen? Kunstakademien heute. It asks how art academies educate today across the world and uses 8 academies as case studies for the investigation into the relationship between making as a “craft” versus concept based ideology. It asks how students and tutors today explore creativity. Based on interviews and conversations as well as visits with students, teachers, artists and curators, the focus lies on the central question of the relationship between workshop and studio practice and the idea of making in relation to concepts, ideas and reflection. The individual articles, read together, open up a debate – convergences and differences in different places - about material skills and notions of creativity today.

Actions (Repository Editors)

Item Control Page Item Control Page