Introduction

The Introduction to the book begins by asking what learning can take place in the unusual environment of the contemporary art school, and whether contemporary art can be taught. It shows that these questions have no clear answers at present. Art schools today have no instructional texts to look to, as earlier traditions of art teaching have had. Rather, the distinctive features of contemporary art teaching seem to have grown up without design, and without being theorised or otherwise justified. A broad strategy for answering these questions is then developed, and the ideas central to the book’s project are introduced, including those of a concept of art, the artist, teaching and creativity.