Unsettling Hierarchies in Art Education

Using an open and fluid membership policy, the group explores the following questions: Where do we observe hierarchies emerging in pedagogical contexts, and what is their effect? How can one actively unsettle hierarchies in their teaching practice, both within the curriculum and within the structure of the classroom? In what ways can we imagine a radical reversal of pedagogical hierarchies, and what would this look like in tangible terms?

The group specifically investigates the unique perspectives artists bring to this inquiry, asking which traditions within art education are important to maintain, and which we should seek to transcend. Together, the group seeks to identify educational environments that are truly radical, and how such models can be extended to confront broader social hierarchies and inequalities.

The research group was initiated in 2023 by Chloe Lewis, Associate Professor in KMD’s Department of Contemporary Art.
 

<sup>“It’s fairly obvious what it means to decolonize a museum, but what it means to decolonize the academy is less obvious. Decolonization certainly demands that we respect the histories, lived experiences, voices, cultures and perspectives of all our students. But does it also require us to engage with issues of power, including the ways that hierarchical assumptions and inequalities influence classroom dynamics?”  
- Steven Mintz, "Decolonizing the Academy: Who’s afraid of the call to decolonize higher education?" 2021</sup>
 

<sup>“The principal danger of the classroom is its implicit hierarchy. Dangerous to whom? To every last one. Hierarchy contorts and diminishes the possibilities of the lives that labor within it.”
- Jesse Ball, “Notes on My Dunce Cap,” 2015</sup>