Waves of Surveillance (Click for Project Description!)
Teacher Reflection: Jumping into this project with our team was a wild ride where all of us learned a lot. For us as teachers, it was quite the challenge to track 18 different products being created by 18 different groups of students. Each group had separate products that they were creating for their contemporary art, so tracking all of their progress was quite the challenge. Kurt Schwartz, my partner teacher, and I met with every group of students every day for a progress check on their work leading up to exhibition. One thing we really enjoyed about this project was how it disrupted the power hierarchy in the classroom. In every classroom, there are teachers and there are students. Because the museum educators/artists were the ones who were approving the concepts and the final products that students were working on, it repositioned us as teachers to be allies in the creation of the work. We could entirely concentrate on doing everything we could to help students succeed in this project instead of also being the keeper of what was "good" or "bad" in terms of their concept and their creations. To that point, having this natural audience of the museum curators, and this very authentic audience in their guests/clientele in addition to our parents and guests during exhibition night really changed the dynamic of the project and the way work happened in the classroom. We're really excited to work on another iteration of this project for 2019-2020.
Student Reflections:
"My initial thoughts on the project were very skeptical. I didn't know how we were going to tie content work into this project, at first. It turned out better than I originally thought it would. Our first idea for the project was very generic, but it later evolved into something far more introspective and unique. I'm proud of my group's final product." ~Justin G.
"Exhibition was definitely unlike anything I've ever done before in my school career and I actually really enjoyed it. It was really satisfying having our hard work put on display and have people enjoy it along with us. As for presenting, it want well. I knew all of the answers to any questions people had and I hit all the points I wanted to discuss when I explained our project. Out of everyone I think all the parents of the people in my group were the most engaged and inquisitive. Luckily, I didn't have a run in with anyone that was difficult to speak to. Everyone asked good questions and I had some enlightening conversations." ~Ella M.
" In humanities we learned about contemporary art and the artists. The artist that stood out to me was Ai Weiwei. The reason he stood out to me is because how he makes simple objects into art. For example, the mural he made in Germany out of 9000 backpacks. That mural really inspired me and really showed me what contemporary art can be. Learning about this I thought was actually quite interesting too." ~Cole C.
"After working through this project, I feel like I have a deeper appreciation for the significance of the artist's mindset and effort as they create art that interprets important issues. I also learned how necessary it is to balance privacy and security. Both are important, and although no one has complete privacy or ironclad security, a strong balance keeps us reasonably safe and private." ~Helena K.
Student Reflections:
"My initial thoughts on the project were very skeptical. I didn't know how we were going to tie content work into this project, at first. It turned out better than I originally thought it would. Our first idea for the project was very generic, but it later evolved into something far more introspective and unique. I'm proud of my group's final product." ~Justin G.
"Exhibition was definitely unlike anything I've ever done before in my school career and I actually really enjoyed it. It was really satisfying having our hard work put on display and have people enjoy it along with us. As for presenting, it want well. I knew all of the answers to any questions people had and I hit all the points I wanted to discuss when I explained our project. Out of everyone I think all the parents of the people in my group were the most engaged and inquisitive. Luckily, I didn't have a run in with anyone that was difficult to speak to. Everyone asked good questions and I had some enlightening conversations." ~Ella M.
" In humanities we learned about contemporary art and the artists. The artist that stood out to me was Ai Weiwei. The reason he stood out to me is because how he makes simple objects into art. For example, the mural he made in Germany out of 9000 backpacks. That mural really inspired me and really showed me what contemporary art can be. Learning about this I thought was actually quite interesting too." ~Cole C.
"After working through this project, I feel like I have a deeper appreciation for the significance of the artist's mindset and effort as they create art that interprets important issues. I also learned how necessary it is to balance privacy and security. Both are important, and although no one has complete privacy or ironclad security, a strong balance keeps us reasonably safe and private." ~Helena K.
