Art education is an important vehicle for all sorts of learning and knowledge acquisition. Teachers must be taught not to view it as a “second class” subject.
Bushfires are an integral part of the Australian landscape and psyche. These awesome forces are part of the cycle of renewal, but how can art help us come to terms with increasingly destructive fires?
Kitty-in-Boots.
Image courtesy Frederick Warne & Co / the V&A Museum
Time travelling back into internet art of the past, the contrast between today’s paranoia and banality and the early optimism that initially greeted it is striking.
That traditional monolith of culture, the museum, has begun to embrace the digital world. As a series of projects reveal, the possibilities are endless.
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, who died in 2013, wrote stories that offer students from all disciplines valuable insights about the world they want to fix one day.
EPA/Frank May
Students of the social and political sciences can benefit enormously from being taught literature, short stories and watching artistic feature films.
Something seems to be missing in the Australian art world.
French Street theatre company performing at the Santiago a Mil International Theatre Festival - Ivan Alvarado/Reuters
Ien Ang, Western Sydney University and Phillip Mar, Western Sydney University
Diversity is a vital part of a thriving art sector, yet only 8% of professional Australian artists come from a non-English speaking background. How can we beat “diversity fatigue”?
Artworks by deceased South African artist Helen Martins. The cultural and creative industries are key for social and economic development.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
The field of computational creativity examines the mechanisms by which technology can perform creative tasks, particularly in the arts. How can software create works of beauty, value and meaning?
Jesus, Stained Glass Detail Of The Church St Etienne Fecamp, Normandy, France.
Mamjodh/flickr
Shia LaBeouf’s latest artistic performance interrogates celebrity, online community and the endless search for ‘true connection’.
Art demonstrated it still has the power to inspire, and maybe even change the world.
A man carries a self-portrait painted by Australian death row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran. Beawiharta
There are as many ways to summarise a “year in art” as there are eyes to look at art with. Art had some shining – and not-so-shining – moments in 2015.
William Kentridge art exhibition in Beijing. Kentridge is one South African artist who has made commercial success worldwide.
EPA/How Hwee Young
Einstein’s theory of general relativity is a triumph of reason and imagination, of art and science, with a profound beauty of its own.
The exhibition includes the kind of art not held in any Australian collection.
Sir Edwin Landseer, Rent-day in the wilderness, 1868. Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland
Anyone who has even a passing interest in art exhibitions or how culture can define a country should allocate a good few hours to contemplating these riches from the National Galleries of Scotland.
Anita Hustas performing in Melbourne.
Phil Bywater
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne