Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

II. Perspectives
III. Methods and tools
would be best placed to navigate this
Who
museums or national governments? If
tension:
accept that museums might be custodians for
we
goods that belong to all of humanity, what
public
we say about the fact that most of them are
can
Western nations?
in
the “Declaration of the Importance and Value
In
Universal Museums”, the directors of leading
of
including the Metropolitan Museum of
museums
the Getty Museum, the Hermitage Museum
Art,
the British Museum write that “museums
and
not just the citizens of one nation but the
serve
of every nation” (quoted in Matthes
people
Matthes writes that Western museums
2017).
a long history of cultural marginalization”
“have
2017). For instance, he states that non-
(Matthes
this section we explore the methods of
In
and being an artist, and how
becoming
is acquired and produced in the
knowledge
We also look at the role of tools and
process.
child is an artist. The problem is how
“Every
remain an artist once we grow up.” So goes
to
quote, often attributed to Pablo Picasso, but
the
on by many others to suggest that we all
iterated
an innate artistic ability, and that education
have
at best irrelevant to it.
is
yet, going to art school and formally
And
in the knowledge community of
participating
remains something of a stepping stone
artists
the trajectory of many if not most artists.
in
is the purpose of an art education and
What
knowledge that is passed on and acquired
the
mission and values of many leading
The
serve for the collective good
museums—to
humankind—seems at odds with their
of
in just one part of the world. A key
concentration
in the redistribution and repatriation
consideration
artistic works, argues Matthes, is how it can
of
collections also house vast quantities
Private
knowledge away from public access. To
of
extent should governments intervene in
what
collections, and what would be some
private
an education in art looks different
Granted,
the various disciplines—from theatre and
in
to film, dance and so on. And yet,
literature,
diverse art forms, studied in the context of
these
university programmes, may perhaps
modern
more similar than we recognize. What can
be
learn about how knowledge is transferred
we
looking at how art education has changed
by
time and the different forms it takes across
over
cultures?
explore this question we turn to Hindustani
To
music from the northern regions of the
classical
subcontinent. For close to 10 centuries,
Indian
knowledge was traditionally transferred
music
the context of the guru–shishya parampara
in
where a student or disciple (shishya),
system,
knowledge under the direct guidance
acquires
a trusted teacher or master (guru). The guru–
of
is defining as both a professional and
shishya
relationship, marked by ceremony
personal
10
anthropology museums as opposed to art museums,
their designation as ‘primitive’ within the artworld
context, and, despite these aspersions on their
artistic status, the colonialist acquisition of many
such objects.
(Matthes 2017)
facilitate the recognition for marginalized groups.
Western artworks have long been excluded to:
implications of this?
I I I . M E T H O D S A N D T O O LS
materials.
III.1 Method and art education
through it?
and an initiation into a community and lineage.
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