An Expanded Understanding of Art as an Agent of Change in Higher Education

Abstract

South African higher education institutions seek strategies to address belonging and decolonization. The student protest movement across South African university campuses during 2015–2016 further underlined this fact. We explored the capacity of interactive artworks to address belonging and active citizenship, both prioritized by university management. Art, in this sense, facilitates out-of-classroom education to aid the institutional decolonial vision of a university entrenched in colonial history and apartheid. Furthermore, the protests challenged the slow pace of institutional change at South African universities. This article examines responses to an interactive artwork placed on the Stellenbosch University campus. Our elastic understanding of art and education deviates from traditional art history and acts as a critical public intervention that aimed to stimulate conversation about belonging at Stellenbosch University. The employed research methods are informed by the decolonial framework which engages a crucial attentiveness of the power issues embedded in knowledge production, validation and dissemination. An interactive public artwork, titled “We Belong Here”, was placed on the main campus of Stellenbosch University in South Africa. We invited students on campus to make visual statements related to topics such as community, apathy, legacy, honour, protest, ethical conduct and creativity. Qualitative data was gathered from individual and group interviews with students, lecturers and staff members who were most likely to have encountered the artwork. Theories on critical citizenship education, and art education informed the research and discussion. The data suggests that art education in the expanded field has the potential to aid higher education institutions in bringing about personal and intellectual growth. Both accepting and dismissive opinions were raised by participants and welcomed by the researcher. Viewing their voice among many, led some to a sense of belonging in the university community, and their interaction led them to converse with others on the topic of citizenship. There was also criticism to the artwork text written in English, and concern that such a work could not create any relevant impact. Although the parameters of the artwork is limited within the field, the student protest movement was a forceful reminder of urgent matters in higher education and a reason to continue enquiry and interventions to decolonialize education.