Abstract
The primary medium for artist Laurie Jo Reynolds is that of political lobbying. She refers to her practice as “legislative art,” adapting the term “legislative theater,” a technique for grassroots lawmaking developed and coined by Brazilian director and playwright Augusto Boal, who both founded the Theater of the Oppressed and served as a member of the Rio city government from 1993 to 1997. By linking the discourses of art and law, Reynolds’ practice can be understood as a form of education, highlighting the restrictions required for creativity, and the possibilities afforded by structure. In my essay I bring together European political theory, modern American politics, and contemporary conceptual art in order to magnify the possibilities of what Friedrich Schiller called “aesthetic education.” While other scholars have understood art and art education as a process of pleasurable exploration, or formal disciplinary explication, I hope to suggest a way of engaging art education as an intellectual pursuit with open-ended political possibilities.
Highlights
In her work fighting against carceral solitary confinement, sex offender registries, and other extreme forms of official punishment, Laurie Jo Reynolds has created and curated a variety of visual documents and performances, but her primary focus has been on lobbying policymakers to reform and reduce highly punitive practices
Perversion, absurdity, fear, and repulsion comprise the truth of legal violence, and so art is needed to supplement the incompleteness of law
Carey Young treats the legal apparatus of capital as a game, while Cameron Rowland mines it for artifacts
Summary
Acknowledgements Thanks to my advisor, Professor Jorge Lucero, for his constant encouragement, as well as Professor Jeff Martin for his feedback on this piece, and for all of his advice on revising my dissertation. Recommended Citation Stabler, Albert (2016) "Legislative art as Policy and Pedagogy," Marilyn Zurmuehlen Working Papers in Art Education: Vol 2016 , Article 6. This article is available in Marilyn Zurmuehlen Working Papers in Art Education: https://ir.uiowa.edu/mzwp/vol2016/ iss1/6
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have