Site-Specific collaboration with The Irish Museum of Modern Art
Laurence Riddell, Lecturer B.A Hons Visual Arts Practice, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design (IADT)
laurence.Riddell@iadt.ie
Lynda Devenney, Lecturer B.A Hons Visual Arts Practice, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design (IADT)
lynda.devenney@iadt.ie
Lisa Moran, Curator, Education & Community Programme, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)
lisa.moran@imma.ie
Conference theme selected:
Museums and university partnerships - opportunities and barriers
Keywords: Site-specific, Collaboration, Wiki Site, Supportive Learning, External Learning
Site–Specific Project- Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Duration at IMMA – 4 weeks
The 1st year [50 students] of the B.A in Visual Art Practice learning outcomes are primarily concerned with the implimentation of research strategies and methodologies. As one of the key projects for developing an understanding of how to contextualise their learning experience we implement a site-specific project. Using the location as a starting point for the investigation and creation of a multi disciplinary body of research work.
Site-specific artwork has established a critical context within the international art world. It involves artwork that is created to exist in a certain place; the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork.
In collaboration with the museum key locations were identifed within the grounds of the museum as starting points for the gathering of research material. As an outcome to the project students were then asked to publish online all site-specific research and artwork.
Benefit to University
The Irish Museum of Modern Art, a key cultural and national resource for the visual arts, was chosen as a location for the site-specific project. The benefits in utilising such a resource was having direct access to a rich and varied programme of events hosted by the museum. It provided an opportunity to collaborate with the museum’s eductional programme and artist in residency programme. Equally benefical was the provision of working studio spaces on site to process and develop research material. We have established links with local cultural and artistic communities. Students are also gaining first hand learning within an applied setting.
Benefit to Museum
This collaboration was an opportunity for the museum to expand the eductional programme and address the needs of Higher Education. This partnership provided opportunities to develop capacity-building initiatives and to develop new audiences. The outcome of the project provided a platform to showcase the potential benefits of collaboration.
Outcome
During the four weeks of the project, the wiki site was established to create a portal for staff and students to follow the work taking place off campus. It further developed into becoming an important educational archive for the college and the museum to promote and receive feedback from a local/ national and international community. Initial feedback from users [students and staff] has been very positive and has been viewed as a useful resource for future learning. The results of the feedback and direct quotes will be presented in the paper.
Project Wiki Site: http://1styrvapiadt.wetpaint.com/
