Re-positioning Practice Through Virtual Teaching for Socially Engaged Art

Virtual education for socially engaged artists can open new spaces for understanding art making, place and space. The postgraduate programme, MA Art and Social Practice at the University of the Highlands and Islands, demonstrates how synchronous technologies can be used not only as an effective and invaluable means of teaching but equally as a means to build a sustainable, international community of practice among dispersed students, professional practitioners and researchers. The nature of virtuality has facilitated innovation in delivery of the subject and encouraged hybrid forms of dialogue, collaboration and partnership which mix virtual and real life engagement. In response to challenges presented by virtuality, new pedagogical approaches have been developed which employ inter-disciplinarity, internationalisation of practice and re-thinking of the field of socially engaged art practice. Teaching and learning methods are constantly evolving in relation to key components of dialogical projects, particularly location and collaboration (Helguera, 2011 and Kester, 2015). Opportunities, such as an annual Winter School and Virtual Symposium, employ virtual technologies to extend and diversify modes of learning, strengthen relationships and empower students to work more innovatively and effectively in the field as well as with each other.