Media Release
September 29 2008
Art ethics more than censorship
The ethical needs of creative artists will come under the microscope
at this year’s Australian
Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) conference, to
be held at UniSA from October 1-3.
Ethics for edgy practices, one of conference’s seven roundtable discussions, will explore whether the policies governing ethical conduct in research across universities are appropriate in university art and design schools.
Head of UniSA’s South Australian School of Art, Professor Kay Lawrence expects a lively discussion about where to draw the ethical line in art and design practice.
“The ACUADS conference is always a dynamic forum for discussion about the current issues in art and design education,” Prof Lawrence said.
“Public debate about artistic freedom usually centres on censorship. But there are accepted practices in the visual arts that might, for example, involve pushing the body to the limit.
“The problem for art schools is how to exercise its duty of care to a student who wants to practice in that genre?”
The other roundtables include discussions on studio teaching as a mode of delivery, and benchmarking postgraduate coursework programs in arts and design education.
“Studio teaching as a mode of education is a prime example of experiential learning, but it’s resource-intensive and there are higher costs that come with it,” Prof Lawrence said.
“Without adequate resources, art and design schools have had to develop efficiencies in their operation. And there may lessons in managing the cost of experiential learning for other disciplines.”
The first day of the ACUADS conference will include the opening of Shards, an exhibition of works by artists Nici Cumpston, Yhonnie Scarce and Judy Watson, who will also be a keynote speaker.
The ACUADS annual report of individual and group research practices in the sector will also be launched during the conference.
For more information about the ACUADS conference, click here
Contacts for interview
- Dr Kathleen Connellan, Portfolio Leader Research, South Australian School of Art and Co-convenor of the ACUADS ethics roundtable office (08) 8302 0355 email kathleen.connellan@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
-
Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457
email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au