Being in motion through an aesthetic working process

Abstract

The article reports the results of an empirical investigation into movement viewed as a quality of an aesthetic working process. Any process presupposes movement - there is no process if one stands still. At times, movement is deliberately provoked by artists wanting to view their work from a different perspective. This was the approach applied in the first-year course of an art teacher’s program in Sweden, where movement was provoked through shifts of media (cardboard, sketching, Minecraft) during a four-week working process. The assignment was to work with a 3D shape through these media. The students' process journals (containing writings and photography) constitute the material for the study. The results are visualized on an individual level as movement patterns and five characteristic patterns are discerned. Movement within and between media are visualized collectively, showing not only how media shifts stimulate movement but also how the students themselves can provoke movement within a medium. Sketching shows the most movement, typically triggered by the students themselves when they get bored by the repetitiveness of multiple sketching. Minecraft encourages the least amount of movement, which is discussed in relation to preconceptions embedded in the software design. The study relates to a phenomenographic approach.