Abstract
This chapter reports on experiences from an intensive course focused on
fostering the discussion of social issues in the Arctic through the creation of
art and design solutions. This course was carried out as a weeklong workshop
in Murmansk in November 2014. The course was organized by the University
of Lapland’s Faculty of Art and Design in co-operation with Murmansk
State Humanities University, both members of Arctic Sustainable Arts and
Design Thematic Network of University of Arctic. During this course, students
examined social phenomena of the Arctic territory from the perspectives of
service design, graphic design, photography, video, textile design and fine arts.
The course was funded by CIMO (Centre for International Mobility) from
its FIRST-ARTSMO programme, which supports the student and instructor
exchange between Finland and Russia.
The aim of this chapter is to contribute to the educational field in the form
of a Multicultural Workshop Model (MWM). The chapter first reports on how
the theme of the course and created model are in connection to wider arctic
discussion. In the second part it presents the experiences of the instructors and
students of the course and workshop. As the multicultural workshop model
is based on these experiences and happenings, next the model is presented.
Finally, the chapter concludes with lessons learned and conclusions.
A case study approach (Yin, 2014, pp. 9–15; Eriksson & Koistinen, 2005, pp.
4–5) was used as a research strategy for investigating the course and its outcomes.
This method of study was especially useful because of its flexibility and focus on
the practical point of view. Case orientation allowed students to introduce and
encounter new and unexpected results together. This lead to cultural collaboration
through which their cases developed much further from the initial expectations.
The MWM is an attempt to visualize and explain the complexity that
happens in courses where students and instructors from different cultural and
educational backgrounds come together to work around a mutual topic. As
the course was planned and realized in 2014 a need for a mutual framework
emerged. The model is a proposal to enhance multicultural conversation in art
and design studies: offering methods and possibilities to express the local culture
and identity, and the dialectics between cultures. The model was created through
the practical design case of planning and running the ARTSMO course.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Relate North |
| Subtitle of host publication | culture, community and communication |
| Editors | Timo Jokela, Glen Coutts |
| Place of Publication | Rovaniemi |
| Publisher | Lapland University Press |
| Pages | 104-129 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-952-310-957-5 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-952-310-959-9 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| MoEC publication type | A3 Part of a book or another research book |
Field of science
- Visual arts and design