Art and Young People

Children and young people are a cultural-political area of priority. This has led to an abundance of art and cultural opportunities for this target group, and simultaneous discussions concerning artistic autonomy and instrumental justifications.

What is it that characterizes art for, by and with children and young people? How are artistic and cultural initiatives perceived by the young people themselves?

The research group, Art and Young People, consists of members and collaborative partners across institutions, subject boundaries, and different artistic forms of expression, and addresses different research approaches, from traditional academic research to applied research and artistic development work.

The research group Art and Young People involves a rich variety of projects:

• Studying the category “children and young people” and challenging the target group rhetoric within Norwegian cultural politics

• Investigating the potential of art by looking at what role visual art, music and theatre can play in children’s and young people’s lives

• Researching and initiating art and art educational projects within institutional frameworks such as schools, kindergartens, schools of music and performing arts, art museums, galleries, theatres, and concert venues etc.

• Looking at children’s and young people’s self-organized aesthetic practice on web-based communication platforms, social media, and arenas more or less controlled by the young people themselves

• Researching the connections between art and play, art and education, and investigating how art and aesthetic practice in artistic and arts education contexts can be of significance in terms of how children and young people form themselves, and are themselves formed and transformed as people

• Studying the connections between art, aesthetics, democratic practice and politic

Photo: Lisbet Skregelid