Designing Context - A View from the Edge

Sharman Pretty, Dean
National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI)
The University of Auckland

This chapter appears in Enhancing Curricula: Contributing to the Future, Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century in the Disciplines of Art, Design and Communication, Allan Davies, editor (2007).

A version of this essay was presented in Sharman Pretty's 2006 Keynote Address at the University of the Arts London conference in Lisbon.

"We have been continuously working on ways in which we may be able to interpolate the principles of Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) here at the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI). We are very excited by the potential of IE and greatly challenged to find an appropriate interpretation for our context."

We anticipate that students will be setting their own agendas and pathways of study by asking questions such as: "What do I need to know; who can I study with, and work with, to find out what I need to know; how can I apply this knowledge; and on whose behalf?"

These questions arise from the educational philosophy known as 'Intellectual Entrepreneurship' (or I.E.), developed at the University of Texas, Austin, under the leadership of Richard Cherwitz. IE aims to shift the model of learning and teaching from 'apprenticeship-certification- entitlement' to one of 'discovery-ownership-accountability'. Students come to accept responsibility not only for what and how they learn, but are also accountable to the community for how they apply that learning. IE students are encouraged to act as 'citizen scholars' and 'social entrepreneurs' with their intellectual capital leveraging knowledge for social good.

The Entrepreneur in Residence project introduced this philosophy into the faculty. Noting the impact that IE has had on the educational outcomes for minority student groups at the University of Texas, Austin, we have set up a mentoring scheme for Maori students underpinned by the IE philosophy. An important aim of the scheme is to position students to combine their academic training with other sources of knowledge drawn from community, traditional culture, and the environment.

In tandem with this IE initiative, NICAI is also working on change to graduate profiles. Through links with industry, we anticipate advances in industry-led teaching, with greater emphasis on generic capabilities, student internships in industry, entrepreneurial skills, and more professional learning outcomes, all of which will contribute to 'pedagogy for employability'.

Together, these approaches constitute a major shift in both pedagogy and curriculum. Pedagogy is no longer restricted to teacher transmission of established chunks of knowledge. Learning now includes student engagement outside the university, through practical response to real life challenges, within new environments where they have the opportunity towork with a range of experienced and professional people.

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. He mihi tenei ki Aotearoa me ki the Whare Wananga o Tamaki Makaurau ki a koutou.

Warmest greetings to you all. Greetings from New Zealand and from The University of Auckland.

In late 2005 I attended a conference in London. In one of the breakout sessions the facilitator asked us all to introduce ourselves and say where we were from. As we went around the table he was impressed by the many places from which we had all travelled. When we"d finished he announced that the participant from Finland came from furthest away. "No" she protested "our colleague from New Zealand comes from furthest away". An anxious effort by her to persuade him to her perspective was to no avail. He insisted that Helsinki was further away than Auckland, and the session moved on -- with a few raised eyebrows round the table I might add.

Fortunately these days such occurrences are fairly rare. The impact of globilisation has put an end to the mysteries of distant lands, as increased mobility, migration, and more fluid trading relationships make familiarity with far away places a great deal more possible. Still, no socio-economic or other change alters the reality of being geographically located on the edge of the planet, and with this come unique challenges and unique opportunities. "The Edge" is a universal metaphor for change and innovation - "being edgy". The Edge is the most innovative and generative place in any ecosystem, less constrained by composition, shape and form than the core. The Worldwide CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi, New Zealander Kevin Roberts captures the spirit of all things edgy and Kiwi when he says (and I quote):

"We had often wondered, for a country so often characterised as "small", why the achievements of the place were so great. First country to give women the vote. First man up Everest. Split the atom. Freshest landmass on the planet. Last country to be settled. An intense, restless, competitive bunch of people wanting to take on the world and beat it.

Edge certainly felt to be the right metaphor to apply to our extraordinary natural beauty, our adventure-driven outdoor pursuits, our world-leading scientific innovation, our brooding literature and art. Edge of the earth, cutting edge, leading edge, competitive edge, edge of your seats, edge of danger. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Edge explains everything I need to know and feel and tell about New Zealand. When I say "come to the edge" to a potential visitor to New Zealand, how can they resist." 1

There would be little dispute that all New Zealanders who are ambitious for the future of their country would embrace and aspire to the edge/innovation paradigm. Nevertheless, to perceive New Zealand as the edge of the world is a Pakeha perspective (Pakeha is the Maori word originally used to describe the white inhabitants of New Zealand. More recently it has begun to be used as a reference to all non-Maori New Zealanders. One possible origin of this word is from pakepakeha, meaning "imaginery beings resembling men"!). The Director of Art and Visual Culture at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (himself of Maaori descent), has noted "As New Zealanders we continue...to allow ourselves to be constructed from a Northern Hemisphere perspective".2

Not surprisingly, the Maori perspective is somewhat other. That perspective has New Zealand at the centre, not the edge. It is the centre in terms of place, culture and identity. Europe is its antipodes.

This image is known as "Tuki"s Map"3 and dates from 1793. It was drawn, originally in chalk on the floor, and then traced in pencil on a sheet of paper, by Tuki Tahua as he and his friend, Ngaahuruhuru, attempted to explain New Zealand to the then Governor of Norfolk Island (where Tuki and Ngaahuruhuru had been taken somewhat against their will). Tuki"s map is striking, as it is not informed by the conventions of European maps of that time. The first thing that you"ll notice is that Tuki does not reflect a north/south alignment -- the island to your left is the depiction of the South Island of New Zealand, and that to the right is the North Island. Unlike European mapping which objectively positions all places to be of equal significance, Tuki"s map has been described as "egocentric". It depicts Tuki"s world from his perspective in an approach common of Maaori at that time. It moves from the most familiar, the family, outward with decreasing levels of detail, and includes social, mythical and political information written at his dictation. Tuki originated from the area now known as the Bay of Islands, and that was the centre of his world. This area is notated in detail on the map, with the rest of the North island, a sizeable area, depicted in little detail. The South Island is quite out of scale in its small comparative size, reflecting Tuki"s limited knowledge of it. Critical to him was that Pounamu, or greenstone, a treasured material to Maaori, could be sourced there and this is clearly marked.

The Maori pattern of the koru reinforces the importance of the centre. The koru is the fundamental motif of kowhaiwhai, Maori scroll painting. My colleague Deidre Brown describes the koru as (I quote) "like an atomic particle in Maori art because all the more complex patterns come from its rotation, reflection and also negative space" (end quote). It has generated many interpretations and metaphorical usage over time, the most common being the unfolding of a fern frond as a representation of life. It has also been interpreted as representing the relationship between edge and centre in time -- the relationship between the past and the future. One spiral comes up from the past, coiling in to a central point, which is the present moment, before changing direction and spiralling up into the future. The magic point, the only point where change can occur, is the centre point, the point where the certainty of the past touches the uncertainty of the future.4

Koru and kowhaiwhai have also been reinterpreted within a global context by a number of contemporary Maori artists, who are interested in how heterogeniety -- or cultural diversity -- might challenge homogeneity as notions of centre and edge dissolve. As part of his "Divine Comedy" installation at the 2001 Venice Biennale, my colleague, Peter Robinson (of the Ngai Tahu tribe), exhibited lamda prints consisting of binary code in kowhaiwhai colours (red, white and black) and formed into koru spirals. The "1" "O" could also be read as "Io", the name of a supreme Maori deity, while the translated codes spelt out European existential texts about nothingness. As a concept the prints were located in the ambiguous zone that exists between centre and edge, as they have readily identifiable meanings for viewers from each culture but also straddle the philosophical and spiritual divides between Maori and Europeans. Furthermore, the work speaks of how indigenous people, who are able to overcome the digital divide are maintaining their identities within globalised circumstances. Another colleague, Michael Parekowhai (of the Nga Ariki and the Ngati Whakarongo tribes) positions himself, and New Zealand, as the centre -- the place where change occurs, in his perception and in accord with the metaphor of the koru. He is the centre and that centre travels with him wherever he is. These ideas are clearly illustrated in his 2001 "Consolations of Philosophy/Piko nei te Matenga series of photographs, some of which were recently received by the soon to be opened Musee de Quai Branly in Paris as an official gift from New Zealand. Each of the images are named after World War One French and Flemish battlefields where soldiers from the Maori Battalion suffered casualties -- international "edge" sites that Maori still feel a connection to today, even from their distant New Zealand centre. The images show arrangements of artificial flowers, a low-art form of commemoration and condolence, which illustrate Parekowhai"s philosophy of identity based on what he calls, the "ordinariness of being Maori" (the word "Maori" meaning "normal, usual, ordinary").

The making of the New Zealand people is a story rich in metaphors and perspectives, just a couple of which I"ve touched on here. The historian Professor James Belich observes that "British and Polynesian expansions are two of the greatest human explosions in history. Their intersection is New Zealand"5. From this intersection, and the continuing assimilation of immigrants, increasingly from the Asian region, emerge the New Zealand, and New Zealanders, of 2006.

This is but a brief snapshot of some of our key contextual challenges. These must of course also be set into, and reflected through, a global context. In a pastiche of commentary on the 20th century in his book "Age of Extremes"6, the historian Eric Hobsbawm quotes the great violinist, Yehudi Menuhin as saying "If I had to sum up the twentieth century, I would say that it raised the greatest hopes ever conceived by humanity, and destroyed all illusions and ideals". Therein lies the challenge that we face as educators in 2006.

This presentation today is a collaboration between four colleagues of the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries. The National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI), was established just over two years ago, to be a centre of innovation and excellence in contemporary creative arts and industries research, education and practice. It brings together disciplines which existed within The University of Auckland that have design and creativity at their core, but were previously dispersed across multiple faculties: music, sound recording and design, dance, fine and visual arts, architecture, planning and urban design. The establishment of NICAI was specifically designed to create a dynamic and synergistic model inspired by, and responsive to, the unique cultural heritage, people, environment and international outlook of New Zealand. It is early days for the Institute, and hence what I am sharing with you today is very much work in progress.

In response to the theme of our conference, Enhancing Curricula, we want to share with you three case studies which demonstrate contextually conceived curriculum responses which span just about all the themes of the conference -- the future of the disciplines, thinking globally and multi-culturally, the ethical curriculum and pedagogy for employability, while also touching on accountability and technology. Within these case studies and activities, colleagues are conceptualising and, with their students, designing locally relevant responses and solutions to some of the global challenges facing higher arts education. These projects provide examples of ongoing pedagogical practice which present a new approach to higher arts education through their contextually developed, curriculum based response.

Case Study 1: The Auckland Project

The Auckland Project is conceived around the broad agenda of providing a collaborative, interdisciplinary framework for the pedagogical and research activities of our students. By drawing on the city as a physical resource, The Auckland Project also provides a model for how educational and social institutions can work together to realise both academic and public objectives. As the structure of NICAI combines the traditional intellectual resources of the university with those of the design studio, the workshop and the conservatoire, students develop the ability to imagine the future through visualization, designing, making, choreographing, composing and performing. Not only does The Auckland Project encourage new thinking about contemporary educational issues, the cluster of activities that we call "creative arts and industries" are also, at heart, project-based, "practical arts" that are innately concerned with doing and making. As such, they impact upon the dynamic and complex real world in which we all live.

The Auckland Project asks: what might this unique combination of Maori/Polynesian / European / Asian / Pacific / new world -- communities be in the 21st century? This question is posed not only to students, but also to civic and business leaders, developers, architects, planners, artists, road engineers, ecologists and the general public. Indeed, to anyone who is prepared to engage. However, the project is not limited to projecting solutions to the challenges of the city"s built environment - but also addresses a wide range of other artistic disciplines, creative practices and community concerns. It recognises that research in the creative disciplines is characterised by dynamic relationships between methodology, knowledge, skill and application, as well as by a performative dimension that depends on participation and physical realisation. The particular strength of the creative industries, then, lies in their ability to give inspirational, visual or physical form to abstract ideas and policy statements…..to show how things might actually be, to imagine and communicate what the creative city will look like, what we can do in it and how it might feel.

The designer of the project, architect, Charles Walker, describes The Auckland Project variously as "a fluid entrepreneurial network of artistic and design-based practices, an experimental arts laboratory, an urban umbrella or an institution without walls".

He articulates the multiple conceptual drivers thus:

  • meta-disciplinary arts and design-based practices
  • innovation and knowledge transfer
  • entrepreneurial activity
  • sustainable place and culture-based initiatives

The Auckland Project is based on a comprehensive examination of conditions that are specific to Auckland.

The Auckland Project:

  • draws on environmental, cultural and educational resources -the university, the city and its people
  • focuses on relevant public concerns
  • builds ongoing relationships based on new modes of creative practice
  • provides an environment for speculation, influence upon and response to the potential futures of Auckland City

The goal of the first phase has been to build a detailed picture of the Auckland region. Students and staff from NICAI have been involved in discovering, analysing and mapping emerging relationships between demographic, cultural, environmental, spatial, economic and infrastructural patterns. They are also working, individually and in teams, to design interpretive strategies that will allow them to "translate" this data into focused research propositions. The various initiatives and events emerging under the umbrella of The Auckland Project have already begun to capture the imagination of public policy makers and the wider community.

The project aims to foster this collaboration through ongoing projects. Outcomes can take the form of multi-media design projects, digital and physical models, websites, built works, exhibitions and performances. A strong inter-disciplinary ethos is developing and has allowed us to identify new theoretical positions, more relevant research agendas and innovative visions for the city. These, in turn, establish new platforms from which to improvise further initiatives, projects and scenarios that contribute to academic and public life. The following illustrate a couple of these:

Synchroni-city is a community-based strategy developed by NICAI student Kathy Waghorn, for intensifying the social, cultural, commercial and recreational potential of underused land in and around a suburban race track. The horse race track is a vestigial rural element located in the city - a remnant from a time when land was cheap and race days were significant community events. Today however, the track is surrounded by arterial roads and the typical Auckland suburban sprawl. There are now only 9 race days per year, but the site also accommodates a wide range of legal and semi-legal activities- from rugby and cricket to pigeon racing, dance lessons, gambling and a Sunday market that attracts 15,000 people.

Working with the local community and modern communication technologies, this project set out to re-program the site to accommodate a diverse range of community work, recreation and leisure activities in time and space.

This diagram shows the mapping of these different activities according to space usage and time - days, weeks, months, or sports seasons. The performative aspects associated with the race days --the crowds, colour, busy-ness and seasonal change -- is extended throughout the year.

The outcomes of The Auckland Project can also take the form of public exhibitions. The Cultural Signals exhibition, of work by students at NICAI, reminds us that Auckland is increasingly also a multicultural city. The exhibition presents the idea of the city seen from the point of view of our diverse communities that are no longer outsiders, tourists or temporary students, but part of the very fabric of Auckland life, reminding us that this is not just a city of the Pacific, but also of the Asia Pacific.

The next case study moves away from examining the practical arts of "doing" and "making" to a project driven and realised through concepts and ideas.

Case Study 2: The Entrepreneurship Project

It began as a scheme made possible by very modest government funding in 2005, through which our Faculty hosted an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (or a so-called EiR). The legacy of that project has proven crucial to the development of a number of aspects of the faculty"s operations -- curriculum, research, and internal organisation.

The idea behind the Entrepreneur in Residence scheme was to provide funding for a successful business entrepreneur with relevant experience of the creative industries to be resident in the faculty for one year. The entrepreneur"s brief was to establish linkage between public research (by our faculty) and private enterprise. The intended outcome was to promote commercialisation of that research -- thus providing a model for the university to contribute to national economic goals.

The word "entrepreneur" derives from the French verb meaning to "undertake", that is, to take on the responsibility or the opportunity of doing something of value. The undertaking must be in some way new or innovative. The entrepreneur is not simply an investor; he/she will take a managerial role in any new venture, in order to steer it through to successful completion. And what further distinguishes the entrepreneur is that he/she is prepared to bear, or to tolerate, risk in pursuit of opportunities.

So, from the outset, the question posed to the faculty by this new funding opportunity was:

Were we, as educators, prepared to become entrepreneurial? Were we ready to seek out opportunities, undertake the responsibility, and tolerate the uncertainty that comes with genuine change? And in the background was an even bigger question: what would be the goals of this new spirit of entrepreneurship, and whose interests would be served?

When it came to contracting with our government sponsors, the NICAI team used a very broad understanding of entrepreneurship to argue for a more inclusive brief for the project. We succeeded in negotiating an agenda that was not simply about commercial outputs, but specifically included curriculum and internal faculty goals. And, importantly, that agenda was open to the pursuit of community and environmental partnerships as well as those with industry. This process of negotiation was itself, I think, our first entrepreneurial act.

How, then, did the resulting project work, and what were its outcomes?

The Entrepreneur in Residence project can be summed up in a few words. Over a period of 12 months, our entrepreneur, a designer, academic and successful businessman, visited the faculty periodically, and, supported by a small team of NICAI staff, was involved in meetings, discussions, forums and negotiations with potential interested parties and partners inside and outside the university. The project has impacted significantly in a number of key areas: curriculum, research, strategic development, pedagogy and faculty culture.

In terms of curriculum, attention soon focused around the question of design. The many meetings with industry served to revitalise thinking about the meaning and principles of design, and the ever-widening range of design-related activities. In a faculty of five "creative" disciplines, it was possible to position design as a common driver, and to build an inter-disciplinary approach to design research and teaching, co-ordinated with the work of other "design active" faculties like Engineering. In turn, this led to plans for faculty-wide initiatives such as a common enquiry into underlying principles and practices in studio teaching, and inter-departmental programmes for first-year students.

The EiR scheme was a "funded initiative" that enabled change, and the planning of change -- but, as we can now see, that change included positive developments in areas, like curriculum, that were not specified or even envisaged in the original funding brief.

The research outcomes, on the other hand, more closely align with an economic agenda. The EiR team identified seven research projects with potential for collaboration with industry and commercialisation. Of these, three also involve a community or cultural dimension: a "think tank"--cum--consultancy on Maori cultural issues; an "incubator for education" led by a resident dance company; and a project on commercial development of traditional building materials and processes.

Another outcome of the project, in terms of scale of operation, has been its contribution to the strategic development of the faculty. As a direct outcome of EiR groundwork, NICAI has secured government funding for the first phase of a major infrastructural project aimed at building a National Centre for Design Innovation. The establishment of such a Centre will position New Zealand as a centre of excellence in design within the Asia/Pacific region.

However, the most profound impact of the EiR project may well turn out to be in the area of pedagogy. Through focussing on conference themes 3 and 4, The ethical curriculum and Pedagogy for employability, we can identify the key areas of change.

In the future, we expect NICAI students to be learning in new ways, with new expectations and new reasons for learning. We anticipate that students will be setting their own agendas and pathways of study by asking questions such as: "What do I need to know; who can I study with, and work with, to find out what I need to know; how can I apply this knowledge; and on whose behalf?"

These questions arise from the educational philosophy known as "Intellectual Entrepreneurship" (or I.E.), developed at the University of Texas, Austin, under the leadership of Richard Cherwitz. IE aims to shift the model of learning and teaching from "apprenticeship-certification-entitlement" to one of "discovery-ownership-accountability".6 Students come to accept responsibility not only for what and how they learn, but are also accountable to the community for how they apply that learning. IE students are encouraged to act as "citizen scholars" and "social entrepreneurs" with their intellectual capital leveraging knowledge for social good. 7

The Entrepreneur in Residence project introduced this philosophy into the faculty. Noting the impact that IE has had on the educational outcomes for minority student groups at the University of Texas, Austin, we have set up a mentoring scheme for Maori students underpinned by the IE philosophy. An important aim of the scheme is to position students to combine their academic training with other sources of knowledge drawn from community, traditional culture, and the environment.

In tandem with this IE initiative, NICAI is also working on change to graduate profiles. Through links with industry, we anticipate advances in industry-led teaching, with greater emphasis on generic capabilities, student internships in industry, entrepreneurial skills, and more professional learning outcomes, all of which will contribute to "pedagogy for employability".

Together, these approaches constitute a major shift in both pedagogy and curriculum. Pedagogy is no longer restricted to teacher transmission of established chunks of knowledge. Learning now includes student engagement outside the university, through practical response to real life challenges, within new environments where they have the opportunity to work with a range of experienced and professional people.

As well as all of this, the impact of the EiR scheme has had a profound impact on faculty culture, demonstrated in numerous ways, including that:

  • There is now significantly more cross-faculty activity between schools, with pan-faculty initiatives and new ventures in interdisciplinary teaching and research
  • There is greater acceptance of change, and a growing belief in the faculty"s capability to plan, initiate and manage that change
  • There is a shared culture of planning through collaboration that has spread to areas like curriculum development and the organisation of research groups and projects
  • Levels of interaction with people and organisations outside the university have increased
  • And there is a renewed interest in research and teaching projects that do more than add to academic knowledge, but also open up new possibilities for transformation and development -- in relation to social, cultural and environmental goals as well as the economic.

One of the interdisciplinary teaching initiatives developed in the Faculty is the third case study that I will be presenting today, a School of Architecture first year design course called Ocean Studio. Like The Auckland Project, Ocean Studio works from the premise of seeing cultural diversity as a resource rather than an "issue". As will be discussed in the following short film, the School of Architecture and Planning has a culturally diverse student body. Since architectural design teaching relies on the interpretation of a client or client group"s lifestyle, to continue to teach a wholly Western based curriculum would ignore the diversity of experience and outlook that already exists within this group.

References:

1. ROBERTS, K., 2004. Branding and promoting a tourist destination [online]. Available from: http://www.nzedge.com/speeches/every-world.html [Accessed 8 January 2006]

2. MANE-WHEOKI, J., 1992. Imag(in)ing our heritage: Museums and people in Aotearoa. In: AGMANZ Conference. New Zealand Museums Journal, Win 1995; 25(1):2-8.

3. SALMOND, A., 1997. Between Worlds: Early exchanges between Maori and Europeans 1773-1815. Auckland: Penguin Books, 224.

4. MACGILL, V., Living in the now [online]. Available from: http://www.vmacgill.net/now.htm [Accessed 12 January 2006].

5. BELICH, J., 2001. Presenting a Past, In: "Catching the Knowledge Wave" Conference, 1-3 August 2001 Auckland.

6. HOBSBAWM, E., 1994. Age of Extremes. London: Abacus, 2.

7. CHERWITZ, R., 2005. Intellectual entrepreneurship and diversity; to increase minority participation, graduate education programs must be made transparent and have greater social relevance. Available from: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0LSH/is_7_8/ai_n14731950 [Accessed 18 March 2006].

8. PEREDO, A.M. AND MCLEAN, M. Social Entrepreneurship: A Critical Geography of the Concept [online]. Available from: http://aplicaciones.icesi.edu.co/ciela/anteriores/Papers/emsoc/2.pdf [Accessed 18 March 2006].