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[letstalkaboutartandyouandme]

„Ein Bild will nichts aussagen. Wenn das sein Vorhaben wäre, wäre es tatsächlich dem Wort unterlegen und müßte von der Sprache ‘aufgehoben’ werden, um eine Bedeutung, eine klar mitteilbare Bedeutung zu erhalten. Zwischen der figurativen Ordnung des Bildes und der diskursiven Ordnung der Sprache gibt es einen Spielraum, der durch nichts aufzufüllen ist“

Sarah Kofman, Mélancolie de l’art (1985)

[letstalkaboutartandyouandme]

In a recent virtual classroom visit to an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class, Senior Museum Instructor Christina Marinelli asked students “What do you think the role of art should be today?”

“I think art plays a significant role in how we express our personal reality, beliefs and individuality. It’s a form of expression that we all can appreciate even if we don’t agree with each other’s perspectives. It can also highlight how unique we are individually and how similar we are collectively,” said student Algenis Alcantra.

Since 2019, educators at the Brooklyn Museum have been building relationships with adult literacy providers at cultural institutions and community organizations to incorporate art in their classrooms. So far this year, the Museum has maintained ties with the Brooklyn Public Library, and created new partnerships with ESOL providers at Jacob Riis Settlement House, NYU Langone, YWCA (Flushing), and CUNY’s Language Immersion Program (CLIP).

The inclusion of the visual arts in the curriculum of English language learners has proven to be an extremely beneficial method for second language acquisition. Through the use of visual aids, students can build vocabulary through descriptive language, acquire visual literacy skills, and develop persuasive language through forming evidence-based opinions. Since art also frequently provokes an emotional reaction, students are able to activate prior knowledge and make personal connections that can allow for meaning-making and cross-cultural communication amongst participants. Several studies have shown that learning experiences that have an emotional component are more readily integrated and recalled later. Therefore, visual aids can help cement the concepts being taught, and can also be used to reinforce or supplement concepts introduced in literature, history and civics.

As educational institutions with extensive collections, museums are uniquely equipped to provide art programming that can aid the low and free cost classes that community organizations and educational institutions offer to the thousands of language learners around us. Current statistics indicate that the United States population will become increasingly more diverse with surges in immigration and shifting demographics; by engaging multilingual audiences, the Museum can effectively carry out its sentiments of inclusion and diversity and remain relevant to the communities around it through building authentic relationships.

The city’s linguistic diversity can be attributed to its large immigrant population, a longstanding NYC attribute. New York City is currently home to 3.1 million immigrants, the largest number in the city’s history. Since immigrants hail from a wide array of countries and regions, about 200 languages are spoken, with many foreign born residents turning to ESOL programs to obtain better employment opportunities, health care services, assist their children with schooling, or simply navigate the city.

According to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, “approximately half of immigrants are Limited English Proficient (LEP), meaning that they speak English less than ‘very well.’ Nearly 61% of undocumented immigrants are LEP. Overall, 23% of all New Yorkers are LEP—regardless of status.” In addition to this, 2.2 million adults in NYC lack a high school diploma or equivalent, English language proficiency, or both.

Thus, the Brooklyn Museum aims to support adult literacy programs, students, and practitioners through engagement with original works of art to promote critical thinking and visual literacy, and to reinforce content studied by adult learners in literacy programs.

To increase language accessibility within the Museum, two new programs were launched this Spring: We Speak Art and Hablemos de Arte. The former is a program that enables English language learners to practice conversational English skills through a discussion inspired by a work of art in the collection and the latter is the Spanish language equivalent.

Instead of a lecture, participants discuss and analyze an artwork in an open forum to offer their own interpretations of the works of art in the collection. Offering programs for those of varying levels of proficiency in English and Spanish, is a way for the museum to acknowledge the cultural and linguistic diversity that is Brooklyn (and beyond). We are looking forward to continuing our work with adult literacy and ESOL providers and the many possibilities that lie ahead to advance our mission of being a community resource for all.

After closely viewing A Winter Scene in Brooklyn, students in Christina Bernardo’s ESOL class were asked to look outside their window or front door, sketch what they saw, and write a brief description. “I live near the interstate highway across the main street. This is the view outside my window every day,” wrote the student whose artwork is featured above.

Posted by Natalie Aguilar

[letstalkaboutartandyouandme]

Das Sprechen über Bilder kann nur dann vor der Beliebigkeit der Floskeln und der Wiederholung vorfabrizierter Urteilssprüche bewahrt werden, wenn Sprache als Moment im Wahrnehmungsprozeß begriffen wird, konkreter: wenn das Sprechen immer wieder an Wahrnehmung rückgebunden, rückverwiesen wird.

Maria und Günter Otto. Auslegen. Ästhetische Erziehung als Praxis des Auslegens in Bildern und des Auslegens von Bildern. 1987, 52f.

[letstalkaboutartandyouandme]

Poema loquens pictura est, pictura tacitum poema debet esse.

(Ein Gedicht ist ein sprechendes Gemälde, ein Gemälde soll ein stummes Gedicht sein.)

Dem griechischen Lyriker Simonides von Keos (um 556 v. Chr. – um 468 v. Chr.) zugeschriebene und beim Auctor ad Herennium sowie von Plutarch überlieferte Wendung.

[letstalkaboutartandyouandme]

Das Unaussprechbare (das, was mir geheimnisvoll erscheint und ich nicht auszusprechen vermag) gibt vielleicht den Hintergrund, auf dem das, was ich aussprechen konnte, Bedeutung bekommt. Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1931

Vermischte Bemerkungen. Eine Auswahl (1. Aufl. 1979). In: Werkausgabe Bd. 8. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp 2 1995 (1 1984), S.472

[letstalkaboutartandyouandme]

Das Reden über Kunst ist in einem Feld angesiedelt, wo die Kunst Widersprüche oder das Nicht-Identische, die Gegensätze vom Individuellen zum Allgemeinen Form und Ausdruck erhalten. Das Reden über Kunst hebt als Vergegenwärtigung die Differenzerfahrung aus der Kunst aus einem oft diffusen Ahnen und dunklen Spüren ins Bewusstsein.

Kirschenmann, Johannes: Reden über Kunst. Bildungstheoretische Begründungen und kunstpädagogische Positionen.  In: Kirschenmann, Johannes / Richter, Christoph / Spinner, Kaspar H. (Hg.): Reden über Kunst. Fachdidaktisches Forschungssymposion in Literatur, Kunst und Musik. München 2011, S. 235.