Technology and Created Spaces: Reframing Interpretations of Public Art through Digital Augmentation

Introduction

Murals, installations, parks, gardens, and other forms of public art present the educator with an interesting pedagogical dilemma: How to design meaningful student interpretive experiences to simultaneously address both created object and object setting? Per one resolution, the digital augmentation of public art spaces can be used to shift the scope and sequence of interpretive exercises– Students might use technology to simulate, supplement, or completely substitute for direct experience with a public art site, to virtually manipulate the visual elements of created objects and related spaces, and to link critical commentary, social history, or other forms of explanatory information directly to an artwork’s geographic location. The opening prologue referenced two examples of repurposed and/or reconfigured technologies applied with the intent to connect students to artwork and locality; the following chapter examines the educational potential of existing technologies to reframe student interpretations of public art spaces and promote civic engagement, interest, and investment within the vicinity of the interpretive exercise. While technological innovation is absolutely important to all forms of education, more general discussion of technology in education exceeds the parameters of the present chapter. Instead, this chapter concentrates primarily on the theoretical relationship between virtual and local experience and traces the development of four research-in-teaching initiatives, interpretative exercises in which student participants examined local public art sites using digital imaging platforms and place-based technologies.