Social Aesthetics in Learning Practices in the 21st Century

Social Aesthetics in Learning Practices in the 21st Century

Due to the extensive reliance on media in our everyday perception of the surroundings we see a shift in relation to aesthetics from an individual focus to social negotiations around a situation. This article presents how individuals shape aesthetic systems through the use of networked media, resulting in self-producing systems that make themselves available for recognition, as well internally as externally. These cultures unfold in formats that educational institutions are not geared to meet. The article demonstrates and builds its arguments, both, theoretically and through an explorative study: Theoretically we draw from visual culture (Buhl, 2012;Bourriaud, 2002; Mitchell, 2002), learning (Dohn, 2002) and digital media studies (Ejsing-Duun, 2011). The explorative case study is focused on the use of the mobile application Draw Something (Buhl and Ejsing-Duun, 2013), along with other current apps. In a case study we take them as examples of how technology facilitates our meeting with the world though the senses and how we decode and negotiate social aesthetic expressions. The intent of the article is to suggest and discuss an aesthetic approach in which the process of decoding and negotiations around practices in social media is significant.