The concept of destruction and transformation of a work into another work is an artistic practice that involves the destruction and simultaneous transformation of an existing work of art to create a new one. It emphasizes the idea that a work of art is dynamic and constantly in the process of change, and that the existing ideas and works of art can be used as a basis for new creative expression. This concept is also used in contemporary art, where artists express their critical thinking about their own or other people's works of art and their impact in a social context. The purpose of such creation is to stimulate thinking about art, authorship, values and continuity of the work of art. The concept allows artists to express new messages in the form of unique and provocative works of art, which repeatedly destroy and build the foundations of contemporary art.
The implementation of the concept of destruction and transformation in art lessons allows students to follow the example of artists, explore and expand their creative abilities and think about art in an innovative way. Destruction and transformation represent a challenge, as they require students to reflect on the traditional norms of art on one hand and the destruction and transformation of individual elements of the original work on the other. The importance of divergence, experimentation and exploration of different possibilities of artistic expression is highlighted. The conceptual construct encourages students to focus on ideas, the creative process, to think critically and to actively participate in the social environment. The concept encourages students to learn to appreciate both past art and contemporary art practice through their own creative experience.
We conducted a quasi-experiment at one of the secondary schools in Ljubljana in the 2022/23 school year. The students created the first art product (ready made) meant for the future destruction and transformation into another art product. Since we were interested in the influence of the double starting point approach of the concept of destruction and transformation in relation to the creation of the first art product (awareness and unawareness of future destruction and transformation), we included two classes of first-year students in the research: one represented a quasi-experimental group and the other one a quasi-control group. In both classes, we had four school lessons, during which we collected data using the qualitative method (participant observation, non-standardized interview, documents) and quantitative approach (questionnaires).
We found out that students are not familiar with the predecessors and later representatives of conceptual art which is why such artwork is incomprehensible to them. It was necessary to discuss and explain the context and conceptual backgrounds in order to bring this art a bit closer to the students. Luckily, both unconventional art assignments attracted the students and motivated them to work. They were particularly fascinated by the possibility of destruction, which represented relaxation for some of them, and even a challenge, how to destroy the objects as much as possible. Contrary to this, quite a few students also opted for a more minimalist approach with an emphasis on transformation. They had several problems with conceiving the ideas and transforming them, but in the end they all successfully completed the task. Moreover, the activity was among the best rated activities by the students themselves. The resulting art products of both groups show creative content, both in artistic and formal solutions and in the ideas a such. But we also found out that very few students recognized the potential of a different artistic expression in photography, as they mostly did not pay much attention to documenting the process itself. With regard to the initial dual approach, we noticed some differences between the groups, especially when conceiving other ideas according to the nature of their transformation. Otherwise, we found that awareness had no significant effect on the creation of the first art products, on the subsequent process of destruction and transformation, and on the visual image of the final art products in both groups.
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