Use of Art Spaces in a Private University (Unedited version)

It is a worrisome proposition when faced with the question of use of art spaces within a private university. We have a few universities teaching art but am interested in only two. Besides having to deal with small spaces, art students and their teachers have little in way of strategic specialised space allocation in order to allow optimal use of space to foster a conducive environment for creative juices to flow endlessly.

University students drying ceramic slip clay on the interior flour. This is symptomatic of a deeper problem. The apathy exhibited in this act shows a level of lack of supervision but also a lack of respect for thework space

Students use furniture as if it is disposable. Putting clay or even cement on a chair defies logic

This art gallery has become a multi-purpose lecture room, exhibition space, dining room, canteen and a few other things. That some academic people failed to grasp the special sanctified status of an art gallery is hard to swallow

It seems to be a fact ignored that only dedicated and specialised laboratory space allows for authentic experimentation and innovation. Many Universities seem to favour theoretical learning at the expense of studio- based practice. Now we have the so-called multi-purpose lecture rooms or class rooms which are focusing on the blackboard-chalk- chair-with-writing-board setting. We have less painting studios with easels and stools, sculpture studios with pedestals and other sculpture equipment as well as  storage spaces in form of shelves and lockers. More and more, students find their work vandalised and opt to carry their practical work like Sculpture work to their lodging houses.

Because the art students feel less and less at home in these general- happiness spaces, less time is now being spent in studio, the studio itself is neglected and abused by the students and the rest of us simply look on without interest. Students use furniture as if it is disposable. Some crazy students pour slip clay on the floor to dry it. And one has to wonder at which supervisor would allow this kind of activity in any university in the world. The student feels detached from the space they work in, and so they use the furniture without much consideration for others.
Many find themselves confused as the space in which they work is a disorganised mess to say the least.

The lack of specialisation in usage of space comes to the fore when one has to look at the products of these students. How can one understand finish and technical competence when the space they work in is a perpetual mess of clay on chairs, stools, filthy tables and so on? With what attitude does the outsider view this kind of space? How is the value of the work affected? Who benefits form this kind of mess?

Private universities have many part-timers for students and lecturers. One has to consider whether as a result it seems the space is not given the respect or time that is deserves. Not enough time is spent in 'educating' the artist on organising and owning space. The artist simply carries with himself or herself the confusion and the maze of physical cacophony, jumping over faeces, stepping in mud and having to wipe their soiled eyes because of the dust of the speeding DMC on the  pot-holed 'dirt' road. Society itself is in a mess. This is how one can make sense of a big 'new' car can drive for weeks and months on end on a nearly impassable 'footpath' road full of ridges and mini 'mountains and valleys' of rubble, mud or dust. Without being able to own one's own studio, one uses it as if it belongs to some one else that they do not like and in the end the spaces are quite uniformly shocking to a neutral with any understanding of order.

Private Universities make the biggest portion of their subsistence off the tuition of students. A few other sources of funding are available if one is ready to pursue them, but my concern with that is that the Universities, being preoccupied with balancing books, seem not to be looking to acquiring funding, grants and expansion of space through the channel of Research and Product Innovation in the actual work that the art students are doing. This is an area we as art educators must be interested in, in order to expand the horizons of our naive learners who misuse their own spaces of operation because they do not sense the urgency or importance of what they are doing and using the available space for constructive work and simply not to mindlessly destroy it. People with a drive and a purpose affect the space in which they work positively.

It is difficult for instance to think about big ambitious concepts like Automotive Design without thinking seriously about the space that we provide for it. It is not that our art cannot bring out innovation and invention, it is alot to do with how ready we are to grab the opportunities presenting themselves.
Thankfully, the digital Arts, Graphic Design, Photography, Film making and Animation are enjoying an upsurge in interest and space allocation. Assuming they harness the appeal of these areas to actually produce visible and public consumable products, the future can only be bright. The challenge still remains with using all the digital technology to benefit and uplift all art including sculpture, ceramics and painting.

One more observation to add here is the absence of serious Exhibition spaces, Art galleries and Museums within University confines. Archival work in the visual arts has been undermined by the people in the universities themselves at the expense of the art itself. Young upcoming artists know too little about artists from a different time or geographical era as the artwork from that time is simply not there or has been poorly kept.