The Transformative Role of Music in VisualArts Education: Rediscovering Interculturaland Interdisciplinary Possibilities throughA/r/tographic Inquiry

Abstract

A/r/tographic inquiry is an art-based research method widelyused abroad; this method has not yet become widespread in our country'sundergraduate and graduate arts education. To reinvent the results of mya/r/tographic work, which I conducted by visualising the electroacousticwork “Symbolic Gestures” by Malaysian composer and academicianValerie Ross in 2017, with this study I invite my students to an a/r/tographicinvestigation (understanding/interpretation with artist identity). I aim toreveal intercultural and interdisciplinary creative learning experiences formy students with the methods and techniques (theorising/theory withresearcher identity) that I discovered while questioning the transformativerole of music in my creative process, and re-question my teaching andlearning identities (practice with a teacher identity) through artisticpractices. This study reveals a 6-week intercultural and interdisciplinarya/r/tographic inquiry in 2018-2019 with 12 undergraduate and 4graduate students studying research and art. The research data consists ofvideo and audio recordings, photographs, artistic products, student views,observation notes, diaries, and the work named Symbolic Gestures. Thedata were interpreted with an a/r/tographic inquiry approach. At the endof the research, the transformative role of music in visual arts educationhas produced significant results in the experiences of knowing, creating,metaphorical thinking, intuitive listening, and seeing in depth inundergraduate and graduate art students. The provocative, transformative,and convertible role of music can be used in learning, creating, andteaching experiences in visual arts education.