Ambiências ludoestéticas: a arte visual na transformação do espaço escolar

Abstract

The research field work of this current study – “Playful aesthetic ambiences: the visual arts transforming spaces at school” – takes place at Governor Roberto Santos Municipal School, located in the District of Cabula, in the capital city of Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil. Based on scientific analysis, the primary goal of this study is to understand how the creation of playful aesthetic ambiences supported by art and playfulness are potential mobilizing forces able to transform the overall school environment not only in an objective fashion, but also in a subjective one. In general terms, public school spaces are neither intentionally conceived nor are they duly modified so as to fulfill qualitative childhood needs which call for the expression of playful, artistic, and ludic behavior that should be relevantly inserted in this stage of human development. Therefore, this research proposes to forge an artistic and collective intervention to the ambience of elementary schools, by involving students in the creation of such environment. Our utmost ambition is to understand how building stages and children’s interactions with playful ambiences created in a collective manner and supported by visual arts can result in the transformation of the educational environment. We aimed specifically at: a) mapping degraded spaces at the school under investigation so that they could be the object of artistic, playful, and aesthetic interventions; b) creating an interactive, playful aesthetic environment that is put together by the children in a collective effort, based on an intervention project; and c) analyzing how playful aesthetic ambiences can contribute to the educational process at elementary schools. The study approach is qualitative in nature and its basic method combines a mode of ethnicity research and implied actions. Resources include observation, field diaries, open questionnaires, interviews, and image records. The study also includes epistemological fields, which purport to intersect pedagogy and visual arts and conclusively sheds light onto tangible and non-tangible aspects that interconnect together. Transformation happened not only in the physical space, but also in the behavioral attitudes of students at school, by changing their conduct, the way they interacted with the environment and their peers, and the perception of how people acted and reacted before, during, and after the artistic space revamping. And therefore, visible results achieved were: a sense of belonging, more participation, collaboration, preservation, care with the premises, an overall feeling of affection among students, who became more prone to artistic learning, showed an increased self-esteem in the school setting and a general feeling of well-being. The aesthetic changes that produced the transformation of the physical space gave way and revealed a change in attitude and behavior, which was consolidated by an intrinsic central element: a positive mindset (sensations and emotions) generated by all participants.