Over 400 participants were enthusiastic
On Sunday, October 31, 2010, the international conference “Color in Education” came to an end in the Volkspark Halle. More than 400 educators and teachers from pre-schools, primary and secondary schools, special schools, vocational training institutions, universities of applied sciences, art colleges and universities as well as further education institutions responded to the call from the German Color Center and the Design and Artistic Foundations at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle to join the discussion on cultural education. The expertise from the various pedagogical fields of action was supplemented by an interdisciplinary series of lectures from the fields of formal sciences, natural sciences, humanities, education and educational sciences.
Field of tension between science, art and design
This resulted in a thematic field of tension between science, art and design, through which the diverse links between the specialist disciplines, as well as the boundaries, clearly emerged. The sensory medium of color, through which we perceive around 80% of all information from our natural and socio-culturally shaped environment, forms a bridge between all cultural fields of thought and action. This formed the basis for a stimulating dialog between scientists, educators, designers and artists, which runs through the entire history of culture and was revived at the conference.
Call for holistic and interdisciplinary thinking and action
While current evaluations, such as the PISA test, question the unity of cultural education by focusing one-sidedly on linguistic, mathematical and scientific subjects and thus questioning the value of the artistic and creative foundations, the conference reinforced the need for a holistic education. It was not the individual, but the whole in the sense of the Humboldtian concept of education that triggered the impulses for understanding, imagination and contemplation, which will continue to radiate into teaching practice for a long time to come and bring about changes there. In particular, the diversity of the content levels, the interdisciplinary nature of the contributions and the successful combination of lectures, workshops, exhibition and discussion stimulated a lot of very positive feedback.
Feedback on the conference:
“I have just returned from the highly interesting conference in Halle and would like to thank you for the excellent organization” Prof. Dr. Christian Rittelmeyer, Professor of Educational Science at the Department of Education at the University of Göttingen
“It was an incredibly exciting conference and I received an infinite number of interesting suggestions.” Angela Bartz, creative educator at Astrid-Lindgren-Schule Halle (special educational and practical support for mentally disabled children and young people)
“I have rarely experienced such a diverse and people-friendly conference. You managed to inspire many people for the cause” Prof. Dr. Birgit Eiglsperger, Chair of Art Education University of Regensburg
“Many thanks for the wonderful conference, the good organization and the hospitality. I would love to come back to Halle”, Prof. Franz Billmayer, University Mozarteum Salzburg Head of the Dept. for BK, art and craft education
“We would like to thank you and your entire team once again for the organization and attentive support on site. It was an enriching few days for us.” Team from the House of Color Zurich
“I really enjoyed getting so many different ideas.” Silvia Buol, Basel School of Design
“Thanks to you and your great team for a really wonderful conference.” Prof. Dr. Martin Oswald, Weingarten University of Education
“I was delighted to be able to contribute to this conference, which was excellently prepared and conducted in so many respects.” Dr. Johannes Kühl, Head of the Section for Natural Science at the School of Spiritual Science “Goetheanum”
“I would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to “visit” the international color conference as a teacher training measure with colleagues. There were numerous practical suggestions, but also impulses that will now be developed further in my thoughts. This applies to the top-class speakers as well as the discussions with participants.” Inka Schleicher, State Institute for School Quality and Teacher Training Saxony-Anhalt
“I would like to thank you very much for the excellently organized conference. It was a good opportunity for me to get to know many interesting people and their research.” Dr. Julia Griber, Smolensk State University Head of the Department of Sociology
