The Art of Persuasion

Cultural Education Sees Itself as Persuasion to Engage in Communication

Ulrike Gießner-Bogner

Cultural education initiates and designs communication processes between recipients and artistic and cultural productions. It endeavours to motivate people who perhaps do not yet even consider themselves recipients to engage in communication with objects or work processes that they are unfamiliar with and often not even interested in. It attempts to create access to participation in the arts and culture, even for people who have not yet expressed a desire for this. It comes very close to missionary zeal, sometimes it overdoes things, and it deals with questions of faith in any case. Those of us who are involved in cultural education firmly “believe” that it makes sense to take an interest in the arts and culture, that it is enriching, exhilarating, inspiring – in fact, necessary for living a fulfilled life. That is our message. And we want to communicate this message to as many people as possible – be they children or adults, in school or outside it, with or without migration backgrounds, education or money. To this end, we are constantly searching for new approaches, formats and media.

”One cannot not communicate,” we cry, quoting Paul Watzlawick, as we seek – and find– points of contact to the life worlds of our intended recipients, points at which they could begin to take an interest: in the arts, in life. And if we had our way, they would not only be recipients, both reflecting and communicating, but, in the best case, they would become involved in the arts themselves.

However, the targets of our ambition – art, people – are often difficult fish to catch. They say: “What’s the point?” or: “I’m bored,” or simply: “That’s nice”. The more well thought out our approaches are, the more our quarries communicate with us and the more ambiguous and contradictory their messages become – and that’s the way it should be.