Generating new discourses: Documenting education through art

This text reflects on the archive that compiles the learning experiences resulting from Resistències Artístiques, a programme of artists-in-residence in schools in the Valencian Community, Spain, from 2017 to 2023. The coordination of this programme required the collaboration of educational, governmental and museum institutions. The programme generated new, shared understandings through a mediation process among artists, learning communities and institutions, and provided professional development opportunities for artists and teachers. During the various stages of the programme, the museum’s education department compiled documentation from the projects, as well as the participants’ engagement, to create an archive of the projects. This archive, conceived as an accessible knowledge resource, could support future understandings. The projects included in the archive utilize contemporary art practices as an instrument for learning, considering art not only as an expressive medium but also as a tool for understanding and reflection. This archive was an effort towards providing transparent access to the knowledge and resources produced through the programme. However, the archive, though completed, was never made public because the programme was interrupted after a change in the government. With this article, the authors sought to highlight how the archive articulated the artistic practices that unfolded in the programme, thereby meeting an educational need that existed in this context, so that others could utilize the learning from these experiences in new iterations.