What is ‘Looking to Understand Inclusion’?
‘Looking to Understand Inclusion’ is a 2-year project funded through the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. It aims to support educators from local arts and education communities to use the Visual Thinking Strategies method to promote social inclusion with children. Dublin City Arts Office and the NCCA (Ireland), The Finnish Museum of Photography (Finland), VTS Nederland (Netherlands), Muserum (Denmark) and CREA 360 (Spain) are the five partners in the project. The partnership in the project is a mix of organisations with teaching and art museum backgrounds.
Looking to Understand Inclusion was launched in November 2021, starting with its first training and partner meeting in Alicante, Spain on 15th to 19th November.
What is VTS?
VTS is a method to both study and develop visual thinking skills. The method is based on the research and work of Cognitive Psychologist Abigail Housen and Educational Curator Philip Yenawine. Facilitated VTS discussions about visual works of art or complex imagery ideally take place in a group and are always structured by the same basic 3 questions:
What’s going on in this ...(picture/object/installation/situation/etc)?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What more can we find?
The role of the facilitator is not to provide information that satisfies these questions, but to guide people through a process of curious exploration, critical reflection and collective meaning making.
