Interdisciplinary Art Education in St. Pölten

The research accompanying the collaboration between the KinderKunstLabor for Contemporary Art in St. Pölten, the Kunstlabor BrucknerUni at the Anton Bruckner Private University (ABU), and the St. Pölten Music School examines experiences in interdisciplinary art education with children. An exploratory, qualitative approach allows space for the diverse dimensions of children’s experiences and enables a scientific examination of them. The study captures experiences that children have in individual workshop settings, with a particular focus on the interplay of music with objects of contemporary art and visual design. To this end, the following overarching question is examined: To what extent do interconnections between art disciplines enrich artistic processes? What experiences emerge?

To this end, EDUCULT adopted the qualitative research approach of phenomenological vignette research to examine and describe individual experiences of children. The vignettes capture exemplary moments from the workshops, allowing for inferences about cross-cutting experiences and insights into the interplay between the art forms. The following aspects were highlighted in particular: processuality, the material as a source of inspiration, cross-disciplinary interconnections, and the relational level within the dialogic process. Furthermore, these were reflected upon in dialogue with participants from the KinderKunstLabor for Contemporary Art and the Kunstlabor BrucknerUni, thereby generating ideas for learning and development processes.

The findings will contribute to the institutionalization of combined music and art education in St. Pölten, as well as to the further development of educational formats at the KinderKunstLabor for contemporary art and the Kunstlabor BrucknerUni.