An original, extensive cultural knowledge curriculum, ‘Culture 2.0.’
Culture 2.0 is a response to the needs of high school students who expect a modern media education program adapted to the realities of contemporary culture. The main assumption of the course is to present culture phenomena in a way that will get the Student acquainted with very diverse works of creative human activity, both from the past and the 21st century and make them notice the patterns. Theoretical knowledge is limited to the necessary minimum, while the main emphasis is placed on creative activity of the Student who then participates in workshops and completes individual or group projects and can then include them in his/her portfolio. Students can also present their works at festivals, school events and the school’s YouTube channel.
Main objectives of the course:
The course aims at convincing young people to actively participate in culture, to consciously engage with new media and to teach them specific skills useful in artistic and creative professions (time planning, group cooperation, openness, editing and graphic design software). We cooperate with Filmoteka Szkolna (School Film Archive), Center for Citizenship Education, the Muranów cinema, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Warsaw Film School and organizers of film and graphic competitions for young artists.
Specific skills and competences we aim to develop:
- independence and creativity in own projects,
- using modern technologies,
- planning and organizing work,
- teamwork (including meeting deadlines),
- perceiving cultural texts in a reflective way,
- independence in accessing sources of information on art,
- finding traditional motifs and themes in the texts of contemporary popular culture,
- knowing current artistic trends and events,
- identifying works of different epochs, styles, and trends,
- finding and arguing in favor one’s own interpretation of any given text of culture and taking into account the relevant contexts (biographical, historical, philosophical, etc.)
Examples of issues and topics – course cycles:
– documentary film classes (short history of documentaries, screenings of selected short films, going to the cinema to watch documentary films e.g. at the Planet Doc Festival, creating a film project);
– classes in music video (history of the music video, examples of various types of music videos, different types of music video forms, a visit to a music video set, creating a music video to selected music);
– street art classes (history of street art, familiarization with the techniques and themes of the most famous works (graffiti, stickers, 3D street art,) dictionary of concepts of street art, blue animation with graffiti, a trip around Warsaw, trips to admire street art in Łódź or Bydgoszcz, creating an independent project such as stencils or spatial street art);
– classes in animated film (short history of animation, projections of selected short films, learning various techniques of stop-motion animation, construction of animation tables, trip to the Semafor studio in Łódź, creation of an independent animated project);
– advertising classes (history of advertising, various forms of advertising, visit to a commercial advertising set, project implementation – television ad of a non-existent product);
– land art classes (land art history and examples, creating a land art project);
– shadow play classes (history of shadow puppetry, examples from different cultures (e.g. China, India, etc.), contemporary examples, e.g. from the Mam Talent show, seeing a shadowplay performance, creating a contemporary shadowplay performance).
– sand animation classes (history of sand animation, watching examples in salt, sand, rice, etc., creating a project to classical music).
(the original curriculum of the Culture 2.0 course was prepared by our teacher Karolina Haka-Makowiecka)
