Visual Europe: Exploring ourselves through visual art

'Visual Europe: Exploring ourselves through visual art' is a project which aims at developing students' abilities to express themselves freely through different forms of visual art. The project lasts 2 years and includes 9 teachers and 24 students at the secondary level from 3 different countries.It stems from students' great interest in using visual art, especially the one based within the digital world, to present their daily life, their interests, perspectives and reflection. Through giving students the opportunity to experiment with a great variety of visual forms we would like to develop their skills in creating conscious pieces of work.During the project we will invite the participants to try working with:- filmmaking, including 360-degree films and 3d animation- painting, including synaesthesia- photography, including using Photoshop- computer art, including creating a websiteAll workshops will be managed by teachers who have the necessary knowledge and experience in the subjects taught during the learning activities. They will be intertwined with discussions and debates on the use of visual art, how it has changed and how it may change in the future. Each learning activity will allow for self-reflection through participatory evaluation in order for the students to deepen their understanding of the competence gained.The project also promotes social inclusion. One of the schools is a special school for students with hearing impairment. Through organising sign language courses, discussions on how school communities can become more inclusive and most importantly initiating working in mixed groups, we would like the participant to broaden their awareness and understanding of disabilities and show that hearing impairment does not create borders which can stop from creating something together.Throughout the project, the participants will create concrete works of art within each planned form (this will include a film on social inclusion or a 360-degree film of the exhibition of the students' works). We hope the project will impact students’ creativity and encourage them to undertake activities connected with visual art in their free time to address their need for self-actualization.For the long-term benefits of the project, we hope that students equipped with the knowledge will begin working with the most interesting for them form of visual art with their peers, creating new art to better express themselves. Teachers will continue working with the methods taught during their lessons, inspiring students and helping them become creative.The project will also establish a strong partnership among the three participating schools with the potential of initiating new inspiring projects within the European context in the future.