Visual Culture Learning Communities: How and What Students Come to Know in Informal Art Groups

This article is the report of a large-scale, international research project involving focus group interviews of adolescent and young adult members of a variety of self-initiated visual culture groups in five urban areas (Amsterdam, Budapest, Chicago, Helsinki, and Hong Kong). Each group was established by young people around their interests in the production and use of a form of visual culture. The research questions for this study focused on: a) conditions of visual culture communities, b) group practices in visual culture communities, c) individuals in a visual culture community, and d) peer teaching and learning processes. The results of this study indicate that visual culture groups act as powerful student communities for auto-didactic and peer initiated learning. Although the education that occurs in these groups may be considered informal, students maintain them to increase their art knowledge and skills, as well as for entertainment and social networking. Several answers to each research question are reported and applications for formal art education are recommended.