Zen and the Art of Peer and Self-Assessment in Interdisciplinary, Multi-Media Site-Specific Arts Practice. A trans-cultural approach
Author: Ajaykumar, Goldsmiths College, email: ajaykumar@gold.ac.uk

Daisetz Suzuki explains that: - Zen is decidedly not a system founded upon logic and analysis.  If anything, it is the antipode to logic, by which I mean the dualistic mode of thinking…Zen wants to rise above logic, Zen wants to find a higher affirmation where there are no antitheses. 1

In consideration of the fact that we live in a nominally multi-cultural society that endorses cultural diversity in all spheres of activity, including the pedagogic and academic, I am going to approach the theme of self and peer assessment in inter-disciplinary, multi-media site-specific arts practice through writing in a manner that may be perceived as unconventional in both analytic and academic terms. The kind of academic establishment in which I work is dominated by western analytic vocabularies; Zen, in contrast, is based on an intuitive analysis as Suzuki explains: -

Zen is the keynote of Oriental culture; it is what makes the West frequently fail to fathom exactly the depths of the Oriental mind, for mysticism in its very nature defies the analysis of logic, and logic is the most characteristic feature of Western thought.  The East is synthetic in its method of reasoning; it does not care so much for the elaboration of particulars as for a comprehensive grasp of the whole, and this intuitively. 2

In this writing I utilise my own experiential learning, my own exploration of site-specific art and my own experiences of pedagogy.  Some of the ideas postulated and issues raised are pertinent to pedagogy in general, some concern arts practice as a whole; and some points relate specifically to site-specific, inter-disciplinary and multi-media practice.

Select Reading List

Basho (1975) The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Penguin.

Boud, D. (1995) Enhancing Learning Through Self Assessment, Kogan Page.

Boud, D., R. Keogh & D. Walker (eds.) (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning, Kogan Page.

Capra, F. (1986) The Tao of Physics, Fontana.

Husted, K. (1998) ‘Portfolios: A Readable Way to Assess Your Students’ in Teaching Theatre, 1998 vol. 9, no. 2, pp 7-10.

Munsterberg, H. (1971) Zen and Oriental Art, Charles E. Tuttle.

Pea, R. D. (1993) ‘Practices of distributed intelligence and designs for education’ In G. Salomon (ed.) Distributed Cognitions. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 47-87.

Suzuki, D. (1970) Introduction to Zen, Rider.

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