Creative Classroom Issue 3: Creative Learning Spaces
I hope the photo will remind people that beauty, joy, and discovery can be found in any unexpected places and moments in life. Never stop observing, and never stop being curious.
-Eadin Wang
In Spring 2023, Eadin Wang was enjoying her studyaway semester in New York University Abu Dhabi. Her submitted work ‘Here a Door’ won the third prize in the ‘Creative Learning Spaces’ Photo Competition at NYU Shanghai, co-organized by PCI (Program on Creativity+Innovation) and Viewfinder Club, and supported by CEL (Community-Engaged Learning).
We invited participants in the photo competition to share their ‘behind the scene’ stories, which form the backbone of the 3rd issue of the Creative Classroom. While the photos might not be taken with the goal of capturing ‘creative learning spaces’, our contributors provided thoughtful reflections that documented their ‘clicking the shutter’ motivations and their thoughts on the connections between the photos and the theme.
The submitted stories and the photos covered a wide range of ‘spaces’ and what might constitute ‘magic’ and ‘meaningful’ moments. We can hardly find any photos that might remind us of a traditional ‘classroom setting’.
From the ‘behind the scene’ stories, we could tell that learning is as much about ‘individuals’ as about ‘collaboration’ and ‘dialogues’, and our contributors invited us to look up and down, as well as inside and outside. Through their camera lens, we were taken to worlds with different hues and colors, with people immersed in different types of tasks, with both urban and rural landscapes.
Their interpretations of ‘Creative Learning Spaces’ remind us about the embodied aspect of learning, about learning by doing, about the fun aspects of learning and about the beauty of diverse perspectives. Most importantly, we can discover the beauty of slow observation, of ‘letting go’ and just enjoying the moment instead of rushing for an answer. ‘Creative Learning Spaces’ is after all about embracing our surroundings, celebrating the ‘bigger me’, and caring and capturing our curiosity.
As the editors of the Creative Classroom, we are grateful that we had the opportunity to collaborate with two other groups (Viewfinder Club and CEL) to launch and celebrate this photo exhibition. We hosted a photowalk workshop led by Xinyi Qu, a freelance photographer. All participants walked in the old town area of Shanghai, such as BFC Bund, Yuyuan and Zhonghua Road, and practiced portrait, still-life photography, and editing under the guidance of Xinyi.
In May 2023, we exhibited all photos submitted in response to the competition call in the new library space at the NYU Shanghai’s Qiantan campus. The exhibition was then taken to Jumingxin Center in June, a community space near the Qiantan Campus, and two visitors submitted their work in response to the theme as well.
We want to congratulate all winners again and thank all participants for submitting their work.
With our experiments with photography as a visual communication tool, We are pondering on more ‘creative’ styles of documenting, reporting, curating and sharing our future issues.
Stay tuned for our 4th issue!
If you are an individual, group, or organization that are interested in collaborating on future issues of the Creative Classroom, please reach out to us at shanghai.creativeclassroom@nyu.edu
Yanyue Yuan, Editor of The Creative Classroom
Mia Trinh, Student Editor of the 3rd Issue of The Creative Classroom
