Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

This paper sets out to demonstrate how the work Art as Experience (1934) by the American philosopher and pedagogista John Dewey, who advocated for pedagogical activism, was significant in shaping Loris Malaguzzi’s thought (1920-1994) and the Reggio Emilia Approach. Reggio’s pedagogical approach is addressed to kindergartens. It is characterised by a pedagogy open to all expressive languages, which sees in the artistic experience a new way of living in school. According to its experiential and educational context, the Reggio Emilia Approach takes inspiration from Art as experience and reinterprets it, configuring its different and essential suggestions. Through philosophical-pedagogical investigations, the article reflects on the meaning of the aesthetic experience, creativity, and artistic experience interconnected with relationships. Art as experience and Reggio Emilia Approach conceive art as a powerful heuristic tool for human experience and reality.

The article aims to demonstrate how much the work Art as Experience (1934) by the American philosopher and pedagogist John Dewey, a proponent of pedagogical activism, may have contributed to Loris Malaguzzi’s thought (1920-1994) and the Reggio Emilia Approach. Starting from the idea of an aesthetic experience as a privileged means of knowledge, the comparison between the two thoughts continues through reflections on the relationship between art-community and art-ethics. The dialogue between these two important educational approaches is proposed in order to highlight their relevance and the role they could play in today's schools thanks to the concept of knowledge based on the senses and on doing, contributing to the sensitisation of educational action towards the social aspect of art, both as an opening towards the community, and as a reflection on the values of the human being.