Anette Højlund
LecturerPhD
Anette Højlund is a lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design.
In her PhD dissertation, Mind the Gap! Om tegning og tilblivelse. Udkast til en tegnefilosofi (Mind the gap! About drawing and creation. Drafts for a philosophy of drawing) Anette Højlund examines the concept and the potential of drawing. The dissertation is intended as a contribution to a conceptual discussion about drawing - how can we speak about drawing, and what do we mean by the term 'drawing'?
The dissertation revolves around a particular perspective on drawing, which is focused on drawing as a process, as the emerging drawing helps define a notion or an idea for the person drawing. In the dissertation, drawing is addressed simultaneously as process and image, act and awareness and as a potential for expanding the world. Anette Højlund explores her chosen perspective through analyses of her own and others' practice. She also examines how this understanding of drawing is supported by and contributes to relevant philosophical discussions, and she discusses key philosophers including Gilles Deluze, Giorgio Agamben and Roland Barthes.
In the dissertation Anette Højlund explores drawing processes as creative processes. In her understanding, drawing can simultaneously approach the world or cause the world to emerge and create a gap - an absence of meaning. Thus, drawing simultaneously creates clarity and openings or 'gaps in the world'. According to Anette Højlund, this underscores the importance of drawing in creative disciplines, as drawing processes and drawings have the capacity to generate new insights and new questions. She believes that drawing can rightfully be perceived as a representation of the nature of art.
Anette Højlund also touches on drawing education and its position in artistic education programmes. While drawing courses previously occupied a key position in artistic education programmes, the subject has now been replaced by exercises in conceptual and structured thinking, especially in the design schools. These exercises have partially replaced the intuitive immersion and form-giving drawing process. Anette Højlund is convinced, however, that drawing and its capacity for image formation hold an untapped potential. Drawing enables students to experience emergence first-hand and to become familiar with the substance and conditions of the artistic material. She does not argue in favour of pursuing this at the cost of the digital drawing medium or of conceptual thinking but instead believes that the different approaches should interact and support each other.
Anette Højlund is a visual artist and has studied comparative literature and the history of ideas. She joined the staff of the Danish Design School (now the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design) in 2000. In 2012 she earned a PhD from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design under the so-called Teacher PhD programme, which involves an extended teaching obligation.
In her PhD dissertation, Mind the Gap! Om tegning og tilblivelse. Udkast til en tegnefilosofi (Mind the gap! About drawing and creation. Drafts for a philosophy of drawing) Anette Højlund examines the concept and the potential of drawing. The dissertation is intended as a contribution to a conceptual discussion about drawing - how can we speak about drawing, and what do we mean by the term 'drawing'?
The dissertation revolves around a particular perspective on drawing, which is focused on drawing as a process, as the emerging drawing helps define a notion or an idea for the person drawing. In the dissertation, drawing is addressed simultaneously as process and image, act and awareness and as a potential for expanding the world. Anette Højlund explores her chosen perspective through analyses of her own and others' practice. She also examines how this understanding of drawing is supported by and contributes to relevant philosophical discussions, and she discusses key philosophers including Gilles Deluze, Giorgio Agamben and Roland Barthes.
In the dissertation Anette Højlund explores drawing processes as creative processes. In her understanding, drawing can simultaneously approach the world or cause the world to emerge and create a gap - an absence of meaning. Thus, drawing simultaneously creates clarity and openings or 'gaps in the world'. According to Anette Højlund, this underscores the importance of drawing in creative disciplines, as drawing processes and drawings have the capacity to generate new insights and new questions. She believes that drawing can rightfully be perceived as a representation of the nature of art.
Anette Højlund also touches on drawing education and its position in artistic education programmes. While drawing courses previously occupied a key position in artistic education programmes, the subject has now been replaced by exercises in conceptual and structured thinking, especially in the design schools. These exercises have partially replaced the intuitive immersion and form-giving drawing process. Anette Højlund is convinced, however, that drawing and its capacity for image formation hold an untapped potential. Drawing enables students to experience emergence first-hand and to become familiar with the substance and conditions of the artistic material. She does not argue in favour of pursuing this at the cost of the digital drawing medium or of conceptual thinking but instead believes that the different approaches should interact and support each other.
Anette Højlund is a visual artist and has studied comparative literature and the history of ideas. She joined the staff of the Danish Design School (now the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design) in 2000. In 2012 she earned a PhD from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design under the so-called Teacher PhD programme, which involves an extended teaching obligation.
She teaches image formation, design processes and illustration at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design.
Anette Højlund's PhD project is covered in articles in Mind Design #48, April 2012: Realising the Full Potential of Drawing and #3, November 2007: Visualisation is the Topic of Research.
