Learning in a Space of Giving and Receiving
Avi Sabag

It is our belief that the intentional acts we perform in our lives, other than the basic acts intended for mere preservation of life itself, stem from a desire to introduce change. It is in this spirit that we wish to regard the exhibition "Teachers" and the Trump Foundation's comprehensive initiative: as steps along the way to revolutionizing teaching and education in Israel.

Life in this period is characterized by swift changes and an abundance of digital images. The world is largely experienced and studied through the pictures overflowing our everyday. The exhibition calls for a moment of silence to be perused and viewed as an open book of images. The viewer is invited to leaf through, tackle questions, absorb, be jolted, and even experience visual pleasure; to regard the operation of the image as a current mode of learning, as the movement of pictures derived from the experiences of artists who are, themselves, teachers as well as students of art; people who turn their gaze at their personal history, while looking ahead, for new meanings. In this respect, the exhibition generates a scholarly and experimental anthropological realm. The act of teaching should be deemed similarly: as an act of experimentation. The magic of teaching can only be sparked by awareness of the paramount nature of the educational task, as one stemming from the highest moral and spiritual values. Only this way can internal affinities with our students be made, and trust and respect may be established.

We have learned all this firsthand during the 25 years of the school's existence, through the identities of the place in which we operate: the Musrara neighborhood as a cultural and social border zone where a system of education and culture committed to the community has evolved, and through the common work with our students and recognition of their being autonomous individuals, whose stories must be heard and learned, individuals who must be challenged with questions pertaining to human identity, humanism, and acceptance of the other; individuals who must be respected, and at the same time—set clear boundaries. The teacher has the power to dictate the range and pace, but he must guide his students to common experimental learning which inquires and explores the very basis of social existence.

Situations of difficulty and lack of understanding give rise to questions which encourage thinking ("an act of the image," to quote Rudolf Steiner), which, in turn, leads to real learning. That learning is combined with creative and artistic processes—the building blocks of profound learning in all areas and disciplines. Studies have shown that development of artistic thinking and visual knowledge promote learning, leading students to achievements in the fields of mathematics and science as well, and mainly—to mental and emotional empowerment and to enhancement of their will power. When image and will meet, internalization of learning occurs. Learning takes place when a space of giving and receiving is created.

The teacher's path is a path of giving; and "the manner of giving is worth more than the gift" (to quote Pierre Corneille), a path which leads to reciprocity in the educational encounter between teacher and student. This is how a learning entity evolves, one that can introduce true internal change, a change resulting from learning in unison and from the delicate fibers of both authority and deep attentiveness.

Avi Sabag is chief curator, founder, and Director of the Naggar School of Photography, Media, New Music, Animation and Phototherapy, Musrara, Jerusalem