Readings of the contemporary in art education: Simultaneity and ambivalence in video art

Abstract The article discusses how the simultaneity of actions and languages and ambivalence in ways of being and acting, present in everyday experiences, are written into audio-visual productions of contemporary art. The video art Para Dentro and the reading of this work by a group of children were analysed using discursive semiotics, as related to the effects of meaning in audio-visual texts of contemporary art, and the processes of appropriation and redefinition of images and sounds, during art education on the reading of images. Analysis of this video art highlights its articulation, through overlays, of the various languages that constitute the audio-visual text and the presentation of images and sounds ambiguously, creating effects of ambivalence. What most disturbed the children during their reading were the visual and sound ambivalences. The results indicate the need to reflect, in school, on contemporary audio-visual narratives, seeking to understand the present moment.