The installation "Stoffwechsel" was developed in connection with "Art Hansa Spezial", an event for which the Hansa Gymnasium (secondary school) invited 22 artists to develop art projects together with the pupils. The results of this cooperation were to be shown in an exhibition in the school building. I decided on the biology room, because I wanted to work with the topic biology but also because the room had the set up and the furnishings of a classical lecture hall. With my project I wanted to deal with how the school system is changing in a time when the written word is losing its place as the primary conveyor of meaning and the communication of information and collective knowledge occurs more and more through the electronic media. The exhibit existed in an area of conflict between the different means of representation and reproduction, in relation to the study of nature, and the living nature that was present in the school, mainly pupils and teachers. After several preparatory meetings with the biology teacher, Ms. Regine Jensch, I made the decision to work with the 13th grade which was covering the topic evolution in class.
As a first step, the basic concept of the project was discussed with the class. Following that, the two ends of the flow of information, the teacher and the learner, were documented during class: the room was captured on a photograph from the perspective of the teacher, and the photo was then processed by a computer and printed out in the ASCII text code. Printed sheets with this code were wallpapered on the walls, desks, tables, benches, and floor.
During the same class, the actions of the teacher were recorded on video, this time from the perspective of the pupils; for the duration of the exhibition, this material could be seen and heard on a monitor fixed on the wall behind the teacher's lectern.
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Since no instruction took place in the biology room for the duration of the exhibit, the puplis left evidence of their existence by each choosing an object from the biology department's collection of learning aids and putting it on their place to function as a representative. The original photo, which served as the input for the computer-coded wallpaper in the room, was on the teacher's desk. In agreement with the teacher and the pupils, the installation was not completely dismanteld after the exhibit. Only the representatives of the pupils and the teacher were removed: Their places were again taken by the living counterparts. In this way a new work of art came into being, which continued to exist through the presence of the pupils, the teacher, and the instruction which was again taking place. At regular intervals photographic records were made of the changes in the artwork which was worn out by the actions of the pupils. At the end of the school year, the remaining fragments together with the documentary photographs were recycled into a new work of art.
Contributions to this installation were made by: Nico Reichelt (assistant); Regine Jensch (biology teacher); the pupils of the 13th grade introductory biology class at the Hansa Gymnasium; additional thanks for the support of Georg Dietzler, Uta Reindl, and the teachers and parents of the Hansa Gymnasium
// Alba D'Urbano
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Main;
Archive() {
Esposizione Impraticabile();
Mare();
The Negated Room();
Hautnah;
Touch Me;
Stoffwechsel;
Il Sarto Immortale();
Net-Works();
History();
Imprint;