Snow Globe / Schneekugel
2007

Snow Globe is a public art project that took place in 3 secondary schools in the city of Jena, Germany during the winter of 2007. The project involved installing a homemade camera obscura for 1-2 weeks in each school and leading activities from paper making and photo chemistry mixing to philosophy and english lessons.

Looking back on this project I think that the blog is the best representation/documentation of the work because it shows my presents as an important element of the work. One minute a physics teacher the next a philosopher, this moving between roles provides a concrete example for the children of how fluid roles and identity really are, further reinforcing the main theme of the project.

As you will read in the artist's statement the camera obscura is a metephore for the process of internalization.

For those unfamiliar with the German educational system it is important to know that after the fourth grade students are separated according to their ability, at least that is what they say. In reality sociopolitical factors do play into the division. The top school, Gymnasium, goes to grade 13 and graduates can continue on to university. Hauptschule or Realschule is meant to provide the basic education by grade 9 or 10. Gysamtschule is a reform school which offers all options under one roof.

I found this division very interesting. Snowglobe questions how much of this identity as college bound or simple worker is based in actual ability and how much is learned.