Esther Pilkington/Sibylle Peters/FUNDUS THEATER/Theatre of Research, Class Exchange, 2015, Hamburg

Esther Pilkington/Sibylle Peters/FUNDUS THEATER/Theatre of Research, Klassentausch, 2015, Hamburg

 

Class Exchange is a research project in which children from two primary school classes in two very different neighbourhoods of the city (one rich and one poor) swap places for a day and experience the everyday lives of the children of the other class in their school and their social environment (youth centres, playgrounds, families). The experience of Class Exchange is framed as a journey – a journey to a place that is geographically close but nevertheless seems far away. In preparation for the exchange, each class produces a travel guide for the other class, including a site map as well as recommendations and tips for the respective school and neighbourhood. The day at the other school is documented well, mainly through video and interviews.

After the exchange day, the children from each class, who have not yet met in person, meet for the very first time on stage at FUNDUS THEATER/Theatre of Research. They present their experiences of the exchange to each other in the theatre: How did they move through the everyday lives and surroundings of the others, what did they find out – about the life of the others, but also about their own? In this Improbable Assembly, primary school students of very different neighbourhoods of Hamburg (such as Steilshoop and Volksdorf), who would otherwise never meet within their city, can encounter each other in the context of theatre.

 

Researchers: Esther Pilkington, Sibylle Peters, Hanno Krieg, Tobias Quack, Christopher Weymann (FUNDUS THEATER/Theatre of Research)

Co-researchers: Primary school children from Hamburg Altona-Nord, Steilshoop, Wandsbek and Volksdorf, students from the BA programme Metropolitan Culture at HafenCity University

Participants: Audience members

Formats: Improbable Assembly