Research assistance on the Berlin “Jump & Run – School as System” partnership project.
Central to the scientific monitoring of the project (2011/12) was the question of implicit preconceptions and images that influence the collaboration between artists and teachers involved in the project. How do implicit, at times subconscious preconceptions and mutual expectations with regard to “Art”, “Drama” and “School” affect collaboration?
The Institute for Art Education was asked to assist with research for the “Jump & Run – School as System” partnership project between the three theatres in Berlin, the Theater an der Parkaue, Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) and Deutsches Theater and a total of eleven Berlin schools. The starting point for this research was the question of unconscious preconceptions and images that influence the collaboration between artists and teachers. What possibilities do these preconceived ideas and expectations open up and/or close off in terms of collaboration?
When the project started in September 2011, guided interviews were carried out with ten teachers and artists taking a team approach to develop project ideas with and for their students and then working together to implement them. As the individual projects progressed, research data was collected by way of a group discussion, as well as attending rehearsals and conducting performance evaluations with the artists and teachers involved in the project. When the overall project officially ended in mid-May 2012, a further round of interviews was held in May/June 2012 focusing on the working process that had been used.
The interviews were then evaluated and appeared as a research assistance report under the title “Der geschulte Blick” (The educated view) in February 2016 along with contributions from Carmen Mörsch, Alice Lagaay, Heike Riesling-Schärfe, Elisabeth Sattler, Dorothea Hilliger and Anne Hartmann. The compilation volume was published under the title «Eure Zwecke sind nicht unsre Zwecke.» (Your objectives are not our objectives) Cooperation between theatres and schools in the Berlin model project “JUMP & RUN”, transcript Verlag (ed.: Camilla Schlie / Sascha Willenbacher).