WORKSHOP ONE - "Museumslabor" -"Schöpfung" - Ruairí O'Brien

"Museumslabor"

Report I

Yesterday we had the first "Museumslabor" workshop under the title "Schöpfung" which means "Creation" in English. It is the first part of the exhibition presently being shown in the State art collection of Saxony, "Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden".
We began with 7 young students who are studying to become teachers and a group of 15 school children. We talked about Creation, the beginning of a museum collection, the idea of museums,
I drew “outline shadows” of Max, Akram, Theresa, Max E, Til, Robert, Falk on the white wall, the last two with my eyes shut…..“are you allowed to do that?” came the prompt question.
We visited the exhibition and stopped by an old book in the first room, "How old is it?, Is that a real Bird? Is it dead?"
we began to talk about...........
.......the protection and presentation of works of art, rare and old objects, the danger of too much light and warm and cold spaces, Adam and Eve, the beginning of the world, the apple, the fruit man, the fast-food man, protection and security, light and shadow, grandmothers and grandfathers, family names, language, preciousness and worthlessness, the past, the present and the future, time, generations, old and new, the art of drawing, Internet, the world, they drew each others faces, wonderful drawings full of power and beauty, every individual was captured on paper for ever….until the end of time, Max, Akram, Theresa, Max E, Til, Robert, Falk wrote their brillant thoughts on the wall, "Big is made up from smaller parts", "Putting different things together in one exhibition", "old technical objects to be looked at and used", "it was dark", "Light", "learning about what has been and has not been",....
This is such a great thought from Falk I have to repeat it!

"LEARNING ABOUT WHAT HAS BEEN AND WHAT HAS NOT BEEN !!!"
Falk. Dresden 28.04.2010

After all of that we sent a group photograph to our webblog.....the children gave a spontaneous contdown..10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ...nothing...black,.....10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3,....there was a great shout of joy as the photo appeared on the wall, they were all in internet…..with their drawings and their faces and their huge open spirit!
Then we had lunch.!

After lunch I drew a butterfly and a caterpillar on the wall, we talked about what the children collected, football cards, toy cars, things that no one else wants, rubbish, things that might be beautiful.....but not for everyone....."but I find them beautiful!".......we talked about process, how old is the exhibition, how long did it take to collect all the pieces we looked at?...5 years said one boy yes 5 years is long in the life of a small boy...but not long enough for the collection...10...20....30... a very long time in the mind of a child....100....300....try again... 500...ok closer 450 years old....we turned down the lights in the room and opened a black case, the case was full of precious and worthless objects, we talked about magic and art, art is a kind of magic......in the black case was....a book that my father had as a child and which he had passed onto me as a boy, the title of the book was "The World", a reproduction of the famous "angel" children from the gallery in Dresden, an original oil painting of a mans face, we talked about memories and values, plates, cups, glasses, balls, coloured fabric, plastic diamonds and crystals, rubber balls, a potato smasher, a German football jersey, a sealed packet of cakes, diverse packets of playing cards, a tape recorder, colourful trinkets, spoons, knives, forks, a pair of golden slippers, a mask, a pair of glasses, a clock, kitsch and rubbish, paper and stones, water, containers, a broken rusty children’s locomotive, in all 100 objects!
There was talking, shouting and laughing, glasses and masks were put on faces, books and magazines were turned over, bubbles were blown, names were spoken into the tape recorder.
Each person was allowed to choose one item, discussions, choices, decisions...
A white box was placed in the in the sunlight at the other side of the room, each object was placed with a brief explanation as to why it was chosen into the box.....the packet of cakes were opened and eaten !
The white box was closed and placed into the "Museumslabor" sculpture and awaits the next workshop which is called "Verlangen".
In English that could be understood to mean "craving"

Ruairí O'Brien. Dresden. 29.04.2010

p.s.

I thank the Children for being so open, clever and inspiring. The teachers and the teacher students for their interest and support and of course Frau Stübing from the SKD.