microsglobeis a one-and-a-half-year cooperative project between the Gutenbergschule Karlsruhe, a local elementary and middle school, and GAM | Education. The latter works together with Vorbereitungsklasse II [Preparatory Class II] (VKL II), in which children and young people who have recently come to Germany from a variety of countries with the primary goal of helping them get to know their new living environment and learn the German language. As a result of their current living situation, these children have a specific perspective on and a special sensitivity to the phenomenon of migration, as well as specific knowledge about the lifestyles and effects of globalization processes in various countries. This knowledge of the VKL students will be put to productive use in the microsglobe project. Children and young people will work together with artists, teachers, and educators to connect contemporary art and aesthetic practices with their own experiences and points of view in order to develop joint creative aesthetic contributions to the theme of globalization: these will then be presented as part of the exhibition The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989. The microsglobe project is based on the idea of developing a common process of communication and shaping without relying on a common language. The necessary translation work – which is done mainly by the students on the linguistic level – is thus an elementary part of the project work, whereby processes of communication slow down, take detours, and often alter understanding. But these very aspects can be understood as a central challenge for education when the subject of globalization is reflected, namely, developing practices that enable collaborative action in and by means of difference.

Kleiderproduktion I (2010-2011)

 

Kleiderproduktion II (2011)