If I had one wish
art project with an integrative primary school class
Münster 2010
The project was part of ArtLAN, a cooperation project and network between the Youth Art School in Münster, local artists and schools.
It started with a classic fairy tale in which the protagonists gamble away the chance to make a wish and raises the central question: What would I wish for if I had only one wish? After an introduction to interview techniques and equipment instruction, the children swarmed into small groups and asked other children from school, passers-by on the street and in local stores about their wishes. The interview results were listened to in the group, and wish types such as self-centered, altruistic, materialistic, immaterialistic, attainable and unattainable wishes were discussed. It was striking that adults mostly wished for stereotypical things like health and world peace, whereas children had very individual and unusual wishes that were not oriented towards feasibility or political correctness. Wishes from others that the children found particularly intriguing could be 'adopted' and included in the project. After a design phase, the children transformed their wishes into paintings which were presented in the public library. The highlight of the project was the public vernissage of the exhibition with all children, parents, teachers and interested visitors.
