Welcome Class

When people from different backgrounds meet, knowledge is exchanged which is hard to grasp. What happens when they listen to each other? At the Hein-Moeller-Schule numerous welcome classes have been established over recent years. And the teaching staff is also mixed, bringing different experiences with them. How can this variety of knowledge be brought into a productive exchange? Who learns from who and how? In separate audio interviews, students and teachers questioned each other on their experiences and strategies for this special teaching and learning situation, located between multilingualism and dealing with different cultural backgrounds. The listening situation was recorded with the camera from different perspectives and subsequently transformed into a video installation—a filmic work which prompts one to listen.

The core of the Hein-Moeller-Schule in the Lichtenberg district of Berlin is the vocational school for different electro-technical professions. With the teacher Lars Weber

Constanze Fischbeck is a stage designer, video artist, teacher, and curator. The starting point of her work is space, the present, and the social context of specific, predominately urban locations. She combines spatial analysis with performative, documentary, and discursive approaches. Amongst other things, she initiated the art, film, and research project state-theatre (2009-2014) together with Daniel Kötter which was realized in the cities of Lagos, Teheran, Berlin, Detroit, Beirut, and Mönchengladbach. In addition to numerous screenings and presentations, the series was exhibited at the FFT Düsseldorf, the SALT Gallery Istanbul, and the Venice Architecture Biennial in 2014.