Friendships of Tomorrow

Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens-Gymnasium with Thomas Meyer and Rike Scheffler

How can people practice a future when they don’t yet know what it will be like? How can we maintain and create a world worth living in for all living beings? And what new skills, competencies and ways of being do we all have to learn for this? Together with an 8th grade class at the Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens Gymnasium, Thomas Meyer and Rike Scheffler develop examples for future communities that peacefully and symbiotically disregard species, gender and ideological boundaries. They take the time to meet human, non-human and artificial life forms on an equal footing and network with these “others” to form new, sustainable and respectful friendships. With the experience gained in this way, they develop (learning) spaces for togetherness in which every voice is heard.

The school project could not be completed due to the school closures during the coronavirus pandemic. The artists Thomas Meyer and Rike Scheffler developed a radio play (in German) in which they reflect on the failure of their project.

Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens-Gymnasium is an all-day school in Siemensstadt in Berlin’s Spandau district. With teachers Kathleen Krahl and Carsten Cremer (Kulturagenten für Kreative Schulen)