martinkrenn.net

public space

Power and Obedience - school instructs

public space Vienna, 1997 - 1999
In cooperation with pupils from alternative and regular schools

The "scholastic ideological state apparatus" (Althusser) plays an important role for the state as an effective means of steering and controlling the reproduction and legitimization of society.

School discipline, military discipline and work discipline are deemed necessary for upholding the state and its society. Schools, like prisons and barracks, can be used by the state as a mechanism of domination and control in its attempt to impose its interests.

Following Foucault, however, power is not simply held but rather, it effects. Power is not bound to individuals or groups/institutions, it lies in the structure, in the organization of space and the structuring of time.

Power does much more than merely censoring and negating; it is productive.

The project "Macht und Gehorsam - Schule unterrichtet"/"Power and Obedience - school instructs" attempts to investigate and question the ways that subordination and other mechanisms of domination and control in the school institution function by making public the pupil's critique of the schools.

First I visited schools in Vienna, presented the project and led discussions with pupils and committed teachers. At the visits, the pupils were invited to take photos of their schools and write statements on postcards, which would then be published in addition to the statements sent over the Internet to the homepage "SchülerInnenforum."

The concept for the video "AlternativschülerInnen interviewen Regel-schülerInnen"/"Pupils from alternative schools interview regular school pupils" was developed with a group of young people from the "SchülerInnenschule - WUK," an alternative school project in which I have actively participated for several years.

Visiting the schools and working on the video made it possible to come into contact with pupils who in their free time then took part in the design and exhibition of the posters.

After several working meetings, a core group was formed consisting of alternative and regular school pupils with the name "Neue Schule". The choice of statements made by the pupils for the posters, the working out of the layout and the concept for the exhibition were discussed as a group. Numerous discussions about changes in the school system supplemented the strategic and conceptual considerations.

K.R.Ä.T.Z.Ä., a children's rights group from Berlin, with whom I had previously only had e-mail contact, visited Vienna and presented their documented activities, publications and their "little school house," which points out the cramped situation in school classes.


index next page
	public space Power and Obedience - school instructs public space Vienna, 1997 - 1999 In cooperation with pupils from alternative and regular schools The "scholastic ideological state apparatus" (Althusser) plays an important role for the state as an effective means of steering and controlling the reproduction and legitimization of society. School discipline, military discipline and work discipline are deemed necessary for upholding the state and its society. Schools, like prisons and barracks, can be used by the state as a mechanism of domination and control in its attempt to impose its interests. Following Foucault, however, power is not simply held but rather, it effects. Power is not bound to individuals or groups/institutions, it lies in the structure, in the organization of space and the structuring of time. Power does much more than merely censoring and negating; it is productive. The project "Macht und Gehorsam - Schule unterrichtet"/"Power and Obedience - school instructs" attempts to investigate and question the ways that subordination and other mechanisms of domination and control in the school institution function by making public the pupil's critique of the schools. First I visited schools in Vienna, presented the project and led discussions with pupils and committed teachers. At the visits, the pupils were invited to take photos of their schools and write statements on postcards, which would then be published in addition to the statements sent over the Internet to the homepage "SchülerInnenforum." The concept for the video "AlternativschülerInnen interviewen Regel-schülerInnen"/"Pupils from alternative schools interview regular school pupils" was developed with a group of young people from the "SchülerInnenschule - WUK," an alternative school project in which I have actively participated for several years. Visiting the schools and working on the video made it possible to come into contact with pupils who in their free time then took part in the design and exhibition of the posters. After several working meetings, a core group was formed consisting of alternative and regular school pupils with the name "Neue Schule". The choice of statements made by the pupils for the posters, the working out of the layout and the concept for the exhibition were discussed as a group. Numerous discussions about changes in the school system supplemented the strategic and conceptual considerations. K.R.Ä.T.Z.Ä., a children's rights group from Berlin, with whom I had previously only had e-mail contact, visited Vienna and presented their documented activities, publications and their "little school house," which points out the cramped situation in school classes.