Utopie | Zurich University of the Arts, Agrejodama

BewegGrund is a guest at the Stiftung Bühl during the spring and early summer of 2024 as part of the Blickfelder Festival. The Bühl Foundation is a special education school in Wädenswil. Together, children, teachers, and two dancers explore questions such as how they can find expression through movement. What do they enjoy about dancing? How can they collaboratively create a performance?

Based in Bern, the association BewegGrund has been promoting inclusive dance, the joint dancing of people with and without disabilities, since 1998. The company creates stage productions, regularly conducts courses, organizes workshops with choreographers from Switzerland and abroad, and works in schools. BewegGrund always operates with mixed leadership teams involving individuals with and without disabilities.

Staging in motion: the students of the Kunst und Sport Secondary School in Zurich are building their own mobile photo studio from recycled materials. They will transport it from their school to the Blickfelder Festival, where they will operate it themselves. Equipping it with various self-made backgrounds such as photo collages, graphic symbols, or paintings, they will then stage and illuminate their protagonists.

In this project, the students are accompanied and supported by the artist Carolina Cerbaro and photographer Mali Lazell. The students engage with artistic-historical contexts for their creations and learn the basics of portrait photography.

Between sending and receiving: We weigh what and how we want to communicate. This is not always successful. Trying to say something 'right' can be quite challenging, especially when it is perceived as “different” or “non-normal.”

As part of "School in the Museum," a primary school class engages extensively with the works and biographies of the artists featured in the current exhibition. The focus is on questions related to art, life, and expression. The students experiment with various materials, formulating their own messages. Their works will be showcased during the Blickfelder Festival at the Musée Visionnaire. The knowledge gained from the project will be shared by the students through guided tours for other school classes and the general public. The multi-month project's process will be documented in a film.

“Die Schule tanzt!” (the school dances) is a project that establishes dance at the Sekundarschule Birch The aim of the project is to strengthen the creativity, teamwork, and expressive abilities of the pupils. By closely intertwining education and art, “Die Schule tanzt!” creates an inspiring environment where students can surpass their boundaries, build confidence, and develop a deeper understanding of the significance of art and culture.

In May and June, the 9th-grade students will collaborate with four choreographers to create their final pieces, which will be showcased at the Sekundarschule Birch as part of the Blickfelder Festival.

Out of the school and into society!" Following this motto, the students leave their school and venture into the world with a mobile classroom. They head to a place that plays a crucial role in our democratic coexistence. After all, where better to actively participate in shaping the future sustainably, as stated in the Lehrplan 21 (curriculum)!

For three months, the pupils spend one day a week at the Staatsarchiv (State Archives). Together with the staff, they explore this place: What is actually stored here? How does the original differ from the forgery? Who decides what is important and worth preserving, and what is not? Over the course of the project, all participants develop a small collaborative project in which their research findings become public.

"Kids Jazz Club mit Henry" is inspired by Barnas Jazzhus, a jazz club in Norway. Unlike most conventional jazz clubs, at Barnas Jazzhus, it's not the adults but the children who play jazz. In "Kids Jazz Club with Henry," the focus is on listening to music, making music, watching, marveling, and, above all, on the live moment in music. The central element is the art of improvisation.

The children of Quartierschule Flugfeld in Dübendorf will be supported by musicians Nicole Johänntgen (saxophone), Pius Baschnagel (drums), Victor Hege (sousaphone), and Lukas Wyss (trombone). Together, they will take the stage at the festival, playing jazz: intuitive, unabashed, and direct!

Building animals at the festival center: Something big is being built! On the meadow at GZ Buchegg, oversized, animal-like beings are taking shape during the Blickfelder Festival. Using wooden slats and boards, children and teenagers are constructing walkable and sometimes movable animal sculptures.

There are no limits to imagination; whether giant ants, invented dinosaurs, or peculiar hybrids, almost anything is possible. The figures can be brought to life through simple mechanical elements. Over eleven days, students from ZHdK, together with the festival audience, create a work of art in workshops with school classes or during leisure time. The sculptures can be interacted with in various ways at the end of the project.

In "Labor der Privilegien," (Laboratory of Privileges) students embark on a quest to explore their own privileges. They ponder what makes their own lives, those of their families, and their neighbors easier or more challenging. The question, "Where do my privileges come from?" is critically examined. Together with the artists, the class develops an audio walk. The audience is invited to playfully reflect on their own privileges.

The concept of privilege directs attention to an examination of preferential treatment. For those who are privileged, their advantage often remains invisible. They may not perceive it as a privilege but rather as the norm. How "normal" does our future look? For which future, with or without privileges, do we feel responsible?

A 6th-grade class from Winterthur, along with two artists specializing in theater education and a scenographer, embarks on a quest to explore new family rights. Drawing from their biographical experiences and research, the children develop their own ideas and visions for a harmonious coexistence between generations.

Equipped with their new family rights, they come to the Blickfelder Festival to share and expand upon them with the audience. In newly established family affairs consulting offices, adults can seek advice from the children on how to improve family dynamics. The exchange centers around the ideas and needs of children regarding the concept of family.

Almost everything on earth has originated from an idea at some point. It suddenly appeared, was created, or invented. Perhaps now is the time to reconsider many things, refresh old inventions, and surely there's much more waiting to be invented. Are you also an inventor?

The researchers and theater makers of Theater PurPur invite young and old to the 'Wandelhaus für IDEENUPCYCLING' at GZ Buchegg. There, exploration and construction take place, games are played, and inventions are made. Everything is new. In the end, the newly revived old ideas or perhaps brand-new ideas and inventions are exhibited, allowing festival visitors to discover these innovations.

I have a craving for chocolate. We feel like listening to loud music. I feel like hugging you. When we talk about desire, we quickly touch upon sexual experiences. Nowadays, sexual content is just a few clicks away. Nevertheless, pornography remains a taboo, especially in dealing with teenagers. But what is a porn? What does it have to do with desire? How can we express desire — individually and collectively?

Theatre maker Laura Leupi, artist Talaya Schmid, and sex educator Angie Walti engage in a conversation with the learners of the Berufswahlschule Horgen (Vocational School Horgen) about pleasure and pornography. Together, they develop an immersive exhibition space at GZ Buchegg where the audience encounters the thoughts of the youth and finds a playful approach to the question, “What arouses desire in us?”