How do we actually thematise what we commonly call the "foreign"? Students of the subjects of non-fiction, art and German studies have explored this question - and approached the "foreign", this cultural construction, artistically.
They are presenting their results in the exhibition "Das andere Du' - Phänomene des Fremden in Sachbüchern der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur" at the Oldenburg Children's and Young People's Book Fair (KIBUM).
The students worked together with pupils from Haarentor primary school. Under the guidance of Dr Ines Oldenburg from the Institute of Educational Sciences and Thomas Robbers from the Institute of Art and Visual Culture, they tell stories on the topic of "Otherness - Strangeness", the creation process of which is documented in the exhibition. Other parts of the exhibition include a children's book on the cultural heritage of the Yagan water nomad tribe from Chile, written by students under the guidance of educationalist Prof Dr Astrid Kaiser. There are also three-dimensional spaces and installations that invite visitors to decipher and play - developed by participants in an art practice seminar by Sabine Wallach, who explored the question of how media form prejudices.
A collection rounds off the exhibition. It was compiled by Mareile Oetken, coordinator for children's and youth literature research at the university; the starting point was the question of how non-fiction books actually report on foreign places, things and people - and thus create worlds of the other and the foreign.
The exhibition can be viewed from 3 to 12 November, 10.00 to 18.00, in the Artothek (Peterstr. 1). Admission is free.
