The Method:

1. Find two groups of people who are not artists and who are a little or a lot different from each other.
2. Bring the two groups together to do something unusual.
3. Take lots and lots of pictures and videos of the unusual activities.
4. Make a presentation about what happened, using the photos and videos.

Examples:

LOL100: The Lives of the Leaders in 100 Objects (2022, Berlin)

The groups:

1. teens from Berlin’s Markisches Viertel, where the German rapper Sido grew up.
2. 10 members of the leadership team from the Humboldt Forum, the new and very massive museum in Berlin. Including: Intendant Hartmut Dorgerloh

Something unusual:

The teens visited the homes of the leadership team, studied the homes and found 100 objects that interested them. The teens interviewed the leaders about the objects. The leader made dinner for the teens. The ate together.

What happened:

• Everyone got to know each other.
• It wasn’t too hard.
• The teens found a lot of different objects that held a lot of different stories.
• The teens were surprised that most of the leaders lived in normal, small Berlin apartments and had normal families.
• Some of the teens experienced meeting gay people for the first time and had a lot of questions, some that, normally, would be considered inappropriate.
• The leaders had a lot of books
• When teens and leaders see each other at the Humboldt Forum they stop and chat.
• The leaders are strong advocates for the project

Millionen, Millionen, Millionen (2015, Bochum, DE)

The groups:

1. a group of German teens
2. a group of teens who were either refugees or had a migrant background

Something unusual:

We went camping for a couple of weekends, along the Ruhr river.

What happened:

• Everyone got to know each other.
• It was easy.
• People fell in love and one couple formed
• People said inappropriate things and stressed out other people.
• One of the refugees was scheduled for deportation in the middle of the project and had to leave. For the German born teens, this was the first time someone they considered a friend had faced deportation.
• Some of us visited the teen at the holding facility.

Adrift in Gloucester (2015, Gloucester, UK)

The groups:

1. a group of white teens from a theater group
2. a group of black teens from an urban arts group

Something unusual:

They walked around the town of Gloucester UK for one week and offered to help random people from the public with whatever they need help with.

What happened:

• We got to know each other.
• It was very hard work.
• The adult supervisors got so stressed out by the project, saying that to offer help was an imposition, that they quit.
• The teens were not stressed at all.
• New teens and children who we met on the street joined the project.
• Other random people joined to help
• We worked together to build a small shelter for a take-away restaurant, as requested by a refugee from Afghanistan.

The Hemsbach Protocol (2016, Hemsbach, DE)

The groups:

1. A group of refugees from Africa and the Middle East
2. The townspeople from the small town of Hemsbach
3. The Office of the Mayor of Hemsbach

Something unusual:

Over the course of a year we lived in Hembach with the refugees and made many projects including a cooking contest, public singing, and also spent time with the refugees, helping them with their problems and supporting the process of becoming residents of Germany.

What happened:

• Everyone got to know each other.
• We learned about the immigration process.
• We failed to get wifi connected to the refugee’s residence.
• We helped the refugees understand how to find romantic partners in Germany.
• We helped find the refugees some Ausbildung.
• We bought a car and sent it to Gambia to support one of the refugee’s families.