We interviewed some engaging students on their thoughts about being involved in the Dream Hamar Cultural Rucksack workshops. We asked them to share what they will remember the most from their experience, why they thought that it was important for them to participate and their own ideas about how collaboration works…
(All photos in this post by Christoffer Nilsen)
"When you work together you get better results and you can test out ideas that are different than your own." -Emelin Kristensen Aarnes, age 14
“It was interesting to participate in this because we will be the ones using the square in the future.” -Eila -Nygaard Lindstad, age 13
"We learned to collaborate in a good way, we were grouped with others who had similar drawings and ideas" -Simen Barflo, age 14
“What I will remember most is the process, how we started alone making drawings, then came to Basarbygningen to work as a group and we were able to see the final model finished together.” -Ståle Skullerud Brandt-Madsen, age 14
"Its easier to come up with good ideas when you help each other." -Lise Evardsen, age 14
“It was fun to participate and to talk about a new design for Hamar, and we all became friends while working together. ” -Karianne Lilleberg, age 13
We also interviewed several of the teachers that led the students through the final stage of building their models during the last week of the Cultural Rucksack.
“When the children of Hamar became involved in this process, they began to share their experiences with their parents and as a result their families also became involved in the Dream Hamar project…
Its very common for Norwegians to travel throughout Europe, and when we talk about creating a public space that is different from ours, we look to other European towns where it can be very common to see a fountain as the city center. Our torvet right now looks like a lot of other spaces in Norway. We have very masculine symmetrical designs to our outdoor spaces, such as the Vigeland Park, for example…Students in the age group that we are working with are generally traditional in their design choices, that is why we have seen very similar ideas running throughout the models and drawings such as symmetry and the central fountain.”
-Kari Oline Øverseth, ceramic artist and teacher
“It was helpful to work with small groups, and some of them have been involved in the process since the first drawings.
One of the skills they have focused on is the process of elimination, removing what isn’t necessary from the designs and learning what is important to keep.”
-Ansgar Ole Olsen, metal sculptor and teacher
“The students feel very safe here to experiment…When they get the experience of coming here to build a model for the new torvet they can actually go outside and gain a physical reference to the space they are working with. Then the students can compare the size of their designs to the reality of the torvet and that is a very unique experience for them.”
-Katrine Berg, light artist and teacher
