On June 25th, 2015 just after one p.m. our conversation class of 9th and 10th graders - accompanied by Mrs Schwietz and Mr Motz - took the train to Kaufbeuren to visit the Kunsthaus. A nice lady from Texas guided us through the current exhibition, whose title “Neuland” was clearly inspired by Angela Merkel’s famous remark about digital media. On a 60-minute tour in English we explored digital art by Aram Bartholl, JODI und Evan Roth.

A totem made out of WiFi routers - symbol for modern people`s need for constant internet access

The first art object we discovered in the staircase seemed strange to us: a USB flash drive built into a wall which was called “Dead Drop” and was meant to be an anonymous, offline peer to peer file sharing network. Unfortunately we weren't able to find out what was on it, so we continued to the main hall. There we saw a sculpture made out of WiFi routers called “Totem”. Just like the totem served as an important spiritual and social symbol for Native Americans, the WiFi Totem stands for modern people’s need for a constant Internet connection. Another exhibit, an enormous roll of paper hanging from the wall and across the floor, showed the artist’s internet cache. There were a lot more things to see on this floor - so many that it would take too long to write about all of them. Moving on to the second floor we were confronted with the last art object, a labyrinth made of cardboard, which formed the letters "S.P.A.M".

The internet - no "Neuland" for the young generation of digital natives

After that we were free to walk around and experience the exhibition by ourselves. There was a lot more to discover like links and QR codes showing funny pictures when you scanned them. Despite the title of this exhibition, the Internet as well as basic hard- and software knowledge are certainly no “new land” for our young generation of “digital natives”. Thus we were able to understand the irony and criticism which were a central part of this interesting display of unusual art. In the end we were all convinced that “Neuland” was well worth a visit.

Niclas Bräuer and Alexander Linder, class 10a