During four exhibition slots, visitors to the Kunsthalle Zürich were offered the educational programme "What do they actually believe?", with generous support from Pro Helvetia. The project ran until the end of 2020 and has since been used and further developed in a variety of ways. It was also used at the workshop for the EDI Forum 2023 in Napoli (see Art Education overview).
Questions about the exhibitions could be asked and comments and suggestions made by text message. This live event was offered during Kunsthalle Zürich's regular opening hours. The dialogue between visitors and the Kunsthalle Zürich led to an exchange and an archive in which knowledge was shared.
On the one hand, comments, questions and answers were physically printed out for all to see in the mediation studio. On the other hand, part of the archive was published on the Kunsthalle blog. All contributions remained anonymous - in the hope that comments and questions would emerge that would be formulated differently face-to-face or kept to oneself. This plan worked very well, with many critical comments and questions being asked.
As the tool has proved its worth in lowering the inhibition threshold for visitors to the Kunsthalle Zürich to actively communicate, it is now frequently used as an ice-breaker in school class workshops and public tours. The "User as Critic" event was organised at the end of 2020 as part of the Zurich Art Weekend as the final event for this low-threshold mediation tool.
The aim was to develop a tool to lower the threshold anxiety and ask questions in the museum space. It was also about testing digital tools in art education and exploring the possible scope for action.
