Photo portrait exhibition on the subject of the relationship between people and technology
"A part of me" is the name of the project, which was created as part of a student research project at Furtwangen University in 2016. The project is now in its third generation with the participation of seventeen students from the "Applied Health Sciences" degree programme at Furtwangen University and has been led by Prof. Dr. Peter König since the very beginning. It was his intention to portray the personal experiences of people with physical disabilities in an artistic way. The central themes addressed by the project include people's relationships with their technical aids and the resulting opportunities and risks for those affected, as well as their place in society. The aim of the project is to realize a photo portrait exhibition. In this context, the experiences and very personal stories of the participants are to be presented as authentically as possible on text and picture panels and society is to be sensitised to the topic of disability and technology.
Extensive research work was required in advance to put the idea into practice. Key topics such as forms and experiences of stigmatisation from the perspective of those affected were thoroughly researched and processed. What does stigmatisation actually mean? What role does it play in our society and how do those affected deal with it? Furthermore, in the first half of the project, investigations were carried out into the construct of "disability" in our society. In connection with this, attention was paid to how those affected cope with everyday life. What gives physically or mentally disabled people a foothold in everyday life? How can they cope physically and mentally? What opportunities does a technical aid offer them? Acceptance of the aid or reasons for rejecting it also play an important role. What disadvantages or risks can arise for those affected? With the help of study-based research, the first project group sought answers to questions such as these in order to create a scientific basis on which the project can build. This basis represents the theoretical foundation, so to speak, which made the practical implementation possible in the later stages.
In order to give the audience the most unbiased and unadulterated access possible to each person, we gave a lot of thought to the type of design. As the project involved the realisation of a portrait exhibition, it was necessary to find out about various art and photographic techniques in order to achieve the desired result in the end. To this end, extensive research was carried out into different image perspectives and their effect on the viewer.
Building on the scientific foundation, the project group was able to recruit fifteen participants over the course of two years, with whom they worked together towards the realisation of the photo portrait exhibition. The next step was to plan and organise the first photo portrait exhibition. It was a long way to the finished exhibition with its own name and logo for the project. The development of "A part of me", starting with a question and objective, through the acquisition of test subjects, to the opening of the first exhibition at a specialist congress in Hall, Austria, ultimately proved to be an exciting, profitable project that we would like to present to a wider public.
Further information can be found at: https://imtt.hs-furtwangen.de/ein-teil-von-mir/
