Jonge leerlingen van Hermannsberg, een nevenvestiging van Schule Schloss Salem, tijdens een uitvoering in de openlucht c. 1929

Editor: This gelatin-silver print, circa 1929, captures “Jonge leerlingen van Hermannsberg, een nevenvestiging van Schule Schloss Salem, tijdens een uitvoering in de openlucht” – Young students of Hermannsberg, an offshoot of Schule Schloss Salem, during an outdoor performance. I’m struck by the sort of stillness, but also the quiet drama of the scene. What do you make of it? Curator: It's like a paused film scene, isn't it? That slightly surreal feeling comes from the blurred lines between performance and reality, staged versus candid. I find myself wondering, what are they *really* doing? That pole the one figure is holding seems ridiculously tall. It feels…almost Beckett-esque. Don't you think it draws your eye upward? Editor: Absolutely. I noticed how stark the composition is too, that pole reaches high against an almost blank canvas of the sky. Do you think the minimalist aesthetic emphasizes a sort of austerity, maybe even a bit of pre-war tension? Curator: Precisely. This feels very much like an experiment. Hermannsberg and Salem were both progressive schools, very reform-minded, that sought to create engaged, resilient citizens. Think about the physical challenge – balancing, holding that long pole, performing in plain sight, then reflect upon what society demands of its students. The landscape almost acts as a stage itself. What story do you imagine they are enacting? Editor: Maybe a coming-of-age narrative? The figure balancing on a makeshift stage striving for something beyond the immediate landscape…it seems like there’s metaphor built into the visual, an ambition implied. Curator: Indeed! A potent combination, really – art, youth, landscape. So, if we were to caption this image, what would you suggest? Editor: Perhaps something about reaching beyond limitations… finding balance amid the precarity? Curator: Beautiful! It highlights both the literal action and the more profound implications, perfect.