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

Editor: So, here we have "Jonge leerlingen van Hermannsberg, een nevenvestiging van Schule Schloss Salem, tijdens een uitvoering in de openlucht," or "Young Students of Hermannsberg, an Annex of Schule Schloss Salem, during an Outdoor Performance," captured around 1929. It’s a gelatin silver print. I’m immediately struck by how theatrical and surreal the scene feels. What catches your eye? Curator: Oh, this photograph whispers stories, doesn't it? For me, it's the uncanny valley between documentary and dream. These children, poised between youth and... well, what exactly are they performing? A play? A ritual? And there's this stillness, a quiet drama unfolding against the expansive landscape. Does the setting feel like freedom or constraint, I wonder? Editor: That's such a great point. It’s definitely ambiguous. Do you think this captures anything specific about Germany in the late 1920s? Curator: Absolutely! Consider the era. The Weimar Republic teetering, expressionism blooming, a craving for order perhaps intertwined with a desire for the avant-garde... Think about Schule Schloss Salem, known for its progressive education; it’s like they were staging a new kind of future. And those costumes, they pull from folklore and fancy, don’t they? It's all terribly evocative and hints at some kind of message! Do you agree? Editor: Definitely, the performance adds another layer to unpack here. It's both intimate and expansive in feeling! Thanks for highlighting all the possible nuances and backgrounds! Curator: My pleasure. And thanks to you, I'm now imagining what dialogue the students were reciting and whether this performance had anything to do with what the education intended to teach! Always so much to discover…