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'Being' by Chrischa Oswald
Press Release - Nov 2007
Private View 8th Nov 2007 6.30 - 9.00 pm
Exhibition continues until 8th Dec 2007
EXIT Gallery, Claire de Rouen Books,
121-125 Charing Cross Road, 1st Floor
London WC2H 0EW
BEING (a member) I have grown up in the countryside and in a small town and i remember that it was a quite idyllic life. But the older i got the more this 'idyllic' shifted to boring. And then there popped something into my mind that was different. An experience of an idyllic life connected with adventure. What i'm talking about is the scouts' group in my hometown in Lower Bavaria. Though a lot of people are prejudiced against the scouts and people mostly have a picture in their mind that resembles more the scouts of a mickey-mouse-magazine-style (going from house to house, selling homemade cookies) or 'Wald-und Wiesenheinis' (stupid people that are just into nature) i have to say that i spent a very good time with them. And it is funny because on the one hand there's people's bias and on the other hand the scout-group itself that felt very 'elitist' in a way what made it pretty difficult to get close if you were no member. Anyway, despite the fact that the scout group did a lot of things in the woods or in nature it felt not boring but very exciting. Getting away from home, meeting people with different social backgrounds or of other countries was a great advantage of being with the scouts. Of course i think in our small town it wasn't very strict (e.g. with regard to wearing uniforms etc.) and maybe in other towns or countries that differs. But to me it was more a unique gathering and you could explore a way to find nature interesting and to escape the rural area by lunging at sheer nature - a way that seems strange at first sight.
So i wanted to approach that time of my own youth by joining some meetings/events of the scouts and showing how it actually conducts in that scout-group. So far i have spent some time in the annually camps (2006 and 2007) and i have accompanied the youths in their activities. That was very interesting to me: now rather being observer whereas i used to be one of those kids some time ago. And i must admit that i once again had a great time and all those doubts i had that today even those youths in the countryside aren't interested in the scouts anymore was wrong. There was no computer, no mobile phone, no running water, no electricity, no toilet for one week but almost none of those kids was missing those attainments of our time. The only thing that counted was having fun and being together, playing games and having camp-fire with guitars and songs in the evening. And I think that's a great way to discover the advantage of the countryside. I plan to go on with that project and join further gatherings.
I think the youth-group-and-club-thing is a phenomenon of the countryside. You are always seeking to get involved in such organisations to have something to do because there isn't a lot of attractive offers like in the city (there you have bars, cinema, parties, concerts, museums, special offers for youths...). And in those groups your background doesn't matter. It just matters that you are a member.
Chrischa is a German photographer living in Linz, Austria. She is a long time mate of bananacake and we would like to wish her every success with the exhibition of her work in London.
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