‘Museum macht stark’ - Project and exhibition ’Work and life at Sayner Hütte - discover industrial culture!’ Culture makes STRONG - Alliance for Education - Call for proposals ‘Museum makes you strong’ Project partners: Sayner Hütte Foundation, Theodor-Heuss-Schule Bendorf, Förderkreis Rheinisches Eisenkunsguss-Museum e. V. Project description: Pupils in Year 8 get to know the Sayner Hütte extracurricular learning centre both as a museum and as a former place of work. Together, they explore the everyday lives of workers and child labourers in the region, which has been shaped by industry for centuries. In doing so, they get to know their social space and the history of their region with all their senses. The participants select representative objects from the museum collection and from their own everyday lives in order to create a kind of juxtaposition or collage of objects from the work and everyday life of yesterday and today in a dialogue as part of the planned exhibition at the school and in the Sayner Hütte. The pupils approach the production processes of a former iron foundry in a playful and manual way, i.e. with all their senses. At the same time, the small cast objects exhibited in the art casting gallery and the foundry hall of the Sayner Hütte, which was built from countless cast parts, serve as a visualisation and reference to the work of the workers of that time. The participants learn about different materials and tools. Under guidance, they discover the function of the tools and how the individual materials can be used. They are encouraged to try things out and experiment in order to familiarise themselves with the production process, make it their own and create something themselves. Using their individual skills, they produce their first own castings and present them to invited guests such as parents, classmates and teachers as part of a small exhibition. The individualised learning process described above gives participants a sense of achievement and boosts their self-esteem. The realistic preparation and practical testing of their own possibilities also prepares the pupils for their entry into professional life.

As part of the project, we first take pupils on a journey of discovery through the Sayner Hütte industrial monument with its various buildings, former homes and workplaces, the current exhibition areas and the archive. With the help of collection items (photos, objects), selected text sources and by discovering the authentic site and its surroundings, we will explore the question of what everyday life was like for children in the 19th century compared to today. We will accompany and document the project with film, interviews and photographs. In two different workshops, we will look at the working process of moulding and casting. Sayner Hütte was a famous iron foundry and manufactured a wide range of products. From filigree artistic castings such as jewellery and sculptures to machine and architectural parts, but also cannons. The products are still preserved today, not only in the museum (art casting gallery), but also in parks or buildings that we can explore on foot from Sayner Hütte

To get closer to the production process, we pour liquid isomalt (sugar) into silicone moulds in the ‘Colourful castings’ workshop, which we colour with food colouring. The silicone moulds were modelled on original iron art castings, so to speak. We make our own small, colourful cast art objects with the pupils, which they can take home as a souvenir or present in their own exhibition. The second workshop format takes place together with master mechanical engineer Volker Allexi. With him, everyone learns the art of moulding and casting! Everyone learns how to mould models in sand in the upper and lower box. They pour metal into moulds, unpack the casting from the mould and then process it mechanically. A networking meeting is planned for a follow-up project.

Documentation and presentations:

Photo, film and exhibition The ‘working days’ in the Sayner Hütte are accompanied by a ‘film team’ made up of the group of pupils and the volunteers and full-time project participants. The project is documented through film and photography. A compilation will be published on the Sayner Hütte website. In the planned exhibition, the pupils will attempt to bring the everyday objects of the past and present into a ‘dialogue’ in a juxtaposition or collage. The exhibition will also include the self-made cast objects made of sugar and metal. The pupils will be accompanied and supported in this process by the artist Ines Braun. And at the end, everyone will celebrate the opening of the exhibition together with parents, classmates, teachers and interested guests in the Sayner Hütte. A small exhibition will also be shown at the Theodor Heuss School.

Teilhabe der Familien (Eltern, Geschwister und Angehörige)
Es ist vorgesehen, dass im Verlauf des Projekts Eltern und Angehörige von ihren Kindern selbst den außerschulischen Lernort Sayner Hütte vorgestellt bekommen (vielleicht wird ihnen auch das Formen und Gießen, als neu erlernte Technik vorgeführt) und gegen Ende des Projekts werden ihre Kinder sie durch die Ausstellung führen. So werden auch die Eltern am Projekt ihrer Kinder in teilhaben.