INTRODUCTION

We live in the world of wild capitalism, where consumerism is a way of life and a struggle for existence, popularity, and it is the same in the society. If you are not "cool", you don't exist, if your pockets aren't full, you are a "looser", and if you are not wearing designer clothes that are "in", just the same. This situation in the society is reflected in all spheres of our lives – the values change, materialism is in the foreground, interpersonal relationships are crumbling, families fall apart, etc. That's life! So it seems on the outside… But how do we experience this state on the inside? The internal experience is strongly reflected especially among youth. The pace of life is increasingly hard to follow, and insecurity and fear of the future are growing inside them. Fear and anxiety are more and more often driven away by delusion and resorting of instant pleasures (alcohol and other forms of "getting high").

With the project "Say! What's up?" [Povej! Kako pa teb' dogaja?] we wish to create a place in which young people can directly and without embellishment talk about the way they live, how they perceive today's society, what should the world in which they will live, educate, fall in love create, etc. be. Since we live in the world of images and information technology, we have chosen video, photography and the Internet as the tools of expression.

1. TIME AND PLACE OF THE PROJECT

May

started collecting opinions through the system www.povej.si.

September and October

street animation in the Ljubljana city quarters: Šiška, Dravlje, Savsko naselje, Vič, Štepanjsko naselje, Nove Jarše and Fužine.

30. October until 3. November 2006

photography and video workshops in the premises of Jarše youth centre.

At the moment the opening of the exhibition with the round table is being prepared.

2. PROJECT MANAGERS, EXTERNAL ASSOCIATES, REFERENCES

The project managers and the providers of activities of the project are Metka Bahlen – co-author and manager of the project, provider of street animation, Mojca Fajdiga – co-author, provider of street animation and photography workshop and Matjaž Rupnik – provider of the video editing workshop.

External associates: Dani Gerbec (Adeptio d.o.o.), Matjaž Kološa – Internet support and Blaž Samec, expert associate – photographer.

3. TARGET GROUP AND ANIMATION

The animation was started in May 2006 on the Internet, through the system Povej! at the website www.povej.si, where anyone could express opinion on the content at hand. 

The method that we chose for meeting young people in person was street animation, which was at the same time also the beginning of project workshops. This was carried out in practice by walking around Ljubljana's streets with the camera crew and thus invited young people to participate. Above all, we wanted to know "what's up". This way we have given them an opportunity to express their opinions and to say in front of the camera what they like, what they are troubled by, what encourages them, saddens them..., and at the same time they could try working in the field themselves – filming with a camera, interviewing, taking photographs, etc.

The target group for our workshops were thus young people, who have shown interest for documentary photography and documentary video. In the black and white photograph development and photography workshops, 10 juveniles have participated and 5 in the video editing workshop. But a significantly larger group of young people were participating in the co-creation of the project. The Internet is endless and every person that has entered the project during the street animation has contributed a piece of the mosaic.

4. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES, SUBSTANTIATION OF CONTENT

The two main purposes of the project are:

• to give the youth, who show interest for documentary photography and documentary video, a possibility to also develop it (a personal contact with a potential ˝cameraman˝ will raise a genuine interest much more easily than a leaflet or poster for example; besides that, these activities often depend on financial standing of the individual – many people are for these reasons deprived of expression through interactive media)
• to offer young people an opportunity to talk about themselves, about their lives, their views of the world, perspectives for the future, peers, social events, etc. (to wake them from apathy, to get them to think about values, to stimulate them towards expressing through different media, peer education,...)

Objectives:

• To bring photography and video closer to youth (understanding of the medium, its expressive value, technical knowledge, etc.);
• To bring visual art closer to youth in an inobtrusive manner;
• To offer the youth an opportunity to spend their spare time creatively (culture as a prevention);
• Discovery and development of interests and talents in the cultural field that is generally neglected;
• Youth express their viewpoints towards social events through cultural events;
• Promotion of art as a method of education;
• Encouraging youth to follow cultural events more frequently and to actively participate in the development in the cultural field;
• Popularization of expressing opinions through art (art, culture, as a healthy form of expressing agreement and disagreement of events in the society, etc.) and expression of opinion in general.

5. METHODS OF PROVISION, METHODS OF WORK

As a method of work, project learning was utilised. It is a learning method, by which juveniles learn through active participation in projects. Its most important characteristic is that it takes into account the characteristics and abilities of the participants and the opportunity that they co-create the activity through that.

Animation on the Internet – the system Povej!, which allows two-way communication through SMS messages and directly over the Internet. The content of the website was continuously updated and current events that were related to the project as well as photographs from the field were also published, ... The setting up of a website and with this also the start of the project was advertised with leaflets.

Street animation

Young people meet in different places – usually somewhere around where they live. These are usually playgrounds, bars, shopping centres, parks, etc. With the team, we have set out to find them in these places, make contact, talk to them about what they do, what they are interested in, etc. We have asked them to give a statement for the camera that is related with the theme of the project: "What's up?". The participants were invited to take the camera themselves and become "journalists". They had the opportunity to participate in all phases of the project – collecting material (filming and shooting), edit films and develop photographs and prepare and carry out the presentation. Before the start of the street animation, we have distributed leaflets.

Photography workshops

Taking pictures in the field (in connection with the street animation), workshop on developing black and white photographs and editing digital photographs, the selection and preparation of photographs for the exhibition. The participants have learned to choose the photograph that speak a message in a given context, learned the technique of developing black and white photographs and the technique of editing digital photographs and have presented themselves as artists.

Video editing workshop

Selection of video recordings from the field, editing of a documentary, sound editing. The participants have already tested being cameramen and directors in the field, have learned the basics of filming a documentary, were introduced to digital video technology, computer programme for video editing and have presented themselves as co-creators of a documentary.

6. METHOD OF PRESENTATION

Multimedia exhibition in the hostel Celica – form 22. November until 3. December 2006: projections of the documentary Povej! Kako pa teb' dogaja?, exhibition of black and white and digital photographs, presentation of the interactive system Povej!.