Between Utopia, Theory and Efficiency

The idea for TeenKom first came up in 2002. Three ArtSourceLab activists, Svetlana Danilova, a culture manager from Russia, her 14 year old son Vitali and the Danish artist Per Traasdahl were discussing new means of communication among teenagers. Suddenly the idea came up; that one could create a sort of game, where adolescents could establish their own networks and offer their service in the city's community.

At the time, Per was already working on a project involving adolescents. Through project management, he was able to experience how the old slogan “to pick-up participants where they stand” was dealt with. The idea of treating adolescents on an equal level was encouraged, however only as long as no real power or responsibility involving keys, opening hours or money was at stake.

The new concept, which was soon named TeenKom, should, after all, seriously empower teenagers to pursue their own entrepreneurship. Hence the three migrants began phrasing and drawing, and soon an original world emerged with specific roles, rights and responsibilities. All of it of course involved the newest technologies like sms and the Internet.

Teenkom Organisation
One of the graphics from the first prize winning TeenKom concept

With bundled experiences form market economy, the arts and from the perception of a teenager, TeenKom at first seemed like utopia. It was a lot of fun to come up with the role game and the new terminology like Citizen Executive (CE), Extroverted Feedback Service (EFS), Host Implemented Networking (HIN) and Growth Preference Tracking (GPT).

The completed concept for the 1.TeenKom Master Plan was submitted to a competition of the Berlin Youth- and Family Foundation. The team was delighted because TeenKom won the First Prize in the innovation category. With the collaboration of Volker Kaul, a political science student, and Patrick Grueneberg, a philosophy student, who both joined ArtSourceLab through internships, the concept of Teenkom was further developed. In 2005, a first real test project was launched in Berlin Schoenberg North. "TeenKom, The Trailer" was facilitated by the Berlin Association for social-cultural work.

Community
TeenKom Schoeneberg North / OnSite Community

In the meantime, playful theoretical models and elaborate scientific contributions evolved. At the 8th Conference of Poverty and Health at the Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum in 2002, and at the 5th European Conference for Community Psychology 2004, which were both held in Berlin, the idea of TeenKom was successfully presented and discussed. Concepts like Social Meta-Structure, location-based versus interest-based communities, Dual Terminology und Psychosocial Mainstreaming were introduced by ArtSourceLab and discussed in international scientific circles.

TeenKom had become ArtSourceLab's most important project and word was getting around. In 2004 ArtSourceLab was elected member with voting power in the BBE, The German National Network for Civil Engagement. While ArtSourceLab speakers were taking part in the BBE working group Corporate Citizenship and were invited experts in meetings that were held about topics of Corporate Social Responsibility, they kept on considering, optimizing and appropriating the TeenKom concept.

Before completing an extensive phase of praxis, TeenKom had developed into a platform of innovation. The concept was enhanced in order to integrate a large variety of ideas and problems, like those concerning integration, school politics and community development, with market place dynamics. A furthered development of TeenKom could, at this point, only make sense with funding to facilite the creation of a corresponding software program and a site-specific project launch for the duration of three years. During this phase, TeenKom negotiated with many partnerships. While the TeenKom domain is primarilly outside schools, organizations that deal with new approaches for labour market training in the secondary schools were drawn to the project.

2006-07 Bildungscent e.V. commissioned ArtSourceLab to co-develop the pilot project Strengthen Strengths in three Berlin Schools. In 2007-08 Kids & Co commissioned ArtSourceLab to co-develop the project VBO in the Berlin borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Both projects aimed to inspire and challenge pupils to embark on self-managed procedures that could lead to a myriad of career prospectives.

Documentation from Strengthen Strengths, Bildungscent e.V.
Documentation from Strengthen Strengths, Bildungscent e.V. 2006-07

In both projects, scenarios were developed, which soon concluded, that it would not be easy to integrate the TeenKom approach in the schools. This is not because the students are unmotivated, which is what one would expect, but it is because the school systems and the planning groups operating between job center, youth office and the school authority do not relate to the lifestyle of the teenagers. Crucial questions about facilitating motivation, pro-activity and self-reflection among pupils were hardly touched upon. These collaborations provided Teenkom with valuable experience; however it was clear, that TeenKom should not head for integration within the school structure. The procedures and the approach to learning in the world of TeenKom will, however, offer a complementary form to the one found in the school environment. In the best case scenario, new ideas for labour market training will come about.

Links

Downloads