The Brearley Project

Brearley Nursery School, Birmingham

Over the course of seven days beginning on 26 October 2009, Brearley Nursery School in Birmingham was the site for a series of modest interventions by Jürgen Partenheimer.

Inspired by its modernist architecture standing in stark contrast to the surrounding warehouses and factories, Partenheimer was fascinated by the building’s history and function. As a place for the education of young children, Partenheimer is interested in visual language as a means to develop sophisticated responses to the world around us. Akin to the cleaning of an historical artwork, he drew attention to the building in a variety of ways. Addressing the children directly, Partenheimer renovated a small part of the exterior, returning one of the stairwells connecting playground to classroom to its original colour scheme and made two drawings directly on its walls. Internally the main staircase became the site for the installation of a framed drawing and throughout the building a series of poetic and philosophical text labels, selected by Partenheimer and designed by the teaching staff, were positioned adjacent to examples of children’s work, All works were used by staff as a means to generate workshop activities focusing on the children’s relationship to and awareness of the spaces they occupy.

Supported by Birmingham City Council, Bright Space, Goethe-Institut and Adrian Bland.