8th-grade students from the Bolderāja New Primary School, accompanied by teacher Lolita Maderniece, the artist Gundega Makita Evelone as well as art mediator Lana Zujeva visited the Sneakers: Eco X Ego exhibition at the Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum.
At the outset of the visit, senior museum educator Kristaps Ozoliņš explained the exhibition concept, shortly described its content and posed questions aimed to make the visitors reflect upon their consumer habits and the things that could foster the ecology of the planet. The students were introduced to the exhibition via a trivia quiz. Kristaps gave the students a map of the show featuring emojis, which, once they were located in the exhibition and once their description had been read, facilitated learning more about the exhibition content. To give the students some extra motivation, another competitive quiz was held at the conclusion of the show. Meanwhile teacher Lolita tasked the students with photographing three objects that spoke to them in the exhibition.
Some of the students wanted to talk to Gundega in a relaxed and free atmosphere. Lana, the art mediator, meanwhile provided a simultaneous translation of what Kristaps was saying and translated part of the work descriptions for them. Kristaps also gave them the work descriptions in English, providing them with some extra help.
Following the visit, the teacher and the students filled out a short questionnaire. The question – “If you could name the exhibition, what would you call it?” – was answered with Sole Prints, Shoe History, Skrejieši, Sneaker Museum, Nadidas, Fashion Museum, etc.
When they were asked the question, “What would you tell your friend about this exhibition”, the students had this to say: “It’s a way of looking at a common object from different points of view. And sometimes you would even exclaim: I wouldn’t have thought of this!”, and “There were very long shoes there!”, “It’s a museum about sneakers and history, and you can learn many new things about prosthetics.”, as well as “I would tell them it was dedicated to sneakers and that there were many shoes there.” and “I’d tell them there was a cool quiz and emoji there.”
Finally, the students were asked: “Why do we need such exhibitions? Are they necessary at all?” The students’ opinion varied: “I think that such exhibitions are necessary. First of all, people often don’t think that the fashion industry (in this case the footwear industry) makes so much stuff that turns to waste. Secondly, the story is not just about the shoe. I liked the added scientific and entertainment value it has.”, “To see older things.”, “Because it’s interesting and you can learn something new.”, “Because you can learn something new and have a fun time.”, “To learn about the history of your shoes.”, “They are not very necessary but they are interesting.”, “I think that they are interesting just to find out what you are wearing, but there was very little stuff to see there.”, “They are necessary as they help one to learn more.”

A heartfelt thanks to the Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum for your cooperation!

The visit was documented by Lita Millere.