Guidelines for Teachers

Wonderkamers in a nutshell ‘The Wonderkamers’ is a permanent interactive exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. It is designed to give secondary school students plenty to do and discover and to give them the chance to enjoy fine art and design by playing educational digital games in teams within a unique setting. The central exhibition space features thematic groups of items from the collections of the Gemeentemuseum. They include paintings, sculpture, photos, furniture, ornaments, everyday objects and fashion. At its heart is a ‘floating’ Miniature Museum with hundreds of miniature artworks by artists around the world, all from the Ria and Lex Daniëls collection in Amsterdam. Around the central exhibition space are thirteen separate rooms. Each of these ‘wonderkamers’ features a specific theme relating to fine art, fashion, architecture or the decorative arts. Students are divided into pairs and each pair receives a tablet (the ‘Wonder-Guide’, available with information in either Dutch or English). They then engage in a computer game in which they, for once, are the exhibition-makers. The Wonder-Guide sends them all over the exhibition, from room to room, playing educational games, watching films and earning points. Towards the end of the session, they can swap their points for virtual artworks from the central exhibition space (‘The Depot’). They then use these to create their own virtual exhibition in the Miniature Museum, designing it exactly the way they want it. After returning to school, you (the teacher) can go to www.wonderkamers.nl to download their scores and the designs and photos they made in the Wonderkamers. You can then share these with your students.

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Educational goals  S  tudents gain insights into the various collections of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag: fine art, decorative arts, architecture and fashion.  Students familiarize themselves with key terms and concepts in these disciplines and learn to apply them.  Students get inside the skin of the curator and think about the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of exhibition-making.  Students work together, learning to handle new media and to distil information from media sources.  See the section ‘Procedure for visiting the Wonderkamers’ for a more specific description of the 13 rooms and the interactive games to be played in them.

Duration of the activity 2 hours (not including time taken to deposit bags and jackets, move from the entrance hall to the Wonderkamers, and receive and return tablets)

Types of secondary schooling and course years For all grades of general secondary education (VMBO, HAVO & VWO), years 1 – approx. 4. Less academically gifted (VMBO) students normally play the game at the basic level. For more academically gifted (HAVO & VWO) students in years 2 and over, there is enrichment in the form of ‘bonus assignments’. If you particularly wish to offer these to your less academically gifted (VMBO) students, please make this clear when booking your visit.

Group size Minimum 16 – maximum 60 students

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Group and games support and guidance For each 16 students, the Wonderkamers team will provide support and guidance in the shape of 1 education officer and 2 games attendants. For a group of up to 16 students, at least 1 teacher from the school must be in attendance; for a group of 17 to 32 students: 2 teachers; for 33 to 60 students: 3 teachers. The teachers in attendance are expected to provide active supervision and to intervene in a disciplinary capacity if necessary.

Price ¤ 5 per person (1 tablet per 2 students / teachers) Otherwise, admission to the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is free for all students aged under 19 and for teachers escorting groups of more than 15 students.

Advance booking Visits must be booked at least 3 weeks in advance:  by using the booking form on www.wonderkamers.nl, or  by e-mail: [email protected], or  by telephone during office hours (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.): +31 (0)70 - 33 81 120 The departmental assistant will contact you as soon as possible to confirm the booking and check the details with you, or to discuss alternatives if your preferred date and time is unavailable.

Opening hours for school visits: Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

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Liability As soon as your school party leaves the Wonderkamers (and before any other group enters it), the Wonderkamers team will carry out a careful inspection. If there is any damage to exhibits, tablets, the interior of the exhibition space etc., the school will be contacted immediately. The museum reserves the right to hold the school financially responsible for any damage that may occur during a visit by its students.

Procedure for visiting the Wonderkamers Arrival 15 minutes before the time of your Wonderkamers visit, you should report with your group to the information desk in the entrance hall of the Gemeentemuseum. Staff will show you where your students can leave their bags and jackets. No chewing gum, jackets, bags or large objects are permitted in the museum. Writing implements are not needed in the Wonderkamers and are not permitted there. Please ask students to go to the toilets in the entrance hall before they start their visit to the Wonderkamers. When you are ready, an education officer will meet your group in the entrance hall and escort it to the Wonderkamers. Wonderstart Arriving in the Wonderkamers reception area (Wonderstart), the students will sit down while the education officer welcomes them and explains the procedure for the visit. The tablets will then be handed out (1 for every 2 students*) and the introductory film will begin. This will explain how to play the game and how to use the Wonder-Guide (tablet). If you (the teacher) did not create an account when you booked the visit, you can do it here at the reception desk. You will be given a link for use after the visit to download the results of your students’ work. * Distribution of tablets (Wonder-Guides) If you have an odd number of students in your group, you can arrange with your students either that one student will play the game alone or that one student will be teamed with a teacher. You can also make a team of three students but then the third student will have less to do, since the game often involves only two players at a time. NB Please pair off your students into teams before your visit. If you do it when you arrive, you’ll waste precious time in the Wonderkamers.

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Game When the introductory film ends, the tablets will come to life and the game begins. Students play it completely independently. The tablets direct them from room to room, point the way and provide instructions and information. First of all, each player is asked to enter his/her name or pseudonym on the tablet and to take a photograph of him/herself. (In a 3-man team, 2 students can photograph themselves together.) After that, each team scans the code on the floor to activate the tablet’s signposting function. The game involves educational tasks performed in a number of different wonderkamers. Differences in work rate and the duration of tasks can mean that some teams visit fewer rooms. The degree of difficulty also varies from one room to another. Games attendants are available in the wonderkamers to provide support and guidance as necessary. Wonderkamers See below for a more specific description of the 13 rooms and the interactive games to be played in them. Dress up! Surrounded by pictures of 18th, 19th and 20th-century clothing, students gain an understanding of the way fashions have changed over time. Sitting in front of a large mirror, each selects a given century, character and situation (e.g. a lady going to the opera or a politician with a meeting to attend). Then they view a short film about the various periods, including information on clothing relevant to the period, character and situation each student has selected. After this, their task is to identify the right (virtual) clothes plus accessories such as wigs, hats and shoes. Finally, students can photograph themselves in the chosen outfits and see their images projected on the wall looking like cover models in a fashion magazine. The photos can be downloaded later from the website. What’s it worth? Why is one artwork worth a fortune, while another has very little monetary value? It’s often hard to explain. The activities in this room help students understand the factors involved. For example, is an object the result of serial production or is it unique? Is the artist a famous name or relatively unknown? Is the material valuable in itself? Students are invited to guess the value of various (original) artworks and are given a number of tips to help them. Zoom in These days, Google allows us to zoom in on the Earth and on works of art. Inspired by that application, the Gemeentemuseum is now offering visitors the opportunity to examine a number of artworks down to the smallest detail. In Zoom in, students see a hugely magnified detail of a painting on an enormous screen. As they step towards it, the camera gradually zooms out. The more quickly they identify the work of art, the more points they earn. Students see with their own eyes that movements like Expressionism, Impressionism, De Stijl and Cubism can be identified by the way the artists handled paint. They can also feel how paint can be applied by touching a wall display of enlarged three-dimensional details of various artworks.

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A new world In a strange and beautiful white space with no corners, students are invited to settle on a giant lounger and watch a film that will immerse them in the utopian world of Constant Nieuwenhuys – a world where nobody has to work and people spend their time in creative play. The film explains Constant’s amazing ideas and designs. Afterwards, students can study an enlargement of a print on the back wall and look through a number of peepholes to view one of Constant’s scale models and various quotations from his writings. Finally, they receive a brief introduction to Constant’s labyrinths and can test their dexterity and earn points by playing a related game on their tablets. Makers In a workshop spattered with paint and full of tools, students find a large workbench where they are asked to choose a material: wood, silver, glass, clay or textile. They then view a short film showing two artists at work: a man and a woman, each of whom creates a totally different kind of art object from the chosen material. Students are instructed to watch closely to see what tools they use. After the film, students say which object (the one made by the man or by the woman) they want to select for the game. They are then told to examine the various product groups in the workshop and identify the right tools to make the chosen object. Dance the Victory! During the Second World War, Mondrian fled Europe and settled in New York. The effervescent energy of the city inspired incomparable works of art, like the renowned Victory Boogie Woogie. The aim of this room is to give students an impression of the atmosphere he encountered there. They see the city and hear the kind of music to which the artist loved to dance. From a screen, Mondrian talks to the students, describing the wonders of the city and how he adored its music and dancing. He encourages them to dance to popular music of the time. There are three levels of attainment. As they dance, they see three paintings take shape. At level three, it’s the Victory Boogie Woogie. Can the students see how the composition reflects the rhythm of the music and the lay-out of the city’s streets? Copy Mondrian Many people think Mondrian’s paintings are kids’ stuff. Anyone, they say, could put together a few lines and blocks of colour. Not true! Mondrian thought long and hard about his paintings and created amazingly balanced compositions. Technically too, his work is more complicated that you might think. This room inculcates a respect for the work of this world-famous artist in a relaxed and entertaining way. Following a brief introduction, students are asked to reconstruct one of Mondrian’s compositions on a touchscreen. They soon find out how difficult it is to do, despite the helpful hints they receive and even with an example to copy. And, they are reminded, Mondrian had no examples to go on: his abstracts were completely unprecedented.

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Life with Mondrian In this room, archive photos and a film give students a wonderfully clear impression of the early 20th-century world of Mondrian’s lifetime. It shows how his artistic development was influenced by the places where he lived and the artistic movements of his time. Students will be amazed at his courage and creativity in creating such startlingly abstract works at such an early period. They start by viewing a film that immerses them in Mondrian’s life and teaches them to identify the various periods in his work. After this, they visit a special depot to collect a painting from each of these periods. They must then use the wall-mounted screen (which now functions as touchscreen) to arrange the paintings in the right chronological order. On the catwalk Fashion may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of design. But it certainly is a branch of the design industry. Fashion designers deliberately accentuate different parts of the body, such as the belly, buttocks, breasts or shoulders. This room demonstrates how clothing can be used to stress or conceal particular features. It contains six outfits, all specially designed and made for the Wonderkamers. Three are for boys and three for girls. Some of them are inspired by famous designs, like Gaultier’s infamous cone bra, the costume seen in portraits of Henry VIII and garments designed by Walter Van Beirendonck. Students are invited to don the outfits and model them on a catwalk. Halfway down the runway, they see flashlights, as if from an eager crowd of fashion journalists. A real photo can be downloaded from the website later. They also hear a presenter’s voice commenting on their outfits. Afterwards, each student has to answer a question on the tablet: the aim is to choose a costume from the collection of the Gemeentemuseum with a fashion silhouette similar to that of the outfit they modelled. Table service Tableware has changed enormously over time. This is partly due to developments in taste but also to changing eating habits. Some parts of table services have disappeared completely. In this room, various services are exhibited in a display case. Students choose the one that appeals most to them, whether a 17th-century oriental porcelain example or a modern service from the 1980s. Their tablets turn into tinkling trays as services appear on them. Their task is to select the right pieces and lay the table for a given occasion. When they have finished, they see the correct table setting. Then the scene comes to life as the still picture becomes a film, complete with voices, music and the clinking of glasses. Berlage’s museum A room with the original architectural drawings on the wall and displays showing many different details of the construction of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag provides the ideal setting for students to try their hands at architectural design. First they are given information on key features of Berlage’s museum: use of colour, standard dimensions, handling of light, etc. Then they are challenged to design an annex for it, to be located in the museum gardens. Using their tablets, they select items from a list of architectural elements, some in line with Berlage’s ideas and others definitely not. The more closely the resulting design harmonises with Berlage’s building, the more points they earn.

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Tell me a story Paintwork on ceramics is often purely decorative, but sometimes it also has a tale to tell. These stories are never normally told in museums, but we’re doing it in the Wonderkamers. The ceramics in this fairytale space come from five different cultures. They include a Delft plate with a Biblical depiction, oriental earthenware showing a Chinese story involving dragons and an Italian dish illustrating a story from classical mythology. The students sit around the objects and choose the one they prefer. Above their heads, the story then comes to life in a dazzling animation film scripted by writer and illustrator Daan Remmerts de Vries. Afterwards, there are two questions to answer. For the first, they can use information provided by the film. For the second, they have to take another good look at the object itself. A peek into the past As soon as you walk into this room, you can see it’s all about interior design. The two interconnected spaces are full of weirdly hybridized bits of furniture, old-fashioned and modern. A film provides brief information about the key stylistic features of furniture dating from different periods of the 19th and 20th centuries. Experience shows that students really enjoy being able to spot the differences (‘Hey, is that Art Deco?’). They start by choosing for themselves which century interests them and then view three short films, each about a different stylistic period (Empire, the ‘Age of Ugliness’ and Art Nouveau in the 19th century; Art Deco, De Stijl and the 1950s / 60s in the 20th century). Following each film, they are asked to look at their tablets and select a piece of furniture that doesn’t conform to that style. Everywhere in these spaces, students are allowed to sit on or touch the pieces of furniture. Concealed here and there, they will find small VDUs screening brief extracts from feature films showing the relevant style of interior decoration. Virtual exhibition-making After 90 minutes, the Wonder-Guides will direct the teams to the Depot, where they look at the thematic displays and swap the points they have scored for artworks. Each team then goes to work arranging its chosen artworks in a virtual gallery within the Mini-Museum. Their exhibition is at first visible only on the tablet and later in the Mini-Museum. Using ‘tools’ like light and colour, they make their exhibitions as attractive as possible. This is important, because students will eventually assess each other’s galleries and compete to score the most ‘likes’. And what will happen on the tablets and in the Mini-Museum during the ‘opening’ of all the virtual galleries? That’s the big surprise! Conclusion Before leaving the Wonderkamers, students hand in their tablets at the reception desk. The education officer will then escort your group to the entrance hall or, if you wish, to another section of the museum.

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Preparing for the visit It is important that students know in advance what to expect. They should be told:  that the Wonderkamers is a special interactive exhibition using tablets and digital gaming;  that it is an introduction to fine art, fashion, architecture and the decorative arts;  that there are specific rules for visitor behaviour in the museum*;  that students will work in pairs, sharing one tablet. It is important to make up your teams in advance. If you have an odd number of students in your group, you can arrange with your students either that one student will play the game alone or that one student will be teamed with a teacher. You can also make a team of three students but then the third student will have less to do, since the game often involves only two players at a time.

Following your visit You (the teacher) will receive an e-mail giving you a link that you can use to download a complete overview of the results of all your students’ work. These can then be discussed and assessed in the classroom. Suggestions for follow-up tasks:  Write a review of the virtual exhibition created by another team of fellow-students.  Write a wall text for the virtual exhibition created by your own team.  Write a catalogue/exhibition guide for all the Mini-Museum galleries created by your group.  Write an article for your school magazine or website recommending a trip to the Wonderkamers. For further information, go to www.wonderkamers.nl or contact the Education Department, tel. +31 (0)70 – 33 81 120 (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.).

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Rules of behaviour in Gemeentemuseum Den Haag  L  arge bags, mobile phones, umbrellas etc. are not allowed into the museum. Bags and jackets should be left in the coach if possible or can be stored in special cupboards available for this purpose in the entrance hall.  Visitors are not permitted to eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in the museum.  For safety reasons, running and sliding on the floors is not permitted.  Visitors must not touch artworks or get too close to them.  Flash photography is not permitted.

Rules of behaviour in Wonderkamers  Writing implements must not be taken into the Wonderkamers.  The 13 rooms surrounding the central exhibition space are specially designed to permit visitors to touch the exhibits.  Artworks in the central exhibition space (‘The Depot’) must not be touched.  The Miniature Museum is surrounded by mobile steps. These must not be used by school groups. A huge amount of effort and loving care has gone into the creation of the Wonderkamers. It involves expensive modern technology and has been financed by numerous art funds. Before you come, please impress upon your students that they should respect this unique museum environment, which has been created especially for people of their age. And please intervene immediately to stop any inappropriate behaviour during the museum visit. We hope that you and your students will enjoy your visit to the Wonderkamers.

© Gemeentemuseum Den Haag December 2013, Education Sector

NB The Gemeentemuseum reserves the right to change the terms of visits at any time.

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