New York – a place of immigration. People come here in order to settle. Pupils achieve this feeling by leaving marks on the school desks, in this way becoming familiar with the location, appropriating it. My goal was to involve at least nine schools from city quarters with different social backgrounds in the project.

Invited by a NGO (freeDimensional) for a period of two months, I started off in this city on the wrong foot. Without realizing it, I was caught between two lines of conflict, to some extent due to the economic crisis but also owing to interpersonal tensions between the project partners. Following eight weeks of intense communication and with the support of friends and colleagues it was still possible to implement the project. I printed the last desks the night before my departure. Nine schools in four different city quarters participated: private schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn, public schools in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. One school is located for example in Brownsville, supposedly the only quarter in NYC with a rising homicide rate. In Queens, the only school to be honoured by a visit of the former president Bill Clinton because of its ethnic diversity participated. I completed a total of 120 prints in New York.

A note about the photos: The US law does not permit school pupils to be photographed.

São Paulo, a place of immigration, a melting pot. How does one settle and feel at home in such a place? Pupils mark their place in the city by leaving their traces on the school desks. My goal was to involve at least 9 schools from city quarters with different social backgrounds in the project.

During the three-month period I succeeded in borrowing 100 desks from 11 schools and printing the desktops on the handmade paper I had brought with me. The participating schools included both expensive private colleges and public reform schools in socially deprived areas, for example the city quarter Jardim Angela, which is considered one of the most dangerous in Brazil. The residency was rounded off by a public talk with Laymert Garcia dos Santos, sociologist and member of the management committee for the São Paulo Art Biennial.

Deskxistence, existence on a desktop, was initiated in May 2007 by Ottjörg A.C. as an urban project. So far 40 schools in 18 cities on five continents have participated.

In seventeen print workshops, also on five continents, two differently coloured gravure prints were created from approximately 260 desktops. Using this direct printing method even the most subtle scratches as well as the surfaces that have been rubbed smooth by the arms of the pupils are visible. Most of the desks are in use again in the schools.

Some figures: More than 500 prints on approx. 500 sqm handmade paper. More than 1000 e-mail exchanges and thousands of photos documenting the project context. Until the project is completed in July 2011 after 50 months an estimated eight more schools will have participated.

Berlin Germany (18); Vienna Austria (6); Sarajewo Bosnia (6); Skopje Macedonia (6); Istanbul Turkey (6); Beirut Lebanon (6); Ramallah, Palestinian Area (8); Eastern Jerusalem (6); Ma agan Mikael near Haifa Israel (7); Kairo Egypt (14); São Paolo Brazil (100).

 The Autobiographical class room sojourn follows a path of schools where the artist had personal experience at.

It is no coincidence that Alphabet Road constitutes the first part of the project. It all began during a journey from Berlin via Vienna, Sarajevo, Skopje, Istanbul, Beirut, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Haifa to Cairo – the reverse of the route that the alphabet and the book-based religions have taken. Indeed, teachings and scriptures would have developed differently without the book-based religions. I selected cities that flourished during an era of intellectual exchange and experienced a decline as soon as ethnic, religious or political groups authoritatively asserted their influence and violence and marginalisation prevailed.

From 10th September 2007 to 14th January 2008 I travelled through three continents (Africa, Asia, Europe), covered a distance of 10 688 Km and in doing so crossed 27 national borders. 14 schools in 10 cities and 8 printing workshops in 8 different countries became involved in Deskxistence Alphabet Road. The result is 136 unique prints; gravures of scratched desktops on 100 m handmade paper.

The numerous encounters through negotiations with school directors, conversations with teachers and pupils, the search for print workshops and the realisation of three exhibitions during the journey are all an integral part of the project. In addition, I gave three lectures in universities and several art lessons in schools.