Over the last year 7^th and 8^th class students of Bundesgymnasium Bregenz Gallusstrasse worked on an internet survey of artists from their province Vorarlberg. This web presentation can be accessed via http://www.bg-gallus.ac.at/vkv.

It is our aim to make as many writers and artists possible known to a larger public. For this purpose the internet is an ideal media.

The survey is divided into two main branches:

First, the fine arts – painters, sculpturers, ...
Second, writers

Artists have the opportunity to present themselves with a selection of their work, a short biography as well as other texts and images. Each artists was contacted and taken care of by one student. In the field of literature the students also contacted the writers informing about their aims and asking for co-operation. The reaction of the artists was very positive. In some cases lots of mail was exchanged between artist and student.

It was a special challenge to develop a design that would serve various purposes. We wanted our web-presentation to load as quickly as possible with no unnecessary images keeping the viewer waiting for the page to upload. As we keep expanding our survey, the integration of new artists must be made easy. A future subdivision into individual genres must be possible.

In the field of the fine arts the artists were largely responsible for contents and materials. The writers on the other hand had little influence on design, the selection of texts and other materials. This was done by the students themselves. The biographical part, however, was based on the information and wishes of the writers.

The Vorarlberger Künstlerverzeichnis is an open project, a project in progress. It can never be complete and will therefore be permanently enlarged and improved.

Individual- / team work; co operation with other schools and institutions; involvement of people outside school; description of the social learning process;

Personal comment of teachers, students and project partners;

The students had the opportunity of getting to know their local artists and writers and personally contacted them. One of our aims is to foster this contact in the future. However, the length of the project turned out to be a strain on the motivation of both students and teachers involved.

The final public presentation and official opening of the project in the presence of some of the artists and writers as well as the media was very important for the students. As a team they could positively identify with the project and celebrate months of hard work earning them public respect.

With the help of the VKV you have easy access to the artists and writers from Vorarlberg. It offers you compact data which was hardly accessible and/or scattered before.

The project comprises many ingredients that make up a perfect school project.

Among them are:

Cross curricular work

Working with the "New Digital Media"

Contact to artists and writers

Opening the school and working outside school

Involving different social and learning techniques

Creativity in layout and design

Learning about and using technical know how

Working independently, keeping to strict schedules and fulfilling clearly defined tasks

On the whole we had a lot of fun despite some hard times. The overall positive feedback encouraged us a lot.

The "Vorarlberger Künstlerverzeichnis" had its official opening evening on Monday 22, 1999 at the BG. Gallus in Bregenz, Gallusstraße 4. The event was covered in the following media:

Vorarlberger Nachrichten
Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung
KULTUR
Blättle
Ländle