Indianapolis, the Herron School of Art + Design, and a joint exhibition—a travelogue.

“What’s a narrow path with four letters?” Four tired faces bent over a crossword puzzle. Their connecting flight to Indianapolis keeps getting delayed. This is our longest trip ever: 4000 miles, to be exact. Finally, we find the word — “path” — and make it to Indianapolis.

In the first few days, we set up our exhibition, Malleability of Time and Space, together with Sydney Craig, a professor at the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University–Indianapolis, and Prof. Judith Glaser. We painted steles and scoured American hardware stores for reptile sand. Our arms were covered in ballpoint pen measurements—some people call them “temporary tattoos.” Slowly, everything fell into place. We keep our blood sugar levels up with raspberry donuts and finalize the exhibition plan. Everything is in place and has its spot. When the morning sun shines into the exhibition, the objects absorb the light and cast shadows. As Indy (the nickname for the capital of Indiana) awakens through the large windows, we all know it was worth it. We remove the last washi tapes from the walls, hide the cables, and place the popcorn in small cups. The opening is wonderful. We chat in our well-rehearsed English, receive a warm welcome, and are given an extensive tour of the workshops as the “cherry on top.”

During our “construction-free” days, we explore multi-story thrift stores, visit the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, get lost in Wendy’s drive-thru, and stroll through Bloomington’s university town. The days are full, but not too full—just right. It’s fun, but our time in the States is coming to an end. We walk through downtown one last time with Herron students and wander through the art and gardens of the Newfields Museum. In ten days, we learned a lot about exhibition design, intuitively networked, and were always greeted with open arms and a warm American “Hi, how are you?” Then, suddenly, it’s over. We say goodbye to our personal vacation fairy, Sydney, and start a new crossword puzzle.

— Amelie Deimel