Me Exchanged

On Human Adaptation to a Mobile Age

Ina Köhler

Every year, over 30,000 exchange students leave Germany to broaden their horizons and make themselves competitive. They are usually sixteen or seventeen years old and thus still in search of their own identity and their mooring in the world. Open and full of curiosity they immerse themselves in a foreign culture. An experience that leaves a lasting impression, as former exchange students attest. But what kind of impressions are they? How does the sojourn in a foreign culture change a person and his or her view of the world? Are the changes visible? The photographer Ina Köhler has pursued questions such as these and photographed and interviewed thirty young Berliners before and after their year abroad. The direct, close-up portraits reveal noticeable and subtle changes and are accompanied by a short description of the student’s experiences and their own statements, excerpted from more detailed texts in the accompanying book. The exhibition presents a candid, intimate look at the customs of other countries, at Germanness and at the familiar and the foreign self.