Peppermint

Peppermint is a hybrid plant, one that shoots out transversal roots, growing quickly and fragrantly into various contexts. Peppermint is also the namesake of aneducation’s space for documenta 14 in Kassel—a working, cooking, reading, and meeting house that nourishes relationships between contributors, educators, and students as well as members of neighboring communities since January 2016. Peppermint hosts regular meetings of the student group Membrane, the local community through the House of Commons, and the sewing circle Lose Fäden. It is also the workspace of aneducation.

During documenta 14, the office library of Lucius and Annemarie Burckhardt (1925–2003 and 1930–2012) resides at Peppermint. The practice of these two unconventional thinkers affiliated with the University of Kassel has substantially influenced the development of aneducation’s approach to “walking the city” as a way of learning.

Inside Peppermint you can find Terminal, a space of quietude measuring just a few square meters featuring the simple elements of a chair, a table, a lamp, and a pair of sound-isolating headphones. Visitors may use the space to pause, to breathe, to slow down, to unclutter, to undo, to be silent. These activities—or anactivities—are also part of the complex of strolling, listening, reading, mapping, weaving, storytelling, and eating that form the intricate root system that is Peppermint.