A stylized bus stop with comic panels opens the exhibition area and offers an introduction to statistical data of the local education system – and beyond. Sketches of everyday situations in kindergartens, schools, training companies and universities show the variety of possible experiences that we all share in our educational biographies. The tension before an exam, fascination but also boredom are collective experiences shared across generations and educational organizations. (Palaver 2021) The presented paper introduces the outcomes of a joint-research-project between the Ethnographic Museum Graz and the University of Graz (both Styria, Austria) which resulted in the exhibition “A regions’ need for education” (2021–2026). The eventful educational history of Styria conveyed in the exhibition draws on the struggle for new educational institutions (Latour 2014) and individual educational opportunities (Muhr 2012; Czejkowska & Seyss-Inquard 2022). Using selected images and documents, historical artefacts and stories, different approaches to education, but also hurdles – denied access – are traced and described. We start with the famous baroque instructional board “Homo – The Human Being” from 1760. This board was part of the Grazer Tafel (Graz Boards), teaching materials used in the education of the young aristocrat. The three educational pathways pictured here were reserved for the nobility until 1774. Thereafter the wider population gained access to education in the form of compulsory schooling. Although education was gradually recognized as a human right, only decades later (1810) the "spiritual climate" in the region is judged to be devastating, not due to a lack of talent, but as a result of lacking educational opportunities and organizations. This argument precedes the discussion on educational reserves that began in the 1960s. Research on the expansion of educational institutions in the 20th century, which manifests itself in a chalk map and stickers on educational expansion, shows phases of stagnation, developments, repetition and recognition (Castoriadis 1988). Educational journeys, recorded in photographs, complete the picture. The documented "educational pathways" show impressively how the country's geography affects people's biographies and shapes their memories. Finally, who is permitted to teach? This is not only a historical question. Even today, the issue is hotly debated in society and is a matter for the courts. We end the conceptualisations of our museum learning (Hohenstein & Moussouri 2017) with different realities overlapping in complex interplay: Present and future, humans and technology, utopia and dystopia become increasingly interwoven.

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