“Build noodle bridges!” a physics teacher friend of mine recommended. I was substitute teaching a three-week physics block in mechanics for a year 10 class. So the students divided up into six teams and sat around a big table. Each team got 500 grams of raw macaroni noodles and a hot glue gun. They were tasked with gluing the hard little pasta tubes together to form a stable bridge that spanned one meter [3 feet]. We would then test the load-bearing capacity and aesthetics of the structures. Typical for that age group, they split up into three female and three male teams. My ironic opening remark: “Dear boys, I’m sorry, but it will definitely be the girls who build the stronger bridges.” Protest and laughter, but it still went as expected. At the “boys’ tables,” everyone went to work on their own, gluing according to their own ideas. The girls were different. They first exchanged ideas: what makes a bridge stable? So they came up with a joint solution for absorbing the tensile and compressive forces with a noodle framework. Then came the performance: the durum wheat constructions were placed between two tables, a big bucket was hung from the middle, and then water was slowly poured in until the bridge gave way to the weight. Screams, cell phones pulled out for filming. The female spans carried over 15 kilos, the male ones buckled at 10 kilos! Why? A bridge breaks at its weakest point. The “boys’ bridges” were a sum of individual contributions—this led to weak spots. The girls first connected themselves before attempting the external connection. This is how the class discussion went: if you want to connect, to bridge, you need social connection, and you gain that with your feminine qualities.
Translation Laura Liska
Image Sibylle Reichel, “Diffusion” (detail), from the series “Atmosphären/Idiolektische Gespräche” [Atmospheres/Idiolectical Conversations,] 2012
