‘The Lesson’ takes places in school, during a lesson. We see pupils and the teacher engaged in a conversation about a particular historical movement, partisan schooling, that emerged during the Second World War in Slovenia as an opposition to the occupation. Hodoscek proposed the theme and material for the lesson and focused on a reading of a letter written by a particular partisan teacher.

In the video, we observe the discussion that took place after the reading, where concepts such as methods of teaching under radical conditions, the interrelationship between teacher and pupils, the role of the teacher and current challenges of teaching are being debated. Hodoscek was interested in the dynamics of the class hour and focused the camera eye on the silent figures since they were in the majority – pupils who remain quiet during the lesson, occupying themselves with their own thoughts or waiting patiently or impatiently for the lesson to pass. Their silence proposes a particular performative gesture or rather a pressure to perform, a voice hidden and a stillness that is anything but still, however insisting on remaining opaque.