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Dear friends of the school of art and design
Dear members of the public
What do you associate with the weissensee school of art and design berlin? The ecologically and socio-politically ambitious work of the students? The alumni who have written art and design history? Our idyllic campus garden or maybe the distinctive charm of our assembly hall, which is popular as a backdrop for filming and where, during a recent shoot, Herbert Grönemeyer sang so fittingly “In disquiet lies strength”? What is clear at any rate is that, with their various artistic standpoints, our lecturers and professors shape the profile of the weissensee school of art and design in an exceptional way. In this newsletter we introduce you to the two newly appointed professors Nadine Göpfert and Wilhelm Klotzek as well as the new *foundationClass team. In addition, the series of public lectures “see – ander(e)s sehen” (“Looking at things differently and seeing something new”) gives you the opportunity twice a month to become better acquainted with the work and research topics of our professors. In this newsletter you can also read about all the other things we have on offer in June. And just in case you haven’t already done this: Please save the date – our Open Day Tours are on 22 and 23 July.
Your weissensee school of art and design berlin
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MINGLED LIVING FORCES
Under the title MINGLED LIVING FORCES, students of the weissensee school of art and design berlin intervene in the workshop exhibition “Exhibiting.Omissions – Objects from Tanzania and the Colonial Archive” in the Humboldt Forum. Using different media and formats, they explore the questions: How can one reflect artistically on the evidence of colonial violence? How can speculative futures be designed? There will be two performances in June, and the intervention will run until the end of July 2023. MINGLED LIVING FORCES came about in the course of the tandem seminars “Colonial Presents: artistic and curatorial enquiries” and “Drawing Colour Surface – Spatial Drawing” under the direction of Juana Awad and Elaine Bonavia. With works by Imad Alfil, Bar Esh, Paulin Fichtner & Conrad Kunze, Quang Vinh Giang, Mohamad Halbouni & Aline Suter, Melis Kiran, Hami Mehr, Jasmin Sermonet, Inyeong Song, Raras Umaratih, Jelisa Weber.
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examples to follow!
The cultural and aesthetic dimension of sustainability lies at the heart of the exhibition “examples to follow!” (“zur Nachahmung empfohlen”). After 13 years and exhibitions on four continents, “examples to follow!” is returning to Berlin from 12 May to 16 July. A core theme of the exhibition finale in the Uferhallen Wedding is the conventional construction industry’s catastrophic contribution to the climate disaster. As part of the exhibition, Khashayar Razghandi and Lucy Norris and Hanna Wiesener from the weissensee school of art and design berlin will be organising the workshop “Talking Wool – Wool in Exchange” on 1 June. Designers, academics, politicians and farmers will discuss local German and European wool, the problem of wool waste, and fibre security.
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Cuteness – a new aesthetic paradigm?
Cute art? For a long time this was seen as a contradiction in terms. Art could be lots of things - beautiful and ugly, witty and ironic, grand and elevated, escapist and activist – but definitely not cute. But a change is beginning to take shape. Artists worldwide are now using the pictorial language of cute motifs, forms, colours and materials for numerous aesthetic, intellectual and political purposes.
A presentation of the magazine Kunstforum International on the topic of “Cuteness” at the weissensee school of art and design berlin with a conversation between the editor Annekathrin Kohout and Thomas Hecken and Joseph Imorde in the assembly hall at 4 pm on 6 June 2023 (followed by drinks) about the question of the historical, societal, cultural and political conditions that have made an artistic engagement with cuteness necessary in the present day, and about what cute art can look like.
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Until dignity becomes normal
On 7 June, the Hanns Eisler School of Music, the Ernst Busch School of the Dramatic Arts, the weissensee school of art and design berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts are staging a day of action #WESSENFREIHEIT (WHOSE FREEDOM) together. Under the title “Until dignity becomes normal” – the slogan of collective solidarity of the feminist protest movement in Chile – the initiators of this day of action are extending an open invitation to a public event with Afghan artists.The artistic contributions and discussions focus on the resistance of Afghan women and their exclusion from public life, which is making their historical and current cultural, political and economic achievements invisible.
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Photo exhibition
The photographer Fatimah Hossaini, who left Afghanistan in 2021, writes, “During the last ten years, a great number of journalists have been murdered. The Taliban regime doesn’t allow us any longer to talk about freedom of opinion and women’s rights. In this respect, the future looks grim. (…) I hope that the international community doesn’t forget us.” The travelling exhibition shows impressive work by the female photographers and journalists Tahmina Alizada, Fatima Hossaini, Najiba Noori,Tahmina Saleem and Roya Heydari. It allows Afghan women to be visible and to make themselves heard and helps to ensure that their warning does not fall silent in Europe. The exhibition is taking place in the foyer of the weissensee school of art and design berlin as part of the university day of action #WESSENFREIHEIT from 28 May to 16 June 2023.
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Series of lectures “see – ander(e)s sehen”
Lucy Norris is Professor of Design Research and Material Culture at weißensee kunsthochschule berlin, and an associate member at the Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity". Under the title "Between Anthropology and Design" Lucy will consider the evolving relationship between social anthropology's orientation towards understanding human world-making and design as future-making, using examples from her research into transnational economies of waste, textile recycling and sustainable textile strategies. In her lecture on 28.06.23 at 5 pm in the auditorium, Lucy will reflect upon the productive relationships that build on these disciplinary entanglements. (Language: English).
Thomas Ness, Professor of Product Design and Embodied Interaction for the Cluster of Excellence “Matters of Activity”, is giving a lecture at 5 pm on 14 June as part of the series of lectures “see - ander(e)s sehen”. The topic and title of the lecture will be available shortly via this link:
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We would like to introduce
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Nadine Göpfert
Professor Nadine Göpfert was newly appointed as Professor of Textile and Surface Design at the weissensee school of art and design from the start of the summer semester. With an eye for detail and an interest in traditional textile techniques, she experiments in her work with many and various aspects of the materiality and structure of textiles. With her research in the area of clothing and fashion she would like to demonstrate unconscious and concealed habits within our relationship with clothing. In addition to having an application in theory, these investigations form the basis for further material developments in the area of textile design. In previous years, Nadine Göpfert held teaching positions at, for example, the Bauhaus University, Weimar, the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam and the École d’architecture de la ville & des territoires Paris-Est.
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Wilhelm Klotzek
Wilhelm Klotzek was newly appointed as Professor of Sculpture from the beginning of May. From 2005 to 2012, he studied fine arts and sculpture at the weissensee school of art and design berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts. With his sculptures, videos and performances, he deals with everyday cultural and also political-historical phenomena. During the last few years, he has concerned himself more with imaginary practices and events that he borrows from existing circumstances. With an almost childlike enthusiasm, Klotzek runs through scenarios like Berlin’s architectural policy or the German art book market (“The art book market (II) 2022) in exaggerated form and, in so doing, makes the value systems in our society visible. His works have been exhibited in numerous locations, including Memphis, Linz, Belvedere 21 in Vienna, the Art Museum Schloss Derneburg, Schloss Bellevue, the Institute for Art and Context in Berlin, the Library of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and the ifa-gallery in Berlin.
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*foundationClass team
The *foundationClass (*fC) was launched in 2016. It is a study preparation programme at the weissensee school of art and design berlin in which people with experience as refugees or as victims of racism who are interested in studying can develop a strong portfolio for their application to German-speaking universities of art and design and can learn about these areas of study. Since May, a new team has taken on the running of the *fC. Shira Lewis and Pedro Alexander Bravo Lavin are responsible for managing the programme, and Paula Mariana Godinez Garcia for the advice centre. They bring a wide range of experience both in the area of political and empowerment work and as artists and lecturers.The three colleagues want to continue to keep the rooms of the ‘foundationClass open for everyone who is interested to make structural improvements at the weissensee school of art and design berlin to the situation of students and those interested in studying who have experience as refugees or as victims of racism.
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ARTplus
The weißensee school of art and design berlin is the first university in the State of Berlin to participate in the EUCREA program ARTplus - the first comprehensive initiative in Germany for the artistic qualification and training of creative talents with disabilities.The aim of the cooperation is to explore innovative and practice-based ways of making an artistic university permanently more accessible to people with disabilities.
The social education worker and cultural manager Susan Päthke has been responsible for managing the pilot project since January: "Inclusive education needs space and change. Currently we are in contact with the first creative talents who could imagine taking part in specific university programmes from the start of the winter semester. We want to explore these new pathways with them with a view to these offers becoming a permanent feature of the university landscape."
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Fotonachweise: Foto Living Mingeld Forces: Video still by Inyeong Song, from Another Self. Cuteness – Ein neues ästhetisches Paradigma?: Mark Ryden: Yuki the Young Yak (White), 2022; Sculpture: rubber, fur; Image: Courtesy of the artist, Perrotin and Artoyz – Golem. Bis die Würde zur Gewohnheit wird: © Sara Nabil, 8. März 2022, Sitz der Vereinten Nationen, Genf. Fotoausstellung: Auszüge aus der Serie „Anar lebt“ von Tahmina Alizada. Wilhelm Klotzek: "Große Liegende 2", 2022, Foto: Kai Loges/die arge lola, © Wilhelm Klotzek, Klosterfelde Edition.
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