Engl. Newsletter - weißensee kunsthochschule berlin

Dear readers

Can you still remember your first day as a student or trainee? The start of a new stage in life probably becomes so deeply embedded in our memory because this is the time when alliances are formed, networks created and friendships for life are made. Today in Weißensee, 187 students from 35 nations have embarked on their course of study. We warmly welcome them into our international community and hope that, through working with like-minded people, they will be able to develop their creativity, hone their ability to think critically and find and build on their own individual style.

These are challenging times for artists and creative people. The Berlin Senate is planning to cut the budget for culture by ten per cent. Moreover, in 2025 a total of only around half of the current level of resources will be made available to the six federal culture funds. And now the federal states have presented a draft broadcasting agreement that, in merging or axing many well-known television and radio channels, poses a serious threat to the rich variety of independent media. If this agreement is enacted, it will mean that culture will be even less visible to the general public and that an important pillar of democracy will be shaken to its foundations.

But the future is open. So it is all the more important that we educate strong, critical artists and designers who can shape societal discourse with their visions. We are particularly pleased that in future we will have two new prominent personalities by our side. The member of the Federal Parliament and former governing mayor of Berlin Michael Müller and Dr Stephan M. Brandt, member of the board of directors at the Berlin Investment Bank, will advise the weissensee school of art and design berlin as new members of the university council. Prof. Dr Joseph Imorde has been re-elected for a further term of office as vice president. We would like to offer them all our warmest congratulations. And we wish everyone a successful and exciting new academic year.

Your weissensee school of art and design berlin

We would like to introduce you to:

Michael Müller

Michael Müller succeeds Werner Kehren as a new member of the university council. Mr Müller was the governing mayor of Berlin from December 2014 to December 2021. Between 2014 and 2016 he was also the senator for culture. Following his re-election as governing mayor in 2016, he took on the role of senator for science and research as well until 2021. In addition, he was president of the Federal Council of Germany from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018. Since the federal election in 2021, Mr Müller has been a member of the Federal Parliament. Michael Müller: “The weissensee school of art and design berlin is an outstanding educational institution which fosters and influences artistic talent. I am delighted to be able to actively support the university in its further development in my capacity as a member of the university council and to strengthen the dialogue between art, science and society.”

Stephan M. Brandt

Dr Stephan M. Brandt succeeds Prof. Dr. Peter Raue as a new member of the university council. Since 2014 he has been in charge of the areas of finance and controlling at the Investment Bank Berlin and has been a member of the board of management there since 2024. The Investment Bank Berlin is committed to achieving better living conditions in Berlin and every year it supports two outstanding students with Deutschlandstipendium scholarships. Dr Stephan M. Brandt: “I am delighted to be able to support the weissensee school of art and design as a member of the university council. With my several years of experience in the financial sector I would like to strengthen this aspect of the university’s activities. The combination of creative ideas and business know-how opens up fantastic opportunities to explore together new and innovative pathways."

Prizes and scholarships

DAAD prize

Maïa Kleinknecht, Master's student of Visual Communication, receives the DAAD prize for outstanding academic achievements and social commitment.

For her bachelor’s thesis, Maia Kleinknecht created a book in water colours about Ceija Stojka, an Austrian Roma artist and concentration camp survivor who processed her childhood experiences through painting and poetry. Following her bachelor’s degree, Maia continued her research into Ceija Sojka in Vienna. The children’s book that emerged from this research was presented in the Museum Ebensee in July 2024 as part of the exhibition “Ceija Stojka – Hope: that is what gave us strength”. Currently, Maia Kleinknecht is working on the topic of colour for her master’s project. She is planning to create an open space for painting for both children and adults. Her social engagement is a key aspect of her artistic work.

Deutschlandstipendien

Today, the following students received their Deutschlandstipendium certificates: Laura Mercedes Arndt and Eileen Helm (Painting); Matteo Bissinger and Inyeong Song (Textile and Material Design); Jasmina El Bouamraoui and Lore Elstermann (Visual Communication); Janine Fingerle and Maike Panz (Product Design); Aglaia Gronas and Mahmoud Ismail (Sculpture); Hannah Rath (Art Therapy); Hannah Sammann (Stage and Costume Design); Nathalia Teixeira Favaro (Spatial Strategies) and Phila Weber (Fashion-Design). Half of the monthly sum of EUR 300 is made available by the federal government whilst the other half is paid by the mart stam foundation for art + design. In addition to subject-specific success in the relevant art and design courses, other criteria for selecting the successful candidates were social engagement and willingness to take on responsibility. Personal, family or social circumstances were also taken into consideration.

Publication

ART+

In January 2023, the Eucrea-ARTplus programme was successfully launched at the weissensee school of art and design berlin. We are very pleased that this programme is consistently growing in popularity and attracting ever greater interest. It gives people with disabilities the opportunity to participate in courses and seminars, to prepare for the admission examination and to make use of a special advisory service – even when it is a matter of finding alternative education and training opportunities in the field of art and design. A new publication by Eucrea about inclusion at art and design universities looks at the last three years of the nationwide programme ARTplus. In this publication, our project leader Susan Päthke reports about the success that has been achieved and provides an outlook on the further development of the programme at the weissensee school of art and design berlin.

PDF for download

Exhibitions und Projects

Photo books at MISS READ

Under the direction of the photographer Andreas Rost and the photo book academic Dr Mareike Stoll, impressive photo books were created during the last two semesters at the weissensee school of art and design berlin. The students are now presenting them at the Berlin art book trade fair MISS READ from 11 to 23 October 2024. The books have a variety of focal points; many of them touch on the question of identity and how it can be expressed artistically, and of belonging to a so-called minority in today’s society. The course participants used the bookbinding and print workshops at the university. They also experimented with print techniques and, at times, expanded the boundaries of what we understand a “book” to be.

„Dare to Design"

The exhibition “Dare to Design” (until 5 January 2025) in the Museum Applied Art [Museum Angewandte Kunst] in Frankfurt am Main brings together the most interesting assignments by graduates of German universities as selected by an expert jury from more than 220 submissions. The exhibition includes work from eight graduates of our university: Charlotte von Ravenstein, Ilija Majcen, Marc Roman Page, Lotte Schlör, Johannes Schmidtner, Birke Weber, Michelle Müller and Moritz Walter. The works on display show promising approaches to meeting the major challenges of our time, like climate change, political radicalisation and equal opportunities. The concepts are complex, and sometimes simple but all the more intelligent.

Dutch Design Week

The weissensee school of art and design berlin is represented at the Dutch Design Week this year in the group exhibition “The Magic Touch: Designing Togetherness” with the following four end-of-course assignments: “Ceramic Interfaces” by Charlotte von Ravenstein, “Pass the Bone” by Ella Einhell, “Mono Wool” by Michelle Müller and “The corner of the three hexagons” by Xingwen Pan. The exhibition, which can be seen from 19 to 27 October 2024, brings together projects by German design graduates concerning the topic of touch, inclusion and collaboration. Moreover, the visitor is not confined to viewing the exhibits through the medium of sight: the designs can be experienced haptically, tonally and even via the sense of taste.

FORM IT

How can students actively contribute to shaping their course of study? With the project “FORM IT – Experimental Formats in Art and Design”, the weissensee school of art and design is treading a new path by trying to integrate the views of students into its teaching and by developing corresponding participation formats in order to achieve this. Students on all courses are invited to take part in a varied workshop programme in the winter semester. The programme will enable participants to explore new learning spaces, to discover and develop their own strengths and to gain a clearer understanding of themselves professionally. FORM IT also provides an opportunity for students to realise their own projects and to be involved in a festival in spring 2025 at which the results of these projects will be presented. The project is supported by a Freiraum (latitude, free space) grant from the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education.

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Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin

Referat für Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Veronika Breuning
Bühringstraße 20
13086 Berlin
Deutschland

03047705222
presse@kh-berlin.de

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