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Newsletter June 2025
Dear readers
In the coming weeks, the direction of many young people’s lives will once again be decided in Weißensee amid hope, anxiety, and tears of joy. 408 students have applied for our master's courses, but only 55 of them will secure a place. However, to be able to take up this opportunity, excellence and talent alone are not enough; luck on the housing market is also crucial. Rents in Berlin continue to rise steadily, and affordable housing is becoming a rarity. As a result, more and more talented students are declining their admission offers.
In addition, we risk losing young talent due to the austerity measures imposed by the Berlin Senate. On 19 May, our president Dr Angelika Richter warned the Science Committee of Berlin’s city parliament: "Berlin risks provincialism in art and science if it loses its international competitiveness." Yet, it is precisely in these times that talented young artists and designers are needed to develop future solutions for pressing societal challenges.
This is also demonstrated in the exhibitions and lectures we present in this newsletter.The winners of the Mart Stam Prize will be displaying their works under the title "Imprints if Time", emphasising how artists and designers interpret time – and how they can even be ahead of it. The exhibition "WEtransFORM. The Future of Building" explores sustainable approaches to construction and living, while the exhibition "Learning to Get Lost" invites visitors to discover new perspectives in everyday life by embracing the act of getting lost.
In this spirit: Feel free to get lost – but please make sure you resurface at our events! After all, visions are meant to be seen.
Yours weissensee school of art and design berlin
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WEtransFORM. THE FUTURE OF BUILDING
The international exhibition project on sustainable architecture and urban development in Europe, "WEtransFORM. The Future of Building", invites visitors from 6 June 2025 to 25 January 2026 to the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn to engage in a lively exploration of the future of our built environment.
Also on display will be the two exhibits "Architectural Yarn / Tangled Wall" and "Structural Textiles / Warped Space", which were developed under the direction of Prof. Christiane Sauer (weissensee school of art and design ) as part of the Excellence Cluster "Matters of Activity". Both projects will also be presented on June 18 at the DAZ- Deutsches Architektur Zentrum in the “Entangled” workshop as part of the "_matter Festival 2025."
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University Art Biennial – Art Week 2025
The "University Art Biennial – Art Week 2025" offers a forum for emerging artists from 2 to 6 June 2025 in Mallorca. It combines art and dialogue and presents curated works by art students from various universities that were selected by renowned professors. The biennial promotes cultural exchange and new perspectives on contemporary art, all of which is set against the backdrop of extraordinary locations on the island.
The weissensee school of art and design berlin is represented with a diverse selection of works. From painting and sculpture to art magazines and various design disciplines, our students present numerous facets of the visual arts and design.
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Imprints of Time
In 2024, seven graduates of the weissensee school of art and design berlin were awarded the Mart Stam Prize. Under the title "Imprints of Time" the winners will present their outstanding end-of-course works in the Galerie Pankow from 14 June to 29 July 2025. The exhibition provides insights into current artistic standpoints as well as visionary solutions in design disciplines. The opening is at 6 pm on Friday, 13 June 2025. The catalogue, which was designed by Hanna Kopetzky, will also be available from 14 June at our partner bookstore Bücherbogen at Savignyplatz.
"We may have little influence on the rapid changes of the present, but as artists, we can interpret and transform time in our own way. And as designers, we can strive to stay ahead of time."
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Learning to Get Lost
What do we notice on the way from A to B? Do we welcome the impressions? Are we open to chance events? What might it mean to suddenly turn off and leave the direct route to B? When we go for a walk, do we only do it to move our bodies, or do we also move our minds?
Painting students from the weißensee school of art and design berlin will be exploring these questions from June 23 to 29, 2025 under the title “Learning to get lost” in the mp43 project space and in dialog with its immediate surroundings. The project is led by Prof. Pia Linz and Petra Trenkel. The opening is on Saturday 28 June from 6 pm.
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Lecture by Prof. Dr Jörg Reiff-Stephan
Prof. Dr Jörg Reiff-Stephan heads the Institute for Cyber-Physical Production Systems at the Technical University Wildau and is an honorary professor of product design at the weissensee school of art and design berlin. At 5 pm on 18 June 2025, he will speak in the auditorium on "Humanity-Centered Production – Automation for Society" as part of the series of lectures "seɘ – seeing differently". The shift from Industry 4.0 to 5.0, which is being accelerated by global crises, emphasises close collaboration between humans and machines and pursues a sustainable, resilient approach that integrates cognitive, ergonomic, and social aspects.
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Lecture by Prof. Dr Mona Jas
As part of the series of lectures "seɘ – seeing differently", Prof. Dr Mona Jas, honorary professor of theory and history, will speak in the auditorium at 5 pm on 25 June 2025 on the topic "What Does Participation Smell Like? Visionary Concepts of Co-Design and Co-Decision in the Art Field and Their Significance for Artists and Designers."
In her lecture, she highlights the importance of inclusive curatorial approaches for artists and designers, using examples from various exhibitions, and refers in greater detail to the exhibition "Century of Childhood: Growing by Design" (Juliet Kinchin, Aidan O'Connor, 2013, Museum of Modern Art, New York).
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New Term as President
Dr Angelika Richter was re-elected by the Academic Senate in December to serve for a further six years. On 27th May 2025, she was officially appointed to start her new term of office as president by the Senator for Higher Education and Research, Dr Ina Czyborra. Angelika Richter: “I am delighted to have been re-elected and would like to express my thanks for the confidence that has been placed in me to serve a further term as president of the weissensee school of art and design berlin. My appointment as president is overshadowed, however, by fundamental cuts in the field of higher education and research. The Senate’s demands at this time for structural downsizing this year and for the following years are an attack on the substance of our university and a threat to its continued existence."
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Rimowa Design Prize
Nick Geipel, a student of product design at the weissensee school of art and design berlin, has been honoured as one of seven finalists for the prestigious Rimowa Design Prize.This manufacturer of suitcases would like to use the prize to promote innovative German design. Geipel impressed the jury with his project "Layers" a highly flexible bench system that adapts public spaces to human needs. His approach is to create seating without fixed boundaries, usable for both sitting and lying down, and also with the aim of providing homeless persons with a place to sleep.
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Dorothea-Konwiaz Foundation Scholarship
Delphine Wigger has been awarded a scholarship by the Dorothea-Konwiaz Foundation. She has been studying painting under Friederike Feldmann at the weissensee school of art and design berlin since 2021. She lives and works in Berlin, focusing on themes such as feminism, sexuality, nostalgia, and youth/childhood in her work. She has already exhibited in Germany, France, Luxembourg, the USA and Iceland, and published her first book of experimental texts in 2023.
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Dorothea-Konwiaz Foundation Scholarship
Viola Del Monte, who was born in Bologna in 1999, is a student at the weissensee school of art and design berlin. She says about her work, "My painting operates at the intersection of personal experience and universal human and societal conditions. By deconstructing bodies and transforming them into amorphous structures, I question notions of individuality and existence. Ultimately, my painting is a reflection on the ambivalence of human relationships –their boundaries and fragility."
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German Academic Scholarship Foundation 2025/2026
Gala Lillian Glotzbach, a painting student, explores in her oil paintings themes that relate to her German-Caribbean identity, the subconscious, and sexuality. Her works depict female figures who are sometimes provocatively exposed and sometimes melancholic and longing – but always in vulnerable moments. At the core of her artistic exploration is the sexist and racist iconography of Black women in art history.
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German Academic Scholarship Foundation 2025/2026
Lilith May Peters, 23, also studies painting at the weissensee school of art and design berlin. In her work she engages with female bodybuilding and the perception of bodies beyond traditional gender roles. She portrays muscular figures of ambiguous gender in an effort to create a new, non-sexualised body image: "I’m tired of museums primarily showing naked, soft women. I want to portray strength that cannot be voyeuristically sexualised."
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