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Sommerakademie

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  • Patricia Olynyk and students reflected on the mirrored floor at a Venice Biennale collateral exhibition, 2015.
    Patricia Olynyk and students reflected on the mirrored floor at a Venice Biennale collateral exhibition, 2015.
  • MFA student Christopher Campbell at the Jewish Museum Berlin, 2015.
    MFA student Christopher Campbell at the Jewish Museum Berlin, 2015.
  • Katharina Grosse's exhibition at Johann König Gallery. Sommerakademie 2015. Photo by Patricia Olynyk.
    Katharina Grosse's exhibition at Johann König Gallery. Sommerakademie 2015. Photo by Patricia Olynyk.
  • He Xiangyu’s leather tank, part of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art's Fire and Forget exhibition, 2015.
    He Xiangyu’s leather tank, part of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art's Fire and Forget exhibition, 2015.
  • Visit to the Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman. Sommerakademie 2015. Photo by Patricia Olynyk.
    Visit to the Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman. Sommerakademie 2015. Photo by Patricia Olynyk.
  • Visit to the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum. Sommerakademie 2015. Photo by Patricia Olynyk.
    Visit to the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum. Sommerakademie 2015. Photo by Patricia Olynyk.

View photos from Sommerakademie 2017>>

The Sommerakademie explores multiple modes of creative and cultural production in relation to the material, social, and political conditions of Berlin, Germany. In this seminar-based course, which begins on-campus in the spring semester and extends into the summer for travel abroad, students gain an understanding of how artists address history, communities, and social contexts in relation to the conceptual and practical dimensions of their work.

As they investigate how artists and cultural producers engage public space, students examine modes of production that may involve collaboration and situational engagement. Berlin's contemporary architectural sites—which are witness to the city's traumatic past during the Third Reich and Cold War division, as well as its global presence—provide an opportunity to consider spatial, temporal, social, and political aspects of context-driven work.

The study abroad program includes discussions with artists, architects, historians, art dealers, and gallerists in various districts. Past visits have included:

Galleries
Klemm's, Galerie Neu, Klosterfelde Galerie, Peres Projects, Neugerriemschneider Galerie, Galerie Eigen + Art, Capitain Petzel, Soy Capitán, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Galerie Crone, Peres Projects, Galerie Olaf Stüber, and Croy Nielsen.

Artist Studios, Critics, & Projects Sites
Olafur Eliasson, Katharina Grosse, Omer Fast, Candice Breitz, Daniela Comani, Claudia Schmacke, Sven Johne, Renata Stih + Frieder Schnock, Karin Sander, Thomas Locher, Nils Plath, Michael Heim, and Jan Verwoert.

Museums & Cultural Institutions
The Reichstag, the Jewish Museum (Jüdisches Museum Berlin), the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Stasi Prison, the Boros Collection, the Topography of Terror, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Hamburger Bahnhof, the Kunst-Werde Institute for Contemporary Art, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Autocenter, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Museum fur Naturkunde, and the Venice Biennale.

This course of study is open to Graduate School of Art students and undergraduate-level seniors.