4th Wannsee Workshop, November 21-26, 2016:
The annual wannseeWERKSTATT offers art-loving 9th-grade students a welcome opportunity to engage intensively with an artistic medium away from the everyday school routine and, in doing so, to get to know art, themselves, and others better. In addition to the Bettina-von-Arnim-School from the Märkisches Viertel district, who has been a regular visitor to the wannseeFORUM for many years, was also present this year for the first time. Kurt Schwitters School involved from Prenzlauer Berg.
Starting from the fact that the word "lonely" is contained within "together," this year's artistic exploration focused on questions about forms of human togetherness or solitude. In five parallel workshops, participants developed their own unique interpretations of the seminar theme "Together-Alone," addressing questions such as: What does togetherness actually mean, and how do we recognize it? How can we live well together? What is the state of social interaction and interpersonal connection in a time when everyone seems to be constantly digitally connected and communicating? What forms can loneliness take? Is there still a space for solitude, and (why) do we even need it?
This year, participants worked in the following workshops: Experimental Film (led by Katja Pratschke), Painting & Drawing (Felix Pestemer), Comics (Tobias Deicke), Circus Theatre & Acrobatics (Angelika Jost), and Sculpture (Ev Pommer). The results of the workshop work were presented publicly at the wannseeFORUM on the penultimate day of the seminar. A gratifying number of guests attended the presentation; around 60 relatives and friends, as well as colleagues from the participating schools, made their way to Wannsee, including Mr. Heitmann, the headmaster of the Bettina-von-Arnim-School. A team of four students moderated and guided the audience through the event. The generally high quality and great diversity of the presented artworks, performances, and films demonstrated that the students had worked on their artistic projects with great seriousness and dedication throughout the seminar. The spectrum of artistic approaches chosen for the theme ranged from thoughtful and contemplative approaches (e.g., in the presentation by the group Circus Theatre & Acrobatics, as well as in some of the resulting comics, paintings, and sculptures) to humorous approaches and surreal-bizarre forms of representation (e.g., in the film). „We and the tree“).
The seminar program was complemented by an evening program organized by the participants themselves. The meaning of togetherness was explored not only in the workshops, but also around the campfire in the evenings or during karaoke sessions in the bar. The two school groups bonded closely over the course of the week, and both schools have already registered for the next Wannsee Workshop in November 2017. We're looking forward to it!
Photo impressions from the seminar:
The short films created in the experimental film workshop:
The seminars were funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family.
