11th artFORUM of the Bettina-von-Arnim-School at the wannseeFORUM, February 7-12, 2016 – a review:
"At the hardware store" – "In the woods" – "On the New York subway" – "As a child at the Christmas market" – "Just now looking for the wannseeFORUM"... The question posed at the beginning of the seminar, "When and where have you ever gotten lost?", elicited as many different answers as there were people in the room – feeling "lost" happens to us more often than we'd like to admit. The jungle in which we get lost isn't just a tropical rainforest, but also a metaphor – a symbol for what makes us lose our bearings, yet also what draws us in.
"Lost in the Jungle": that was the theme of this year's art FORUM. For five and a half days at the beginning of February, 45 art-loving upper-level students from the Bettina-von-Arnim-School were guests at the wannseeFORUM. In five parallel artistic workshops, the participants plunged into the wild undergrowth of the real or symbolic jungle with enthusiasm and a spirit of discovery. Whether painting (workshop leader: Felix Pestemer), experimental filmmaking (Michaela Kniep), pinhole camera construction and photography (Falk Weiß), mixed-media drawing (Lisa Gratzke), or sculpture (Daniela Schönemann): they sought ways to translate the jungle's unique colors, forms, and imagery, as well as the experience of disorientation and being lost, into original artistic projects. The seminar also addressed the historical and political dimension of the topic, taking a critical look at the jungle as a target of colonial expansion and as a supposedly “exotic” projection surface of the Global North.
For the well-attended closing exhibition, the wannseeFORUM was transformed into an art space, utilizing unusual locations: the Theatersaal became an art gallery, restroom walls were turned into projection surfaces, and a unique spatial installation was on display in a basement room in the Atrium . Those who missed the presentation of these impressive and diverse artworks will have another opportunity this summer: as part of the Bettina-von-Arnim-School's "More-than-Arts Festival," which will take place from July 4th to 8th, 2016, at various locations in the Märkisches Viertel district and is also dedicated to the theme "Lost in the Jungle," some of the works created at the kunstFORUM will be presented to the public again. Visitors are warmly welcome!
Seminar impressions on Flickr:
You are currently viewing placeholder content from the standard version. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that this will involve sharing data with third parties.
The seminar was funded by the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Science and supported by the Youth Art School ATRIUM in the Märkisches Viertel district.
We thank the company Dämmstatt for their generous donation of materials.
