Baek, Chatah, Nam, Müller & Park
Place and Perception - A Site-Specific Seminar
Workshop initiated and led by students, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
OPEN FOR EVERYONE!
Saturday, 17.08.2024, 2-7 PM // Sunday, 18.08.2024, 1-6 PM // Saturday/Sunday, 24./25.08.2024, 1-6 PM // Hardenbergstr. 33, Room 110

Registration: s.baek_ @udk-berlin.de

Places not only represent physical concepts but are also embedded in social, political, and economic contexts. The significance and function of a place can change completely based on immaterial properties, especially when a new artistic meaning is attributed to that place.
The aim of the seminar is to develop a deeper understanding of the physical and philosophical significance of a location with the involvement of relevant artists and curators. By examining different models of site-specific art, we seek to cultivate comprehensive knowledge of the relationship between art and place. Together, we aim to explore the diversity of locations, non-places and public spaces in Berlin and strengthen our conceptual skills for realizing new art projects.
The block seminar spans over two weekends and takes place alongside an exhibition in public space. There will be the opportunity for developing and presenting performances and interactive workshops within the exhibition. With invited historians and curators, we will delve into the geographical characteristics, historical context, and artistic dynamics of the location.

< SEMINAR PLAN >

1.  FIRST DAY - August 17th, 2-7pm
Meeting Point: Gallery Ebensperger by Fichtbunker, Fichtestraße 6, 10967 Berlin

2:00 PM: Students will meet Patrick Ebensperger, the director of Gallery Ebensperger, located inside the Fichtbunker. He will discuss the history of the Fichtbunker and the site-specific exhibition currently on display at the gallery, followed by a Q&A session with the students.
4:00 PM: Return to Universität der Künste, Hardenbergstraße 33, Room 110. We will have an open discussion on the history, types, and examples of site-specific art.
6:00-7:00 PM: Online meeting with guest Daniel Merritt. Daniel is the Curatorial Director at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, USA. He will share the history of the Aspen Art Museum, built in a repurposed hydroelectric power plant, and introduce site-specific exhibitions held there, followed by an open discussion with students. https://www.aspenartmuseum.org/

2.  SECOND DAY - August 18th, 1:00 PM
Meeting Point: Universität der Künste, Hardenbergstraße 33, Room 110

Guest Invitations
1) Valentina Buzzi: Valentina Buzzi (b.1995) is an italian curator, writer, and advisor in contemporary art, living and working between South Korea and Italy. She often curates exhibitions that foster cultural dialogue  between Italy and Korea, collaborating with with Embassies and Cultural Institutes. Recent notable exhibitions include Italy at Frieze (2024), Lee Bae – La Maison de La Lune Brulee (2024), collateral event of the 60th Venice Biennale, and the Italian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale (2023 - 2024). Valentina has written essays and catalogues for institutions, art galleries, fairs, and biennales. She regularly writes for Plus Magazine, Art Asia Pacific, Eazel Art, among others. She is also a Ph.D. researcher in cultural studies at HUFS Seoul. https://www.leebaestudio.com/

2) Ivana Bašić: Ivana Basic was born and raised in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and lives in New York City. Her recent exhibitions include Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2024); Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2023); National Gallery, Prague (2021); Museum of Art+Design, Miami (2020); Het HEM, Amsterdam (2020); Contemporary Art Museum Estonia, Talinn (2019); Kumu Art Museum, Talinn (2019); NRW Forum, Düsseldorf (2019); Athens Biennial (2018); Belgrade Biennial (2018); Künstlerhaus, Graz (2018); MO.CO Panacée, Montpellier (2018); Hessel Museum of Art (2017); Kunstverein Freiburg (2017); and the Whitney Museum of American Art (2016). Bašić's work is in the collection of the Whitney Museum. https://www.ivanabasic.com/

3.  THIRD DAY - August 24th, 1:00 PM
Meeting Point: St. Nicholas and St. Mary Cemetery, Prenzlauer Allee 1, 10405 Berlin

Visit the Diagonale5 exhibition, in which the seminar tutors are participating artists. This exhibition is held at the decommissioned cemetery grounds at Torstrasse / Ecke Prenzlauer Allee. It features group works by approximately 20 artists, including five outdoor performances and flat, media, and installation works displayed in the Verwalterhaus. We will discuss the cemetery's history with the curator and hold an artist talk.

Diagonale 5
This exhibition includes two live performances and additional displays in the cemetery, followed by a discussion with the curator and director on the cemetery's history and the concept of site-specific exhibitions. http://verwalterhaus.kulturkapellen.de/

4.  LAST DAY - August 25th, 1:00 PM
Meeting Point: Universität der Künste, Hardenbergstraße 33, Room 110

Meeting with the management team of Urbanepraxis to discuss their sponsored public art projects, their impact, and outcomes. We will explore the relationship between place, community, and art. Later, we
will visit the Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (ZK/U) to discuss with experts the social and cultural projects addressing urban and social challenges that they have curated.

Supervision and moderation: Seunghoon Baek, Anissah Chatha, Shinoh Nam, Lasse Müller, Kihuun Park
Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credits: regular participation and active involvement in planning and execution.
 

Seunghoon Baek is a student in the 9th semester at the Department of Fine Arts at the UDK. And  in 2022, he completed his diploma studies in Media Art at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle/Saale. He has recently participated in several site-specific art projects in Germany. He defines a place based on Bourdieu's argument that spatial structures not only represent the world of a group but also represent the group itself. Furthermore, he considers the place and its surroundings as objects with historical, cultural, and political contexts and integrates these objects as materials into his artworks.

Anissah Chatha is a visual artist and poet. Her work includes writing, performance, sound and video work. She examines spaces of discrepancy in which the feeling of in-betweeness and the struggle for belonging manifest themselves. Always operating at the intersection of different cultural contexts, her works examine themes related to memory, loss, uprooting and regeneration. In performances she integrates ritual actions that have a strong symbolic-spiritual dimension. By combining body and symbolism, she gives her artistic expression a physical presence that fathoms the potential of authenticity.

Lasse Müller's installation works can be described as three dimensional "image-objects". They utilise the imaging processes of photography and computer-generated processes in order to arrive at a question of materiality and content, which emerges from the (painterly perspective of) observing a surface (texture). For the most part, taken from the urban environment or of entirely digital origin, the objects point to a specific past moment, which is reflected through traces like colouring of the former surroundings on the object and its representative reproduction in the exhibition space.

Shinoh Nam was born in South Korea and lives and works in Berlin. He received a Meisterschüler Diploma from Monica Bonvicini at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (2022) and previously studied Fine Art and Architecture at the Kunstakademie. Nam explores ruins and their depths already inherent in the things that desire has achieved in a structure that seems solid. Through this process, the meaning of the norm is dismantled, and the subject can resist it and question the Absurdities and Dogmas that exist in society. In particular, Nam uses the relationship between intuitive forms and fragments to induce the viewers to subjectively contemplate the architecture or structures of inner selves closely linked to the individual’s cognitive process and self-understanding.

Kihuun Park creates art that explores language and communication through a fusion of text, video, and performance. Grounded in thorough historical research, his work aims to expose the impacts of colonialism and dismantle prevailing power structures. Park is deeply committed to archival research as part of his artistic practice. His works have been showcased at various venues, such as the Monheim Triennale in Monheim, Germany, the New Media Award at the 22nd Seoul International ALT Cinema & Media Festival in Seoul, Korea, the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, Germany, Deutschlandfunk in Cologne, Germany, and the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf, Germany. Park is a graduate of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, holding a diploma in his field.