Maryna Makarenko
Masquerade as a Practice of the Self
Block seminar, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Friday, 27.5., 14-18 h, Saturdays/Sundays, 28./29.5. and 4.6./5.6.2022, each 10-15 h, Saturday, 11.6., 10-14 h,
Hardenbergstr. 33, room 101/102 (except 11.6. room 201)

“Masquerade” is an umbrella term for the various exercises offered during the course. The goal of the course is to introduce the idea that personal can become a material for art-making, which by transmuting become masks. The final outcome of the course is to create an “alter ego” and translate it into an own artistic practice. The choice of the media is free and can be of any kind: video, photography, installation, sound, performance, writing etc. We will use our individual biographical facts as material for the research process, that´s why the environment of the course is rather intimate and personal.

The course contains mostly practical research-based exercises and games that are supported by few theoretical recommendations (text and video materials).

Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credits: Students are expected to attend all sessions, produce a final work, presenting it to the group, and taking part in feedback to fellow students.

Maryna Makarenko was born and grew up in Ukraine, lives and works in Berlin. She graduated with BA at the Institute of Journalism in Kyiv, BA in Visual Communication and Diploma and Meisterschüler in Art and Media at the Berlin University of the Arts. She was a guest for the Integrated Media Program at OCAD University in Toronto and for BA in Dance, Context, Choreography at the HZT Berlin. Her works span a variety of formats, from films and video installations to collective performances and workshops, addressing the phenomena of transient states: processes and bodies that deviate beyond normativity. They are presented internationally at the festivals and venues such as Kunstmuseum Ulm, Videonale.17 in Kunstmuseum Bonn, Images Festival Toronto, Transmediale Vorspiel, Goethe-Institut Tel Aviv and Martin-Gropius Bau Berlin, among others.