Places of Artistic Production
Excursion
A recent trip takes SPENI students through the tools, machines, materials, spaces and collective structures that make creative work possible in Berlin. From sculptural workshops such as Skulpturengießerei Knaak, Sculpture Berlin and New Wave Kreativmanufaktur to the artist studios of Julius von Bismarck and Albert Weis, the visits show how artistic production is organized, equipped and sustained.
Discussions at the open-access workshops of the BBK Berlin and at the experimental Floating University address how cuts in cultural funding affect independent structures. Exhibitions at the Berlinische Galerie, König Galerie, Akademie der Künste and Sammlung Boros frame the relationship between artistic production and institutions. A tour through the Bilderkeller of the former GDR art academy adds histories of subversive practice, and a rehearsal of Percection by Anta Recke and Marta Dyachenko complements the visit.
The trip is a starting point for the students: to ask how spaces shape creative processes, how artistic practices transform the places where they unfold, and how they might find their own place within these professional environments.
Image Credits: c Tom Netzker, Arefeh Shokrollahi, Sabrina Noae, Maria Brenneis, SPENI