Baek, Chata, Nam, Müller & Park
Place and Perception - A Site-Specific Seminar
Workshop initiated and led by students, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Saturday/Sunday, 13-18 h on 17.8./18.8 and 24.8./25.8.2024, Hardenbergstr. 33, Raum 110

Online Info Session on 18.4.2024 at 20 h: https://meetings.udk-berlin.de/b/flo-pls-o5x-bnq

Registration starts on 15.4.2024, 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.

This seminar, initiated by Baek, Chata, Nam, Müller & Park, will be led by a group of Berlin artist collectives, who will also participate in the site-specific exhibition "Beyond the Horizon" in August.

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.