A collaboration between the Class for Experimental Film and Media Art at UdK Berlin and the Master Choreography at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art.

This interdisciplinary seminar series brings together feminist artistic research with moving image and choreographic practices over the course of two semesters (winter semester 26/27 and summer semester 27)
The starting point is the so-called “Frauenblock” – a housing project built as part of the International Building Exhibition Berlin 1987 (IBA 1987) – as a case study of an emancipatory housing project. Starting from this example, the seminar explores how social power relations become inscribed in spaces and how the perceptions, feelings and everyday movements of bodies can be shaped by the spaces they inhabit.
Drawing on the emancipatory approaches of the Frauenblock, students develop their own artistic questions as well as filmic and choreographic ideas. They investigate how bodies and their movements can be imagined, experienced and made visible beyond patriarchal spatial structures.

The seminar is aimed at students in the Art and Media Department at the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK) as well as students at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts / HZT who are interested in feminist artistic research and interdisciplinary film practice. 

PART 1: Winter Semester 2026/27
In the first semester, the focus lies on the artistic and interdisciplinary exploration of the so-called "Frauenblock" (Women's Block) as well as the development of individual research questions. Starting from bodily experience, observation, archival work and the testing of moving image and sound experiments, students examine the Frauenblock and its associated emancipatory spatial concepts using artistic methods towards developing their own perspectives and research approaches. The results are condensed into a short digital essay film that documents and expands their own research.

The seminar begins with an intensive block week focused on collaborative work and exchange among students from the two universities. Following this first week, the seminar will take place on a bi-weekly rhythm.

Dates:
Block week: 19th–23rd October, 2026
Bi-weekly on Wednesdays, 14:00–17:00: 04.11.2026, 18.11.2026, 02.12.2026, 16.12.2026, 13.01.2026, 27.01.2026, 10.02.2026

Location: Medienhaus UdK, Grunewaldstr. 2–5, 10823 Berlin-Schöneberg & HfS Ernst Busch, Zinnowitzer Str. 11, 10115 Berlin-Mitte

Certificate: Künstlerisch / Gestalterisch

Participants: 12

Language: German / English

Conditions of participation: Attendance of the block week in October 2026 is mandatory and a prerequisite for successful completion of the seminar. Participation in the second semester is only possible upon successful completion of the first semester.

Registration: By e-mail in advance to s.labis@udk-berlin.de

PART 2: Summer Semester 2027
Building on the research from the first semester, students will further develop choreographic approaches and exploration using 16mm analogue film. A workshop will introduce the technical and artistic possibilities of analogue filmmaking. The specific conditions - and limitations - of analogue filmmaking will be utilised as an additional impetus for artistic research to pursue the seminar's core question: How do emancipatory spaces inscribe themselves in body, movement and light?

Dates
Block week: April 2027 (tbd) Bi-weekly on Wednesdays, 14:00–17:00

Kindly supported by equalACT Artistic Research – make it feminist! and the Berlin Equal Opportunity Programme and Film@Busch, funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre.

Literature/ Links:
Löw, Martina. Raumsoziologie. Suhrkamp, 2001.
Krüger, Anna. Emanzipatorisches Wohnen, 2021
https://www.hfs-berlin.de/aktuelles/equalact/ 
https://www.hfs-berlin.de/film-at-busch/
http://f-iba.de/wohnhof-block-2/
https://www.frauenwohnprojekte.de/leitfaden