15 November 2017

The winners of this year's Meisterschüler Award, given by the President of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin), are Lisa Peters, Gary Schlingheider and Rafael Ibarra. On 30 November, they will be showing their works in a joint exhibition in the Haus am Lützowplatz.

Lisa Peters, born in 1989, studied sculpture with Christiane Möbus and, most recently, with Ina Weber, with whom she also did her Meisterschüler studies. In addition to the photographic work “Superwoman”, which was created together with Lisa Drost, Peters is also showing two video installations, for the purpose of which she put friends and strangers in front of the camera. The two works, “how you’re doing” and “Solo”, allow the viewer to gain access to the lives and personalities of the protagonists.

Gary Schlingheider, born in 1983, studied painting with Pia Fries and Gregory Cumins and did his Meisterschüler studies with Christine Streuli. Schlingheider’s sculptural works are like abstract drawings that have left behind their pictorial background in order to achieve a palpable presence as three-dimensional objects in space. Engagement with everyday objects plays a fundamental role in this process. Despite their sculptural nature, the objects also thematise essential issues of painting, such as the treatment of colour, form, structure and framing.

Rafael Ibarra, born in 1986, studied with Ólafur Elíasson and sculpture with Gregor Schneider and Tilman Wendland. He also did his Meisterschüler studies with Wendland. Among other works, Ibarra is showing his ephemeral piece “Ophelia”, which is inspired by childhood memories and Shakespeare plays and which frees itself from the rigid schema of immovable sculpture thanks to the material he has used: sand. Ibarra develops the procedural character in the form of performance, which he will show at the opening of the exhibition.

Since 1997, the Meisterschüler Award of the President of the UdK Berlin has been awarded annually to three outstanding Meisterschüler at the College of Fine Arts. The goal is to create a bridge between the university and the art world. A joint exhibition and one’s own catalogue are included in the prize. Since 2016, the Haus am Lützowplatz has been the institutional partner for this exhibition format.

Opening of the Exhibition: Thursday, 30 November 2017, 7-10 pm
The 2017 prizewinners are: Lisa Peters, Gary Schlingheider, Rafael Ibarra
Speakers:
Prof. Martin Rennert, President of the UdK Berlin
Klaus Uwe Benneter, Member of the Board of Directors of the Haus am Lützowplatz
Dr. Marc Wellmann, Artistic Director, Haus am Lützowplatz

A performance by Rafael Ibarra will take place at the opening.

Haus am Lützowplatz
Lützowplatz 9
10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
Exhibition dates: 1 December 2017 – 7 January 2018
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 11 am – 6 pm

The 2017 jury was composed of:
Prof. Martin Rennert, President of the UdK Berlin
Prof. Ina Weber, UdK Berlin, College of Fine Arts
Dr. Marc Wellmann, Artistic Director, Haus am Lützowplatz
Dr. Julia Wallner, Director, Georg Kolbe Museum
Joanna Kiliszek, Cultural Historian

Download press images 

For more Information:
Karoline Köber
Press / Communications
Berlin University of the Arts
E-mail: karoline.koeber_ @intra.udk-berlin.de
Telephone: 030 3185 1471
www.udk-berlin.de

Dr. Marc Wellmann
Director, Haus am Lützowplatz
E-mail: wellmann_ @hal-berlin.de 
Telephone: 030 261 38 05
www.hal-berlin.de

The Berlin University of the Arts is one of the largest art schools in the world and the only one that unites all the artistic disciplines and the scholarly disciplines related to them. Over 70 programmes in the arts, art history and theory, and art education are offered in the four colleges – the College of Fine Arts, the College of Architecture, Media and Design, the College of Music and the College of Performing Arts – as well as at the University’s continuing education division, the Berlin Career College. Around one-fifth of the approximately 4000 students come from abroad. The history of the UdK Berlin goes back to the founding of the Brandenburg-Prussian Academy of Arts in 1696. Its current form came into being in 1975 by way of a merger between the School of Fine Arts and the School of Music and Performing Arts into the Academy of Arts (HdK). The Berlin University of the Arts has operated under its current name since 2001. Prof. Martin Rennert has been the President of the University since 2006. With over 600 events per year, the UdK makes a leading contribution to the cultural life of the city.