*foundationClass

The *foundationClass programme is geared towards people who have fled to Germany and/or applied for asylum and who had planned to start studying art or design in their home countries, already started such a degree programme, or who plan to switch into such a degree programme.

The programme provides the foundations for applying at German art and design academies and offers the possibility to create or reconstruct lost portfolios, documents and materials, which will enable the participants to apply for the annual artistic aptitude tests.

The *foundationClass group of 2017 will work together from April 2017 until the end of the year.

The programme is divided into two parts:

The first part of the programme (summer semester, starting in April) is also open to other students studying at weißensee academy of art. It features lectures, workshops and excursions led mainly by professional artists, designers, scholars and activists who themselves or whose families have migrated to Germany.

During the first part students have the possibility to arrive at the school and get to know many other people. We specifically want to create a space, within which the participants can work with the invited teachers to develop their own standpoint regarding art or design education. Together we want to formulate art historie(s), that include the Global South/East, as well as the participants' experiences without using labels such as “refugee” or “migrant”.

Together we want to find answers to the question of how an art school of the future would look like if it genuinely recognised migration as an essential societal factor. Apart from that we're planning a lot of cooperations with other Berlin art institutions, such as the Maxim Gorki Theatre.

In the second half of the programme (winter semester, starting in October) we want to take all that we have learned and prepare applications for German art and design academies. In different workshops (painting, sculpting, digital media, design, drawing etc.) we will support you in creating a powerful portfolio with which you can apply in 2018.

To realise these goals weißensee art academy provides its entire infrastructure, including workshops, materials, as well as support with bureaucratic problems.

The *foundationClass 2017 strives to open up a social space within weißensee academy of art within which knowledge and artistic and design practices are not consumed, but questioned and where new forms of knowledge and practice will be produced collectively.

please check here for more info and detailed program:
www.foundationclass.org