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Installation and Space class, Joachim Blank

This class is to be seen as an experimental field in the reflected handling of medium, material, form and context in correspondence with content. To handle material, whether it be physically or immaterially, is always to handle knowledge as well: at a time in which almost everything can become artistic material, the story of the material’s use and its connotation must be analyzed. Indisputably, this also includes the context in which art happens. The course is directed at students who want to create a spatial arrangement of varied techniques and materials, and who see this as an extension and transference of traditional sculptural methods to contemporary contexts, the main emphasis being on the analysis of the relationship between image and object, and object and space in different settings.

The term ‘space’ is not only to be understood as an architecturally constructed space but also as a connotated space – as a place with a specific use and significance. What formal means are selected and used to achieve their artistic results is left entirely up to the students and is continually put to the test depending on individual inclination, competence and interest. In addition to the given reflection on contemporary art production, preoccupation with adjacent disciplines such as architecture, design, pop culture, media and theory production is encouraged. The aim of including these border areas is to get to the bottom of questions regarding borders. At what stage does something become art and at what point is this field exited and other areas beyond the visual arts entered? To help develop a personal style and method of working, to strengthen the student’s specific, individual predisposition and to work out a personal communication strategy are the basic aims of personal, one-on-one conversations that are held on a regular basis.

The ‘act’ of publication, originally executed in dialogue with the class, is mostly realized thereafter through the medium of exhibition: from the author’s point of view, publication represents the final step in the completion of an artistic work. It is this that forms the basis for the communication between author and recipient. Questioning this principle plays an important role in how the class sees its artistic practice. In addition to mandatory class meetings, doing exhibition and group projects in cooperation with various partners at home and abroad is just as much a part of the classwork as taking part in thematic excursions, visiting exhibitions together, talking to artists, and collaborating with different curators.