Art Students Return from Inspirational Trip to Berlin

Art & Design Foundation Diploma students have just returned from an exhilarating 5 day trip to Berlin. The activity-packed experience gave students a real insight into how the history and culture of this unique city continues to shape the people who live there and the art and design work they produce.

Two different walking tours of the city set the scene for the visit. The first, which took in key sights such as the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag and the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe illustrated how the Nazi occupation and Communist state ultimately divided both the population and the city. Students began to recognise contemporary Berlin as a city still very much in the process of reconciling its past. The Alternative Tour introduced the group to the 1960’s protest movement and urban renewal, as well as the inspirational graffiti art that adorns many of the walls and buildings across the city. Often politically inspired, it has been produced by both street gangs and internationally renowned artists, who work side by side. This tour also took in a Turkish street market, where the group enjoyed delicious street food.

Gallery and museum visits provided the focus during the second part of the visit. A guided tour of the Bauhaus Archive illustrated how the teachers and students of the Bauhaus movement shaped the design of the twentieth century. The Archive collection contains artefacts, design work and photographs that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. In sharp visual contrast, the Boros Collection, a private collection of fine art owned by an entrepreneurial couple and housed in the bunker the purchased and converted in the 1990’s includes conceptual art produced by leading figures of the contemporary art world. The arresting interior of the bunker provided a perfect backdrop for the artwork and a context for the controversial ideas being explored.

The final day included a visit to the Hamberger Bahnhoff Gallery where further examples of contemporary art could be enjoyed on a much larger scale – the group experienced sound, sculpture and installation work produced by artists competing for the German equivalent of the Turner Prize. The final venue on the itinerary was the C/O Photography gallery which is currently presenting a retrospective of Anton Corbijn’s work, a photographer famous for his portraits of leading figures in the music world. The comprehensive exhibition included candid photographs of groups such as U2 and Nirvana.

On the final afternoon the group enjoyed time out for shopping and visits to places of particular interest to them including the Computerspiele Museum, where they enjoyed playing for hours on computer games from yesteryear.

All of the students found the trip to be an inspiring and valuable experience with Jeniece Gittins, who joined the College from Hilbre High School, commenting, “Berlin was incredibly useful for me learning more about the different kinds of modern art, in particular conceptual and street art, as well as the architecture and history of the city itself.”

Art - Berlin Trip 2015