Upheavals: From the GDR to the FRG

The academy’s structures and personnel issues were up for debate, and new spaces for action and opportunity opened up; at the same time, there were significant uncertainties and doubts stemming from new political realities, which soon afterward even called into question the academy’s very right to exist.

Against this backdrop, the hosts of their second discussion evening as part of the exhibition “Designing for Berlin. Design from the Berlin-Weißensee Academy of Art” and in cooperation with Jitsi Bitsi Spider and SprechenÜber from the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin. They would like to hear from former faculty members and students of the khb about how they experienced the years around 1990 and how, from today’s perspective, they describe the impact on their studies, teaching, and artistic practice.

The event will be moderated by Silke Ihden-Rothkirch, co-curator of “Designing for Berlin: Design from the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art.”

Prof. Nanne Meyer (born 1953 in Hamburg), a visual artist, taught in the Department of Visual Communication at the khb from 1994 to 2016.

Prof. Matthias Gubig (born in 1942 in Dresden), a graphic designer, was a lecturer in typography from 1986 to 1992 and a professor in the Department of Commercial Art at the khb from 1992 to 2007.

Prof. Henning Wagenbreth (born 1962 in Eberswalde), graphic designer and comic artist, studied commercial art at the khb from 1982 to 1987.

Joachim Hamster Damm (born in 1965 in Saalfeld), set and costume designer, director, and art educator, studied scenography from 1985 to 1991 and was a master student at the khb from 1991 to 1992.