In honor of the university’s 25th anniversary, and as the culmination of two intense semesters, the students of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design will present their artistic and theoretical works, products, sketches, and ideas to the public at the 2017 Annual Exhibition. This year’s event will be held in the university atria from July 13 through 15, 2017, with an official opening by the university’s rector, Prof. Siegfried Zielinski, at 6 p.m. on July 13. A special highlight of the evening will be the closing concert by the ensemble Raum-Musik für Saxophone at 8 p.m.
Admission is free for the duration of the event.
At this event, a high point of the academic year, students from all five departments present the work they have done over the previous two semesters. A deliberate reinvestigation of the boundaries between those departments – Art Research and Media Philosophy, Communication Design, Exhibition Design and Scenography, Media Art, and Product Design – gives expression to the interdisciplinary nature of the Karlsruhe program, with its exceptional academic freedom. This year’s exhibition intentionally integrates elements that evoke the university’s history, providing a look back at the past 25 years. The works on view enter into a spatial and conceptual dialogue that visitors can explore on the building’s first two floors.
The open floor plan that lends the university its unique atmosphere is reinterpreted with temporary walls and platforms, an array of parallel rows with breaks that create openings and visual connections. Designed in the Department of Exhibition Design and Scenography, this architectural framework provides unusual flexibility in the layout of spatial structures. As in the past, it is tailored once again this year to the demands of the works on display.
The opening, scheduled for 6 p.m. on July 13, is also the occasion for the awarding of a number of prizes. From a pool of nominees selected from the works on show, the Society for the Development of Art and Media will choose – as it does every year – several winners to receive scholarships, both from the society itself and from BBBank Karlsruhe, the Schroff Foundation, and the Heinrich-Hertz-Gesellschaft. Also to be announced are the recipients of the Book Project Grant, sponsored by the university in partnership with Spector Books, as well as the winners of the Karlsruher Hochschulpreis and the Bundespreis für Kunststudierende. Following opening remarks by the rector, Prof. Siegfried Zielinski, music for the evening will be provided by Darsha Hewitt, visiting professor of Media Art and Sound, and the ensemble Raum-Musik für Saxophone.
In addition to an exciting program of accompanying events (which will be available online), a panel discussion with Karlsruhe alumni Christoph Keller, Bettina Funcke, Margarete Vöhringer, and Dorcas Müller will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 14. Dr. Barbara Kuon will speak with the former students about their time at the university, their careers, and their current activities and projects.
