July 14–16, 2016
Opening: July 14, 6pm
Concert: July 15, 7pm
Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design
Lorenzstraße 15
76135 Karlsruhe
Hours: Friday–Saturday 10am–10pm
With its 2016 Annual Exhibition, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design brings two intense semesters to an impressive close as students confront visitors with forward-looking artistic and theoretical sketches, works, and products. The exhibition formerly known as Sommerloch will be held in the university’s atria from July 14 through 16, 2016, with an official opening by the university’s new rector, Prof. Siegfried Zielinski, at 6pm on July 14. A special highlight will be a concert by FM Einheit, Hans-Joachim Irmler (Faust), and N. U. Unruh (Einstürzende Neubauten) at 7pm on July 15. Admission is free for the duration of the event.
The high point of the academic year, this exhibition gives students from all five departments the opportunity to present their work from the previous two semesters. A deliberate blurring of the boundaries between those departments—Exhibition Design and Scenography, Art Research and Media Philosophy, Communication Design, Product Design, and Media Art—gives expression to the interdisciplinary nature of the Karlsruhe program, with its exceptional academic freedom. The linking and intermingling of the works in space places them in a shared context that visitors can explore, primarily via the atria on the ground floor.
The building’s open floor plan, which lends the university its unique atmosphere, is reinterpreted with temporary walls, an array of parallel rows that uses breaks and openings to create visual connections. Designed in the Department of Exhibition Design and Scenography, these walls provide unusual flexibility for the layout of exhibitions and spatial structures. The exhibition architecture is also tailored to the demands of the works on display: the walls are extended with shelves, showcases, platforms, open frameworks, and pedestals, providing additional surfaces for the presentation of students’ works of art and theory.
The opening
The opening, scheduled for 6pm on July 14, 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 Foundations, 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 winner of the Karlsruher Kulturstipendium. Opening remarks will be presented by the new rector, Prof. Siegfried Zielinski, and musical accompaniment will be provided by the students of Dr. Paul Modler and Interim Professor of Sound Art Jonathan Bepler. The program will also include a reading by KLAK, the university’s literature collective.
Special highlight: the concert
In addition to an exciting program of subsidiary events (which will be available online), a special highlight will be a concert at 7pm on July 15, featuring FM Einheit und N. U. Unruh, percussionist and founding member of the legendary band Einstürzende Neubauten, with Hans-Joachim Irmler of the equally legendary Hamburg-based avant-garde rock group Faust.
Opening and Award Ceremony program:
6pm: Opening remarks by Prof. Siegfried Zielinski
6:15pm: Reading by the Karlsruher-Literatur-Automaten-Kollektiv (KLAK)
6:30pm: Awarding of prizes: BBBank Karlsruhe, Society for the Development of Art and Media, Gunther Schroff Prize
7pm: Double Interchange Roundabout I: Musical presentation by Dr. Paul Modler and students
7:15pm: Awarding of prizes: Book Project Grant with Spector Books, Heinrich-Hertz-Gesellschaft, Karlsruher Kulturstipendium
7:45pm: Double Interchange Roundabout II: Musical presentation by Jonathan Bepler and students
