Alexandra Leykauf (1976, Germany) began her studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Nürnberg and continued her education in Amsterdam, in both the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (Audiovisual and Photography) and at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten. Her work, she says: “is driven by the wish to transcend the surface of the image. Be it the photographic image, the film image, the image created on a theater-stage or the formal layout of a baroque garden, I am trying to find and give a point of view towards the contradictory truths of the image.” She often uses found photographs as a bridge, from what she assumes to be part of collective memory to her individual approach and matter of concern; contrasting contextual identification and certainty with that moment when orientation is lost. But is there a possibility of an external position? We are very happy to have her with us this year and look forward to join in in her questions on the relations of staging, audience, the visible and invisible and her survey of the “beyond”.
Even though Nina Tabassomi just recently started her new job as curator at - not only because of DOCUMENTA – internationally reknown Fridericianum in Kassel she will to our great pleasure manage to be with us to give an art-tour at this year’s ACSA. Nina studied theater studies, literature, French philology and philosophy in Berlin, Potsdam and Paris. She was an editor and writer for Berlin based cultural online magazine kulturberlin.de for six years (2000-2006) and worked in the theatre sector. She has contributed to several publications. As curatorial assistant she co-organized the large-scale exhibition “based in Berlin” in 2011. Afterwards she was project manager at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin for two years. She has a wide-spread knowledge of the Berlin art institutions she will be happy to share with us.
Week 1 / Lecture (engl.) – Marcus Steinweg
„As much as art is a practice, it remains a practice that reflects upon itself“ says Marcus Steinweg. We are very pleased to have him with us for a lecture on art and philosophy. Marcus is renowned for his collaborations with artists, including Thomas Hirschhorn and Rosemarie Trockel. He has written extensively on philosophy and literary themes and creates analytical diagrams, which formalize his philosophical ideas and strive for utmost clarity. Marcus is teaching at UdK Berlin. For your daily brain boost you better follow him on Facebook! But now look forward to a great evening with him; lucky us he will be unarmed!