Farewell of the graduates of the (digital) summer semester 2020

On Saturday, 18 July 2020, the Bachelor and Master graduates were given a ceremonial farewell in the park by Vice Rector Maren Schmohl, Dean Peter Ott and Christopher Woods, representatives of the AStA.

In her speech to the graduates, the Vice Rector summarized the paradoxical experience of the summer semester 2020:

The house was empty, yet the enormous energy with which the students and teachers met the challenges was apparent. In addition to their high level of creative, conceptual and scientific skills, the graduates also showed nerves of steel with their successful completion of their studies, which will also benefit them in the future.

The variety and versatility of the projects was also evident in the exhibition at the end of the semester, which normally attracts many interested people and this time for the first time was held almost exclusively online.

The bachelor’s and master’s projects will be presented in the Network Sculpture “Add Room”, specially conceived by the web artist Olia Lialina and the student Tim Schmitt. The installation “Add Room” functions as a virtual exhibition system and is at the same time a powerful commentary on the experiences of the summer semester: Each exhibit “sits” opposite another video chat tool. The works present themselves in Zoom, Teams, Whereby or Jitsy – as we all have been doing for months. The works are separated from each other by eight cameras and four platforms; they communicate with themselves via the Internet, but, via transmission to the big screen, together with the viewers via stream. The viewers can also log into the platforms and communicate with each other.

The graduates focused on current topics such as gender, fake news and communication in WhatsApp and Co. as well as questions about the arbitrary reproduction of images and the relationship between original, copy and fake in art. They created VR installations, comics, books, posters and music clips, which in turn were all represented in the Network Sculpture.

Lone warriors in front of the webcam create a kind of fictional community, which is playful and sober, melancholic and euphoric at the same time. The installation shows a form of community that is completely new for most of us. The last few months have shown us the limits and opportunities of a new reality that we are just beginning to explore, summarizes Vice Rector Maren Schmohl.

In addition to this special presentation of the graduation projects, there was also a comprehensive digital exhibition of current projects from the study areas of cross-media publishing, film and video, new media and visual communication, which were created during this challenging time.

There is an incredible wealth of things to discover, and my thanks go to all the students who, from the very first day of the summer semester, have achieved impressive things with great commitment and the absolute will to art and design, said Dean Peter Ott in recognition of the students’ achievements.