From Master Studio to Junge Akademie

Anton von Werner, a renowned German historical painter of the Wilhelminian era (Kaiserzeit), who studied at the Königlich Preussische Akademie der Künste, Berlin (Royal Prussian Academy of Arts) from 1860 to 1862, gives the date of this Calendar Page its particular significance. Elected at the young age of 32 as a member of and simultaneously as director of the Hochschule für die bildenden Künste, Berlin (Academy of Fine Arts), which had separated from its parent institution in the course of necessary reforms, he became the first chairman of the master studio for painting at the Akademie der Künste, which he directed until his death in 1915. From then on, this form of support for young talent was continued by particularly dedicated Academy members in the area of painting (Max Sle¬vogt, among others), sculpture (Reinhold Begas and Fritz Klimsch), graphic arts (Käthe Kollwitz, for example), architecture (Hans Poelzig, Peter Behrens and others) and “musical composition” (Max Bruch, Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner and Arnold Schönberg, among others). This is documented by the five surviving registration books, which also list the names of the young talents who received support. So-called “master classes” at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin (East) were taught by members of the Music Section (including Hanns Eisler and Paul Des¬sau) and the Visual Arts Section (Fritz Cremer, Gustav Seitz and Werner Klemke, among others).

Since its founding 325 years ago, the promotion of young international art of all genres has been one of the central tasks of the Akademie der Künste. Fostering transnational and transdisciplinary exchange on fundamental questions of art from diverse perspectives and experiences with a broad spectrum of individual artistic positions was, is and remains of essential significance; this principle is also instrumental in the selection of members, the institution’s exceptional position and its claim to autonomy, which has transcended the eras. This claim is based on artistic freedom as guaranteed by principles of democracy and rule of law and on the intrinsic advisory mandate artistic freedom brings forth time and time again. It manifests itself, beyond the immediate scope of current opinions, in all of the Academy’s activities – in a direct, immediate and substantive manner through art itself, in both internal and public debates about art and in the awarding of numerous (sponsorship) prizes and fellowships.

The Junge Akademie, the international and interdisciplinary fellowship programme of the Akademie der Künste, has been firmly anchored in the statutes since 2007, and has become a fundamental part of the mission of the institution. The foundation for this was laid by Renate Schubert, with her extensive pioneering work over the course of nearly 20 years following the unification of the two Academies in 1993. Subsequently, from 2012, the author was responsible for furthering and developing new forms of heightened visibility for the analogue and digitally published programmes, which were initially implemented as a “trial run”. The “Agora Artes” programme evening featuring the presentation of works in the exhibition halls, parallel project weeks with the involvement of members of all sections and innovative (inter)national partners on larger societal issues (e.g. sustainability, climate change, art and society) and experimental futurology workshops (“Where do we want to live?”) are but a few examples of the densely bundled activities. These activities have helped the Junge Akademie attain broad acceptance on an equal footing with its members. In 2016/17, the Basel Berlin (Exchange) Fellowship and the Werner Düttmann Fellowship (for transdisciplinary art) were added. The reference to the genius loci played an important role in this, because the inspiring architectural language of the Düttmann Academy building – which can be read as a programmatic manifesto asking “Was ist eine Akademie heute?” (“What is an academy nowadays?”) – can be used on an interactive level to constantly provoke new (art) dialogues across boundaries. This was one factor that led to the creation of a variety of impressive works, many of which were innovative joint productions by young artists from a range of different countries, cultures and artistic backgrounds, from both the arts and sciences. This is evident in the excellent co-productions by the fellows in recent years, including Tensegrity (2017) with a performance by Rima Pipoyan (dancer, Romania) and the elastic geometric sculpture made of tubes and rubber by Martina Schlusnus (architect and designer, Germany); Music Boards (2017), a project by and with Martina Schlusnus (see above) and Elena Rykova (synesthetic composer, Russia), which converted music into plastic notations and vice versa (both works by the fellows were performed in 2018 as a guest performance at the University of Salzburg and at the Mozarteum before being gifted to the Art Collection of the Archives of the Akademie der Künste); or the film Vor dem Tanz (2013, originally: Bewegungsfreiheit), a transdisciplinary alumni co-¬pro¬duction by Aleksandra Odić (actress and filmmaker, Bosnia – 2012 fellow) and Mareike Franz (dancer, Germany – 2008 fellow). The film is based on a tour of the Akademie building during her dance performance on European Heritage Day 2013, and was commissioned by the Junge Akademie under the title “Führung mit Hausgeist”, or “Guided Tour with House Ghost”. In the meantime, the new Head of the Junge Akademie, Clara Herrmann, has succeeded in adding the Human Machine Fellowship, which in its public application procedure allows for direct applications – a provision that has thus far been the exception. She is currently working with new partners, at both global and local level, toward transforming and expanding the predominantly analogue formats still used at the Akademie der Künste into digital form, making use of new possibilities for networking, communication and content creation that can be utilised independent of location, including artificial intelligence.

Christian Schneegass
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