The lecture Reclaiming Spaces Along Railway Tracks: Art Cooperation with Deutsche Bahn und Amtrak explores the artistic potential within the railway systems of major urban centers like Berlin and New York, aiming to enrich everyday commuting experiences. It showcases an ongoing art research at Bauhaus University Weimar, which activates and preserves disused interlocking towers along frequently used urban railway tracks to redefine traditional art engagement. Towers around the world are currently rendered obsolete in their function of safeguarding railway travel, remaining vacant due to their proximity to the tracks. By incorporating movement into the artistic encounter, the project encourages commuters to view curated installations during their daily train journeys, inviting them to connect disparate elements and complete the artwork in their own imagination.
Waiting at HBF is an interdisciplinary class offered to Bachelor and Master students of all faculties of Bauhaus University Weimar, during the summer semester of 2023, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn. The class included theory on methods of researching the railway context and creating a collective art work, including guests such as Reza Afisina (ruangrupa), as well as field research and an exhibition. The field research took place at the still functioning interlocking tower and the main train station in Weimar. The collective art work focused on various meanings of waiting, by interviewing train passengers, and it was installed in the tunnel and on the train platforms of the Weimar train station. The opening of the exhibition included a performance.
Railway Stories is an international class on artistic research of the every day train travels, which took place during the summer semester 2022 (postponed from SS 2020 and SS 2021 due to the Corona situation), at Bauhaus University in Weimar. This is a practice class including travel by regional trains through Thuringia and work on an art portfolio inspired by these travels. The class was included in the curriculum of the Bauhaus Summer School, and was open for enrollment for students from MFA programmes, Master programmes of Literature, Architecture, City Planning, Design, City Development, Public Art, Liberal Arts, as well as advanced Bachelor students and young professionals in the above mentioned areas.
Art and Train is an interdisciplinary class designed for and offered at the Bauhaus University Weimar, as a Bauhaus Module, during the summer semester 2022. The class was open for enrollment for students from all faculties, both students pursuing their master programs and advanced bachelor students. In cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, field research trips took place in Weimar, Camburg and Eisenach. Students worked in various mediums, such as photo, video, animation, sound, text, installation or painting, through which they transformed their train journeys into art. Here you can find a video documentation of the class. Additionally, the results were presented at the yearly Bauhaus summaery.
Along the Train Tracks is a class taught to Master students of the MFA Public Art and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus University, during the winter semester 2017/18. Trains synchronized the clocks across the world and eventually achieved a multifaceted coherence of the re-arranged landscape. This workshop sets the focus on the travel space by various practices of looking at it. The students document two train travels, in order to eventually transform their first hand observations into beginnings of own trains of thought. The travels include the journeys by regional trains in Thuringia, waiting for trains, as well as visiting two former industrial spaces of the Deutsche Bahn, which have been out of use for the past few years. The students are introduced to this specific type of building, which offers a different point of viewing over the railway. The workshop literature excerpts demonstrate four different types of conversation relevant to the workshop topics and provide theoretical tools for researching, translating and transforming the travel experiences.
