News Archive

BCB's Director of Studio Arts John von Bergen has recently been contracted by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung) to produce his prize-winning 2017 Kunst am Bau proposal "Wandlung."

The 14 meter-high architecturally integrated concrete relief is planned to be finished in 2021.

More info about the Kunst am Bau competition and von Bergen's proposal>> 

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

The volume Plato and the Moving Image, co-edited by Bard College Berlin faculty member Michael Weinman and Shai Biderman (Tel Aviv University), was recently published by Brill Publishers.

From the book's description:
This book shows how and why debates in the philosophy of film can be advanced through the study of the role of images in Plato’s dialogues, and, conversely, why Plato studies stands to benefit from a consideration of recent debates in the philosophy of film. Contributions range from a reading of Phaedo as a ghost story to thinking about climate change documentaries through Plato’s account of pleonexia. They suggest how philosophical aesthetics can be reoriented by attending anew to Plato’s deployment of images, particularly images that move. They also show how Plato’s deployment of images is integral to his practice as a literary artist.

Weinman also contributed a chapter to the book on "The Myth of Er as Rationalizing Recording Device."

The book is available both in print and in e-book edition and can be found here.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On May 18, 2019 the students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and friends of Bard College Berlin will celebrate the conclusion of the academic year 2018-2019.  

The ceremony will be held at the Ballhaus Pankow, which has been the venue of the past two Commencements. The Ballhaus was built during the Belle Époque (1880) as a recreation & ball structure and is nowadays considered a historical monument. 

The 2019 Commencement speaker will be lawyer, civic leader, and human rights advocate Kimberly Marteau Emerson. From 2013 to 2017 she lived in Berlin with her husband, U.S. Ambassador to Germany John B. Emerson (ret.). Here, she worked both with the Embassy and independently to drive projects on multiple platforms, including the promotion of German immigration and integration efforts related to the 2015-2016 refugee “crisis" and addressing the issue of bringing women to the economic and political decision-making table. She now divides her time between Los Angeles and Berlin. She serves on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, the Advisory Board of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Kimberly holds degrees from UCLA (B.A.), UC Hastings College of the Law (J.D.) and l’Université de Droit d’Aix-Marseille (D.E.S.U.).

The ceremony will feature a musical introduction by BCB students.

Bard College Berlin’s eighth graduating BA cohort consists of 51 students from 29 countries, including Canada, China, Ecuador, France, Georgia, India, Israel, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Turkey, and the USA. 

The faculty and staff congratulate the Class of 2019 for their achievements! 

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

For the third time in a row, Bard College Berlin has been awarded the Welcome grant, which supports the Campus Conversations, a weekly get-together organized by students for students (with and without a background of forced migration), faculty, neighbors, and anyone else who is interested. The purpose is to engage in German conversation and to discuss modes of life and living in Germany.

For the first time, Bard College Berlin additionally received an Integra grant, to organize workshops and seminars that aim to provide students with skills and tools that will help them to enter the public and professional world in Germany. 

The Welcome and Integra grants are two important financial initiatives developed by DAAD (the German Academic Exchange Service) to encourage and support the inclusion of students with a background of forced migration in the German educational landscape.

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin |

On Monday, October 1, faculty member Michael Weinman will make a presentation to the Classical Studies and Mathematics programs at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Drawing on The Parthenon and Liberal Education (published by SUNY Press in March 2018), co-written with Bard College Berlin faculty member Geoff Lehman, the theme of Weinman's talk is: The Pythagorean Harmonics of the Parthenon. In it, he will point to the resonance between the work of Philolaus in number theory, astronomy, and harmonics and central features of the design principles of the Parthenon, in order to show that the Parthenon can be seen as a mediator between the early reception of Ancient Near-Eastern mathematical ideas and their integration into Greek thought as a form of liberal education, as the latter came to be defined by Plato and his followers. 
 

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On September 7, 2018 Professor of Politics Boris Vormann will give a paper entitled “Who pays? Regimes of State-led Urbanization and their Geographical Costs” at the conference “Successful Cities - Crises of Citizenship” taking place at Potsdam University on September 6-8, 2018. 

From the paper’s abstract:
Discussions on cities and citizenship often focus on the level of neighborhoods, local government, and socio-economic relations within cities. As such, questions of exclusion, of diversity and integration, are often posed with view to interpersonal relations between ethnic communities, citizens and municipal state agents. By contrast, a recent literature in urban political economy has emphasized the importance of understanding urbanization as a set of processes that transcend the local scale. This paper seeks to flesh out how questions of citizenship and difference can be informed by an analysis of the political-institutional dimensions of extended urbanization. I use the United States as a context to explore urbanization in such a broader perspective and to point out that historically specific urban regimes are actively shaped by political actors on multiple scales.

Read more about the conference>>

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On April 23-26, 2018 Bard College Berlin representatives Kerry Bystrom (Associate Dean) and Xenia Muth (Civic Engagement Coordinator) participated in the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network 2018 Global Congress in Berlin, jointly convened by Scholars at Risk, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and Freie Universität Berlin.

The 2018 Global Congress brought together 600 scholars and higher education representatives from 72 countries to discuss the topic The University and the Future of Democracy. The participants not only reflected on the current crisis of liberal democratic societies and how this threatens researchers and academics worldwide, but also highlighted the idea that scholarly community as a whole has a role and responsibility to “develop, explain, and defend” democratic values. Keynote addresses were held by Susanne Baer (LLM, Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany), Judith Butler (University of California, Berkeley), and Markus Hilgert (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). 

BCB's Civic Engagement Coordinator Xenia Muth presented in the frame of a panel on welcoming refugee students to German higher education institutions, organized by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The discussants focused on the situation of undergraduate students who had no access to or had to interrupt their studies in their home country, and who, thanks to programs such as those established by the DAAD, were able to enter universities in Germany and to integrate successfully in the new educational environment. Muth explained BCB’s efforts to enable refugee students to enroll in a BA program through its PIESC scholarships, as well as the college’s use of the DAAD Welcome fund in the past two years to open the campus and its resources to the neighborhood and to migrants.  

Associate Dean Kerry Bystrom was part of a panel about student law clinics and advocacy seminars, in which she presented the work of the Critical Human Rights and Humanitarian Advocacy/Scholars at Risk course held at BCB in the Spring semester 2018.

SAR 2018 Global Congress Press Release
Read more about the SAR 2018 Global Congress 

Meta: Type(s): Faculty,General,PIESC,Staff | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Bard College Berlin is delighted to announce it was selected for the second year in a row as one of the ten German universities in the “Eine Uni - ein Buch” program. Funded by the Stifterverband and the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, and organized in cooperation with Die Zeit, “Eine Uni - ein Buch” offers each selected university a 5,000 EUR sponsorship to discuss and debate a book through various events and activities for an entire semester.

The “Eine Uni - ein Buch” application requires universities to designate a book and to conceive ways in which their community will engage with it. Following a campus-wide selection process, BCB’s students, faculty and staff voted on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus (1818), considered a culmination of the gothic novel genre as well as the first modern science fiction novel.

With “Frankenstein - It’s Alive!!!”, the Fall 2018 program developed around this book, BCB aims to integrate the reading of the novel into its curriculum and organize a series of public events with partner institutions in Berlin in five thematic directions: Frankenstein and the Arts; Frankenstein and the Sciences; Frankenstein and Politics; Frankenstein and Society; and Mary Shelley. The program aims not only to call to mind the almost uncanny topicality of Mary Shelley’s novel on its 200th anniversary, but also to demonstrate the relevance of Mary Shelley’s biography and personality for current issues like feminism, gender theory, or family dynamics.

Announcement of the 10 sponsorships on the Stifterverband website

Watch BCB’s application video
 

"Frankenstein - It's Alive!!!" - Fall 2018 Program

Overture to Frankenstein - It's Alive!!!
September 21, 7pm
Bard College Berlin, The Lecture Hall, Platanenstr. 98a, 13156 Berlin
With: Jeffrey Champlin, Matthias Hurst, Roman Steindler (BCB)  

Monsters in Politics
October 5, 7pm
Baynatna - The Arabic Library, Breite Str. 36, 10178 Berlin
With: Jeffrey Champlin, Dina Ramadan (BCB)

Max Ernst, Surrealism and the Monster
October 9, 5pm Slivers of the Exhibition and 6pm Presentation  
Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Schloßstr. 70, 14059 Berlin
With: Geoff Lehman (BCB), Kyllikki Zacharias (Curator Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg)

Criminally Insane? The Difficult Birth of Brain Science
October 25, 7pm  
Ulme 35 (Salon), Ulmenallee 35, 14050 Berlin
With: Michael Weinman (BCB), Rodolfo Garau (University of Venice), Hardy Schmitz (Vorsitzender des Vereins Interkulturanstalten Westend e.V.)

Dead Ladies Show - Mary Shelley / Ada Lovelace / Mary Wollstonecraft
November 27, 8pm
Kunsthaus ACUD, Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin
With: Laura Scuriatti (BCB), Katy Derbyshire (Literary Translator), Florian Duijsens (BCB)  

Soul-Making: Soul-Making. Gayatri Spivak’s “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism” and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
November 28, 7pm
ICI Berlin (Institute for Cultural Inquiry), Christinenstr. 18-19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin
With: S. Pearl Brilmyer (University of Pennsylvania/ICI), Nikita Dhawan (University of Gießen), Catherine Toal (Bard College Berlin), Kathy-Ann Tan (Bard College Berlin)

Nature and the Sublime
December 13, 5pm Encounter with the Collection, 6.15pm Panel discussion
Alte Nationalgalerie, Bodestrasse 1-3, 10178 Berlin
With: Ralph Gleis (Head of the Alte Nationalgalerie), Geoff Lehman, Susanne Märtens (BCB), Hans von Trotha (Author)

Download the program as PDF>>

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On April 3rd 2018, the New School's Public Seminar is holding a discussion of the volume The Parthenon and Liberal Education, co-authored by BCB faculty members Geoff Lehman and Michael Weinman. The event will take place at the New School's venue in the Albert and Vera List Academic Center, New York City. 

The event will feature Michael Weinman, who is also a Contributing Editor at PublicSeminar.org, in conversation with Dmitri Nikulin, Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research and Mirjam Kotwick, Onassis Lecturer in Ancient Greek Thought and Language, New School for Social Research. 

From the volume's description:
The Parthenon and Liberal Education seeks to restore the study of mathematics to its original place of prominence in the liberal arts. To build this case, Geoff Lehman and Michael Weinman turn to Philolaus, a near contemporary of Socrates. The authors demonstrate the influence of his work involving number theory, astronomy, and harmonics on Plato’s Republic and Timaeus, and outline its resonance with the program of study in the early Academy and with the architecture of the Parthenon. Lehman and Weinman argue that the Parthenon can be seen as the foremost embodiment of the practical working through of mathematical knowledge in its time, serving as a mediator between the early reception of Ancient Near-Eastern mathematical ideas and their integration into Greek thought as a form of liberal education, as the latter came to be defined by Plato and his followers. With its Doric architecture characterized by symmetria (commensurability) and harmonia (harmony; joining together), concepts explored contemporaneously by Philolaus, the Parthenon engages dialectical thought in ways that are of enduring relevance for the project of liberal education. 

Read more about the event

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On February 28, 2018 faculty member and Associate Dean Kerry Bystrom will participate in the discussion "Beyond “Willkommenskultur”: Artistic and Academic Approaches to Integration from a Transatlantic Perspective" held at the American Academy in Berlin and organized in cooperation with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

The event will bring together artists and scholars to talk about the contemporary questions and challenges raised by migration, both in Germany and the United States. Ever since the waves of refugee immigration in 2015, Germany has searched for and implemented solutions for the integration of new arrivals into German society; at the same time, the United States - where migration plays a historical role - is debating the political and humanitarian implications of new migration. In their discussion, the panelists will examine platforms for integration in both countries provided by either the arts or the sciences.

Bystrom will participate in a panel examining the catalysts of integration from an academic perspective, moderated by Michael P. Steinberg (President of the American Academy in Berlin). 

Read more and/or register for the event 

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

John von Bergen has been appointed Director of Studio Arts at Bard College Berlin. Since spring 2015, von Bergen has offered various studio arts courses at BCB. In spring 2016 he took on the role of Practicing Arts Coordinator alongside his lecturing. In 2017 he was invited by both Bard Annandale as well as Berlin to discuss his artwork to those communities. Von Bergen's work has been exhibited in various international museums, galleries, and institutions, including Halle 14 (Leipzig), Wilhelm-Hack Museum (Ludwigshafen), Pera Museum (Istanbul), Smack Mellon (New York), and Galeria Pilar (São Paulo). He has received numerous prizes, grants and awards, such as The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant as well as Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie (towards his acquisition for Berlinische Galerie, Berlin). Von Bergen's studio recently submitted a "Kunst am Bau" closed-competition proposal for The German Bundestag – a new building that had formerly been used as a US Consulate to East Germany. His studio is currently in production for a large art commission that was awarded by The City of Berlin – Kopernikus-Oberschule in Steglitz. This project involves several permanent room interventions that integrate three different floors of the school. Scheduled to be completed by its reopening this autumn, von Bergen has chosen Arts and Society students at BCB to assist in this production as interns as well as assistants.

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

From May 11 through 13, Bard College Berlin will participate in the international conference The Impossible Order: Europe, Power, and the Search for a New Migration Regime, initiated by the Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and held at the Visitor Centre of the Berlin Wall Memorial (Bernauer Strasse 119, 13355 Berlin). Europe's last three decades have been fundamentally shaped by migration and the attempts to regulate it. Not only the most recent arrival of refugees but also intra-European labor migration or questions of successful integration and diversity inspire both social change and conflict. Are we today standing at the dawn of a new epoch, in the middle of a continuing process or in front of a gigantic pile of debris? How can we historicize these search movements of the recent past and learn from them for the present? How have decisions and debates changed not only the migration processes but also Europe's identity? At the historic site of the Berlin Wall Memorial, international migration researchers, journalists, historians, artists, activists, and students will discuss this search for a European migration regime, which is also a search for a new Europe. The speakers include Peter Gatrell, Dieter Gosewinkel, Bashshar Haydar, Sabine Hess, Sergey Lagodinsky, Rouba Mhaissen, Orwa Nyrabia, Maxi Obexer, Jochen Oltmer, Joseph Vogl, and others. Coming from very different perspectives they will discuss the contemporary history of the search for a comprehensive migration order in Europe over the last three decades. The dynamic caused by the tension between the political will to establish order and control on the one hand, and creative human action that disrupts such attempts on the other will play a central role in these discussions. The conference is organized by the Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, and supported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the Andrea von Braun Foundation, and Bard College Berlin, in cooperation with the American Academy Berlin, the Centre Marc Bloch, and the Institute for Migration and Intercultural Studies, Osnabrück. An exhibition of works by migrant and refugee students from Bard College Berlin and the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and a theater performance will frame the discussions. View full program here. Admission free. The conference will be held in English and German, with simultaneous translation. Please register until May 4, 2017 with Henrike Voigtlaender at voigtlaender@zzf-potsdam.de Further info (in German)

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

The Professors and University Leadership of Bard College Berlin are happy to announce that the college has achieved institutional accreditation through the Wissenschaftsrat in Germany. Accreditation was awarded on January 20, 2017 and is granted as usual for five years. The decision represents the culmination of a process of integration into the German university landscape that had its official beginning with the granting of state recognition by the Berlin ministry of Education, Science and Research in 2011. In accordance with the criteria for progression toward university status in Germany, the college sought and achieved accreditation for each of its degree programs, with a BA in Humanities accredited in 2013, and in social sciences in 2015. Enumerating the grounds for its positive decision, the Wissenschaftsrat concluded that Bard College Berlin "has successfully managed to establish itself as a liberal arts college that transcends the opposition represented by universities on the one hand and institutes of higher education with an applied focus on the other. It is the only independent college of this type in Germany, and contributes to the diversity of the German university landscape. Especially worthy of emphasis is the comprehensiveness of educational scope at the college, as well as the extensive support services it offers to its mostly international students." Stellungnahme zur Akkreditierung des Bard College Berlin Press release in English and in German

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On Sunday, December 11, Bard College Berlin is hosting a representation of Aristophanes' The Clouds, staged by alumna Maria Khan (BA 2015) and a group of students. In light of Brexit and the recent US elections, what are some of the perils of democracy? Age-old questions regarding free-thinking, defying tradition and thinking out of the box are at the heart of Aristophanes' The Clouds. James Redfield's refreshing and hilarious translation of the play will take us back in time to Socrates' Thinkery where Socrates and his muses "The Clouds" confuse and trick a simple country man. Join us for an evening filled with thought-provoking laughter and fun. Set in modern times, this rendition of the play has borrowed elements from the South-Asian culture and society. About the director: Maria Khan is a first year PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Her research asks how drama education can be used as a medium of integration for the migrant Muslim population in Europe, particularly in Germany. She graduated from Bard College Berlin in May 2015 (BA in Humanities, the Arts and Social Thought) and completed an MPhil in Arts Education at Cambridge in July 2016. Maria has a decade-long experience with staging, directing and acting at various academic and non-academic venues. In 2012, she was part of the Pakistani team that performed The Taming of the Shrew in Urdu at Shakespeare's Globe Theater, as part of the Globe to Globe Festival. Time: Sunday, December 11, at 7 p.m. Venue: Bard College Berlin, The Factory Eichenstrasse 43, Berlin-Pankow (map)

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Today Bard College Berlin, together with 19 other German academic teaching and research institutions, officially established the German chapter of the "Scholars at Risk" network. The meeting took place at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, which will also serve as the German SAR's main office until 2019. Kerry Bystrom, Associate Dean of Bard College Berlin and Professor of Human Rights & English Literature, will be a member of the German SAR's Steering Group. In August, BCB welcomed five Syrian refugee students - four BA students and one Project Year student - on our campus in Berlin Pankow. The scholarships were graciously awarded by private donors who enable these young individuals to be an integral part of a student community of 210 students in total, originating from 54 different nationalities. For more information and the press release.

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Maria Khan, who graduated from Bard in 2015 with a B.A. in Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought, has been awarded the "Cambridge Trust and St.Edmund's Luzio Scholarship." Maria will be I will be doing her PhD in Education, with a focus on drama education for integration purposes of Muslim population in Germany.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On Monday May 9, musician, musicologist and composer Uday Krishnakumar gave a guest lecture in Laura Scuriatti's class "Modernism, Cosmopolitanism and the Aesthetics of Internationalism" on Inventing Rites: Stravinsky's Svadebka and Varèse's Ecuatorial. Stravinsky's Svadebka (The Wedding, 1914-23) and Varèse's Ecuatorial (1932-4) occupy a special position both within their composers' production and within general musical practice. Varèse and Stravinsky, cut off or estranged from their native musical traditions, attempted to substitute new origins for their music by drawing on distant, fragmentary ethnological and mythological sources, which led to some extraordinary solutions to questions of narrative, performance practice, time and vocality. The unstable definition of the work itself, existing in an imagined tradition, meant that both pieces underwent protracted and volatile gestations. This variability has led to a fascinating performance history- notably, these are among the first attempts in integrating mechanical and electrical instruments with live performers. Uday Krishnakumar (b. 1979 in Chennai) is a composer of works of chamber music and music theater. He works with ensembles like Trio Amos, Ensemble Inc, ensemble surplus, Lux and yarn/wire and with festivals and commissioners such as Wien Modern, Bregenzer Festpiele, exploring the world, or the Ernst von Siemens Stiftung. He studied with Chaya Czernowin, Philippe Manoury and Brice Pauset at the Universities of California, Berkeley and San Diego, Paris, and finally at the University of Performing Arts in Vienna where he took a Postgraduate Diploma in Composition. This year has premieres of an opera scene and a series of solo pieces for clavichord. He lives in Berlin.

Meta: Type(s): Guest Speaker | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On Wednesday April 13 at 7 pm, Dutch artist Guido van de Werve will hold an artist talk at Bard College Berlin in the Lecture Hall. Guido van de Werve was born in the Netherlands and joined the famous Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam after having studied music, industrial design, classical archeology and Russian. Van der Werve started as a performance artist and through registering the performances, became interested in film and cinematography. Gradually he also started to add music (his own), text, atmospheric scenes and sports. These elements have become an integral part of the work. His first film "Nummer twee, just because I'm standing here doesn't mean I want to" was made in 2003 and set the standard for future work. Guido van de Werve's music as well as his work have been performed and shown at exhibition spaces, museums and concert rooms around the world. In 2010 the artist initiated the annual Running to Rachmaninoff Run, a 55 km run, which he will execute every year until he is physically unable to do so. For his work "Nummer veertien Home," he completed a 1000 mile triathlon. Needless to say that he is an avid runner and triathlete. For more complete information, please visit Guido van de Werve's website. Time: Wednesday, April 13 at 7.00 p.m. Venue: Bard College Berlin - Lecture Hall Platanenstrasse 98a, 13156 Berlin Admission is free and refreshments will be served

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Faculty member Dirk Ehnts will be hosting a panel and presenting a paper at the conference "Keynes und die Europäische Integration" (Keynes and the European Integration), organized by the Keynes-Gesellschaft. The conference takes place on February 15 & 16 at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin and presents both German as well as English entries. Dirk Ehnts will introduce his paper "The Euro Zone Crisis: What would John Maynard do?" on February 16. The panel discussion takes place on the 15th and presents the views of Miguel Carrion Alvarez (Eurointelligence), Nils Zimmermann (Deutsche Welle) and Dirk Ehnts, on the topic"Das 'Framing' von wirtschaftspolitischen Empfehlungen: Helikoptergeld vs. Fiskalpolitik?". For more information, please click here.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Berlin | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in cooperation with Bard College Berlin is organizing a Transatlantic Conversation on the challenges and opportunities of migration, integration, and exile with Norman Manea and Sumi Somaskanda. With an unprecedented number of refugees and migrants coming to Europe, determining an appropriate response remains contentious in society and politics. The issues connected with the European migration crisis – economic and social integration, funding, and European versus national policies and interests – are varied and complex, and the degree of successful integration will affect European societies in the years to come. Looking back on a long history of immigration, the U.S. approaches to migration and integration, which Norman Manea has experienced first hand, offer an interesting perspective on recent European developments. Norman Manea was born in the Bukovina province of Romania. One of the most well-known Romanian authors, his early life and work were marked by years in a concentration camp, experiences under communist dictatorship, and later exile in West Berlin and the United States. His writing on the topics of migration, exile, and the individual destiny in extreme situations reflect his personal experiences. His works include the collection of essays The Fifth Impossibility: Essays on Exile and Language and the autobiographical novel The Hooligan's Return and have garnered major international prizes, among them the MacArthur Prize and the Nelly-Sachs-Preis. Manea lives in New York and is Francis Flournoy Professor of European Studies and Culture and Writer in Residence at Bard College New York as well as visiting professor at Bard College Berlin for the Spring 2016 semester. Sumi Somaskanda has worked at Deutsche Welle since 2010. She is a correspondent in the field, an anchor for "DW News," and a writer and producer. She also works with the Global Ideas team on their comprehensive multimedia program covering climate change. Before joining Deutsche Welle, Somaskanda reported for local and regional television stations in Chicago, as well as for a 24-hour news station in Albany, interviewing state leaders and former President Bill Clinton. She also helped to produce an award-winning documentary on autism and to lead a new headline news program at Al Gore's Current TV network in San Francisco. Time: Monday February 22 at 6 pm Venue: The German Marshall Fund of the United States Voßstr. 20, 10117 Berlin Admission is free but seating is limited. Please email Corinna Blutguth at cblutguth@gmfus.org Visit the GMF website.

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On November 21st 2015, Bard College Berlin will welcome Tali Nates (Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre), Estela Schindel (University of Konstanz), Denis Skopin (St. Petersburg University), and Irit Dekel (Bard College Berlin & Humboldt University) for a panel discussion on "Unpacking the Politics of Memory and Memorials: European and Global Perspectives," moderated by Kerry Bystrom (Bard College Berlin). Beginning from reflections on how Germany, Poland, Russia and Argentina have approached the process of remembering past atrocity, the panel speakers will encourage a discussion of the challenge of remembering apartheid in South Africa. Tali Nates, founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, has lectured internationally on Holocaust education, genocide prevention, reconciliation and human rights. She has presented at numerous conferences, published many articles and was involved in documentary films made for South African Television. Tali contributed chapters to different books, the latest is God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors. She was chosen as one of the top 100 newsworthy and noteworthy women in South Africa (Mail & Guardian Book of South African Women, 2010). Tali acts as a scholar and leader of Holocaust education missions to Eastern Europe as well as educational missions in Rwanda. She is one of the founders of 'Holocaust Survivors Services' and 'Rwanda Genocide Survivors Services' in Johannesburg. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, Tali's father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. Estela Schindel studied Communication Sciences (University of Buenos Aires) and holds a PhD in Sociology (Freie Universität Berlin). She has taught graduate courses at German and Argentinean universities and published on the figure of Argentina's disappeared as well as on the relation between art, memory and the urban space. With the ERC research group "Narratives of Terror and Disappearance" she analyzed the spatial dimension to the terrorist practices of the Argentine dictatorship and to their effects. She co-edited Urbane Erinnerungskulturen im Dialog: Berlin und Buenos Aires (Metropol Verlag, 2009), Memorias urbanas en diálogo: Berlín y Buenos Aires (Buenos Libros, 2010) and Space and the Memories of Violence. Landscapes of Erasure, Disappearance and Exception (Palgrave, 2014). She is currently a researcher at the Center of Excellence Cultural Foundations of Social Integration of the University of Konstanz with a project about the entanglements of violence, nature and technology in the EU border regime. Denis Skopin holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2003) and a PhD in aesthetics from the Paris 8 University (2012). He is the author of the monograph Policy of Disappearance in Stalin's Russia (in French, Paris, Harmattan, 2015) which analyzes the phenomenon of the elimination of the "public enemies" from group photos in Russia during the Stalin era from the political and aesthetic perspective. His interests are focused on the relationship between images (especially technologically produced images, i.e. photographs, movies, etc.), politics and ethics. He is also interested in the psychology of small groups, such as families, communities of friends, etc. and the psychological mechanisms responsible for their consolidation or disintegration when the group is threatened. Currently, he conducts research devoted to the Soldiers' Mothers Committee in Russia and the importance of family photos for mothers in claiming justice for their sons lost in armed conflicts. Irit Dekel (PhD in sociology, The New School for Social Research) is a research fellow at the department of Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin where she leads an international research project in cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She studied political transformation at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. Her book Mediation at the Holocaust Memorial was based on that research and was published in the summer of 2013 in the Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies series and garnered international interest and praise. Her current three years international research project is financed by the German Israeli Foundation, titled Domesticating Cosmopolitanism: a Comparative Study of Historical Home Museums in Germany and Israel. Among her recent publications are "Krieg dem Kriege: The Anti-War Museum in Berlin as a Multilayered Site of Memory" (with Tamar Katriel) in Cultural Memories of Nonviolent Struggles Powerful Times (Anna Reading and Tamar Katriel eds., Palgrave Macmilllan, 2015) and "Jews and Other Others at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin" in Anthropological Journal of European Cultures (2014). Kerry Bystrom is Professor of English and Human Rights and Associate Dean at Bard College Berlin. She holds a PhD in English from Princeton University (2007). Before arriving at Bard College Berlin in 2012, she taught at Princeton University, Bard College, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of Connecticut. She is the author of the monograph Democracy at Home in South Africa: Family Fictions and Transitional Culture (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and has published numerous articles and book chapters in venues such as the Journal of Southern African Studies, Social Dynamics Humanity, and Interventions. Time: Saturday, November 21, 2015 from 15:00 Venue: Bard College Berlin Auditorium Platanenstr. 98a, Berlin - Pankow (map here) Admission free

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Bard College Berlin mourns the loss of faculty member Dirk Deichfuß, German language instructor and coordinator of the German language program, who passed away earlier this month in his home in Berlin. Dirk Deichfuß played a crucial role in the development of a German language program integrated with the College's approach to the liberal arts. A graduate of translation and interpreting studies at the Humboldt University, he joined the faculty of Bard College Berlin (then the European College of Liberal Arts) in 2002, as a German teacher in the International Summer University and coordinator of student excursions. As the college expanded its academic offerings, Dirk Deichfuß devised and taught German courses for all levels, including preparation courses for German language examinations. In addition, he coordinated trips both to Germany and outside, and was always eager to share with the students the historical and cultural treasures of his home town Berlin. Building on the belief that language study is inseparable from an encounter with the culture, his teaching method, besides the effective fostering of language skills, aimed to familiarize students with German culture through the study of original texts and songs, or outings to various landmarks in Berlin. The goal of his lessons was to inspire "the joy of language study, especially considering that German is thought to be a difficult language." (Dirk Deichfuß, 2007) The numerous generations of students that were guided by Dirk in the study of German language were deeply inspired by his approach. "Our instructor, in a paternal but nevertheless liberal mode, takes us on a slalom between the established manuals and curricula and most thought-provoking extras. […] Taking German classes for the second year, I have managed to understand much not only about tenses, clauses and pronouns, but also about German-ness, German culture (high and popular), current issues and so on." (Aurelia Cojocaru, BA 2014) A memorial evening for Dirk Deichfuß will be held on campus on November 13th, from 7:00 pm, in the Student Center (Kuckhoffstr. 43, Berlin-Pankow). Students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends are invited to share remembrances of Dirk and engage in some of the activities he offered in class. The members of the Bard College Berlin community wish to express their heartfelt condolences to Dirk's family and close circle of friends, and will continue to cherish the memory of his witty and cheerful company.

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Students in the sculpture class "Contemporary Materials and Techniques" and their instructor, Berlin-based American artist John von Bergen, visited the eighth edition of Art Berlin Contemporary (abc), one of Berlin's most prominent annual contemporary art fairs. In the first part of the tour, students had the opportunity to view a concentrated portion of solo-booth presentations, representing international artists such as Karl Homqvist, Keith Edmier, Marilia Furman, Carolina Mesquita, and Julian Charriere. Students were then encouraged to explore the fair on their own, and develop their own ideas in connection to the exhibited artworks. The 2015 edition of abc was held on September 17-20, 2015 in the former postal depot Station Berlin and featured more than 100 galleries from 17 countries. The class "Contemporary Materials and Techniques" is offered this semester for the second time at Bard College Berlin (you can watch a video with student testimonials here). Visits to museums, galleries, or fairs showcasing contemporary sculpture are an integral part of the course, as they provide students with the opportunity to gain a direct, personal experience with artworks on display in Berlin.

Meta: Type(s): Berlin | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Bard College Berlin will for the second year host an intensive summer program in German language from July 24 to August 23, 2015. The Summer Language Intensive aims to foster language acquisition in a cultural context, and will help students with intermediary language skills improve their knowledge of German language and culture. In addition to intensive course work, the program will benefit from cultural offerings that integrate academic experience with a feel for the city of Berlin. Students will have the opportunity to visit museums, galleries, and other places of cultural or historical interest in Berlin, and take part in various co-curricular activities that will help them immerse in the German environment. The cultural program focuses on five main themes: Berlin today; old Berlin and Prussia; Weimar Berlin; Jewish life, Nazi Berlin, and the Holocaust; and the divided city. Nineteen students from Bard College and other North-American universities are expected to take part in the Summer Language Intensive at Bard College Berlin. The program builds on the unique "German Immersion" course that has been offered at Bard College (USA) for many years.

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On February 12, 2015 Prof. Dr. Michael Weinman delivered the talk "Why 729? Pythagorean Harmonics & Dialectic in Plato's Republic" at the School of Philosophy and Art History, the University of Essex. In the talk, Weinman attempted to answer two mutually implicative questions. First, just how mathematically inclined, and how mathematically able, were Plato and his followers in the Academy? Second, just how influential were the beliefs, practices, and methods of "the Pythagoreans" to Plato's views, as reported in the dialogues, and as (perhaps) otherwise or more expansively taught in the Academy? He aimed to show that mathematical sophistication was integral to intellectual life for Plato and in the Academy, not because he or his followers were committed to cutting-edge developments and advancing mathematical knowledge itself (as has sometimes been held), but rather because he held that it is not possible to pursue the good itself without working on mathematical problems. Why and how this is so emerges from an account of Socrates's claim that the life of the just man is "729 times more pleasant" than that of the unjust (Rsp., 9.587b-588a). Read more about the talk here.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Faculty member Dr. Irit Dekel was one of the discussants in a panel on the ambivalences of the process of European integration, which took place in the frame of the Forum EUROPE: UNLIMITED, on November 13-14, 2014 (Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin). Under the title "Timeless," Dr. Dekel discussed three films which deal with class, inequality and migration in the enlarged Europe. The Forum was part of the 2013/14 Topic of the Year "Zukunftsort: EUROPA," organised by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and took place in cooperation with the 30th International Short Film Festival Berlin "Interfilm." Read more about the Forum here.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

This year, Bard College Berlin celebrates the 15th anniversary since its founding as the European College of Liberal Arts in 1999. To reflect back on its first 15 years of life, and also to look forward to the future, the college put together on May 26, 2014 a program of student-run events centred around its development as a liberal arts institution. The anniversary was an occasion to celebrate not only the college's academic achievements, but also the people who contributed to its successes. Students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends attended the May 26 celebration to share with the community their favourite memories of ECLA/Bard College Berlin. The program included: Presentation of "The History Project" Throughout this academic year, a student-initiated working group has researched the history of the institution by looking at archive materials and collecting impressions from current or former faculty members, students, staff, friends and affiliates. Their effort is an attempt to shed light on how the concept of liberal arts has evolved at ECLA/Bard College Berlin, and also to make way for future reflective practices. On May 26, the working group presented the intermediate results of their research and discussed with the audience the ways in which the heritage of the institution can be preserved and productively used in the future. Presentation of "EduLab" EduLab is a Bard College Berlin student-run communal platform that aspires to engage with students and educators from around the world in order to reflect on the importance of invoking compassion and cultivating dialogues in education. Through research, construction and dissemination of innovative pedagogical methods via their bi-annual publication and website, students Lucas Cone Møller and Mathujitha Sankaran, the founders of EduLab, want to provoke thought and practice on how education occurs within and outside primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions. On May 26, they presented samples of their work and how it has integrated the work of students and faculty of Bard College Berlin. Photo exhibition (1999-2014) View some photos from the event here.

Meta: Type(s): Event,Alumni | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On April 8, 2014, faculty member Bruno Maçães gave a lecture titled "The Future of Europe" at Boston University, in the frame of the "EU Inside Out" series of events. In this talk, Prof. Maçães offered a Portuguese perspective on Europe's future. Bruno Maçães is currently the Secretary of State for European Affairs for the Portuguese Government. The "EU Inside Out" series addresses, broadly, the theme of democratic politics under conditions of globalization from an "inside" point of view, and highlights the value of the European Union as a model for transnational cooperation, regional integration, and cultural coexistence. Read more about the event here.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

On March 27 and 28, Bard College Berlin held its annual conference, in cooperation with the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry (where the event took place), the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College New York, and the German Association for East European Research (DGO). This year's conference was devoted to the theme "What Europe? Ideals to Fight for Today" and gathered international scholars, analysts, journalists and other experts who examined the contemporary European landscape and put their diagnosis of the present and the future. The conference opened with introductory remarks from Roger Berkowitz, Director of the Hannah Arendt Centre at Bard College, New York, and Gabriele Freitag, Managing Director of the German Association for East European Research. Roger Berkowitz quoted an excerpt from Hannah Arendt's essay Tradition and the Modern Age, thus introducing the key question that lies at the core of the conference: "What should we fight for today?", or what goals and aims should political engagement in Europe set itself today? Gabriele Freitag focused on the necessity to integrate a historical view into any current analysis of the state of Europe. Historian Timothy Snyder, Professor at Yale University, then delivered the keynote lecture "Ukraine: Soviet Past, European Future?". Professor Snyder argued that an awareness of Ukraine's history can shed better light on the current outbreak of protests. After surveying the historical landmarks of Ukraine from its origins as an entity to the present and stressing the importance of the Soviet and Communist legacies, Prof. Snyder discussed how the belief in the European rule of law and in European political institutions has fuelled the democratic impulse of the Ukrainians. His central contention was that the safeguards heralded by European integration can no longer be discussed or thought of in a framework that does not take into account the current situation in Ukraine. The second day of the conference began with the panel "Where is Democracy to Be Found in Europe Today?". The speakers, who are all experts in the phenomenon of protest and resistance among the diverse populations of Europe, discussed the location of democracy in Europe (local, national or transnational level) and the possibilities for extending democratic self-determination. Ivan Krastev, Director of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, drew attention to the importance of distinguishing between a crisis of democracy and a crisis of governance when analysing the present apparent apathy of Europeans with respect to the electoral process. At the same time, he argued that the common solution for increasing transparency at an institutional level may not have the expected effect of strengthening trust among citizens. Eirini Avramopoulou, a social anthropologist who studies popular protest movements, highlighted in her talk the importance of silent protests as a way of resisting the prejudices pervading political discourse. Drawing on the case involving present-day Turkey and Italy, she focused on the violence which is both a cause and an effect of women's exclusion from the public sphere. Ulrike Winkelmann, writer and editor for the TAZ newspaper, discussed the ways in which the relation between governance and citizens could be improved at a European level, and called on the media to play a key role in this. The second panel addressed the meaning of a European idea in the current context of Europe. Patrick Bahners, a cultural correspondent of the newspaper FAZ in New York, highlighted the role of political ideals in constituting the current geographical shape of Europe, and showed how this legacy might translate into uncertainty when dealing with current external threats. Walter Russell Mead, editor of The American Interest magazine, suggested that the vantage point is very important when discussing the meaning and significance of a European idea, and described the visions and strategies that are at stake in the different ways that Europe is perceived by the U.S., by France and Germany, by Italy, and last but not least, by Russia. Roger Berkowitz moderated the panel and drew attention to the relationship between ideals and actions that underlies the concept of a European idea. The final panel, "What Use Are Europe's Heritages in Looking to the Future?," called upon the speakers to debate the matter of the values and heritages that Europe should either overthrow or remain faithful to in its way to the future. Peter Baehr, Professor of Social Theory at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, discussed the historical underpinnings of European consciousness, and laid out the example of the phenomenon of "unmasking," which became an emblem of the Jacobins during the French Revolution. Agata Lisiak, a specialist in urban cultures teaching at Bard College Berlin and Humboldt University, presented her research on the influence of immigrant mothers on the integration of young people into the new society they become part of, and advocated for the potential of small, daily rituals to trigger great changes. The last speaker on the panel, Rob Riemen, founder of the Nexus Institute in the Netherlands, discussed the kind of values that should determine Europe's future and the interaction between its citizens, whether at the political or the social level. Coverage of the conference in the German press: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/debatte-zu-ukraine-krise-wessen-blut-auf-wessen-boden-1.1925562 http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/rechtsextreme-zu-stark-hervorgehoben-us-historiker-timothy-snyder-kritisiert-medien-wegen-ukraine/9685394.html http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/aus-den-feuilletons-putins-ideologie-hat-faschistische.1059.de.html?dram:article_id=281496 http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/digitaz/artikel/?ressort=ku&dig=2014%2F04%2F01%2Fa0115&cHash=e1770e5e1d8beba813e810a0c6e882d0 http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/symposium-in-berlin-kampf-um-europas-identitaet.691.de.html?dram:article_id=281556

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

The conference aimed to provide a better understanding of the causes of financial instability and its implications for the global economy. The speakers addressed topics like the challenge to global growth affected by the eurozone debt crisis; the impact of the credit crunch on economic and financial markets; the larger implications of government deficits and the debt crisis for U.S., European, and Asian economic policy; and central bank independence and financial reform. The conference was organized by the Levy Economics Institute and ECLA of Bard with support from the Ford Foundation, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, and Deutsche Bank AG. The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986 through the generous support of the late Bard College trustee Leon Levy, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization. The Institute is independent of any political or other affiliation, and encourages diversity of opinion in the examination of economic policy issues while striving to transform ideological arguments into informed debate. ECLA of Bard is a liberal arts university offering an innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum with a global sensibility. Students come to Berlin from 30 countries in order to study with our international faculty. The curriculum focuses on value studies, in which the norms and ideals we live by, and the scholarly attention they inspire, come together in integrated programs. Small seminars and tutorials encourage lively and thoughtful dialogue. The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and Europe. Audio podcasts, session transcripts and the conference schedule are available here. Photos from the conference are available here.

Meta: Type(s): General,Berlin,Event | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Johanna Fürst (AY'12, Austria) Twelve students and three members of staff gathered with him for a discussion that centred around his main claim, namely that Israel has always been at war, yet has been at the same time a democracy. According to Halévi, these two notions had been, "associated at Israel's cradle," already. Back in the 1920s, (decades before the sovereign state of Israel was established in 1948) there had already been a clandestine army that subordinated itself to political purposes, and up until today, there have been no rebellions by this military. Halévi, who is not only a teacher of political history, but also a writer, editor and columnist in Paris, then proceeded to briefly introduce us to the past 65 years of Israeli history and to how internal public opinion on its political doings shifted in the early 1980s. From the beginnings of the Israeli state, there had always been a sort of "harmonious articulation" between the military and political society. Serving in the army carried with it important social value and there was a high degree of human mobilisation amongst the Israeli population; there was still a capacity to volunteer, and many individuals aspired to a career in the military, as they saw it as a democratic honour and could use it to express their patriotism for their homeland. Additionally, it was the duty of the army to educate its members and even their families. However, with the first Lebanese War in 1982, there occurred a great shift in the public mindset. The type of warfare changed from a conventional war of two armies fighting each other to an "asymmetric war", as the Israeli government sent troops to Lebanon as an opposition to terrorist attacks. Halévi stated that this was the first time in Israeli history that their troops entered another country with a political purpose they wanted to achieve; in this case, it was their goal to establish a less hostile, new government there. This forced the soldiers to fight against "irregular troops", police the hostile territory, and take on different tasks that they had not assumed before. At first, this was still supported by the Israeli public back home, but soon protests began to rise. A profound societal division and demoralisation amongst the military took place, as people began to express opposing opinions about whether this type of warfare was a national necessity, or whether the fact that they were a democratic state should keep them from doing so. Halévi claimed that a general advance of technology and the enhanced importance of individualism greatly contributed to this "patriotic declaration". With the example of exemption, Halévi underlined his points. In Israel, men and women have to serve three and two years in the army respectively, and often they were drafted even though it is not really necessary in terms of troop sizes. However, after the early 1980s, it suddenly became usual for young people to be exempted from this service, so that in the 1990s less than 30% of the Israelis who had been drafted for the military actually served. Summarising Halévi's very interesting account, one might say that the fact of having an anonymous enemy with whom the military forces were not directly confronted, changed the army's role to one of policing civilians, a function which no longer produced the sort of heroism or patriotism it once did. In this regard, he also quoted de Tocqueville on the acceleration of democratic progress. Halévi ended the lecture with a question to be posed to Israel for the future: "How to manage peace?" He moved on to a vivid round of questions and answers with the participants. This gave Halévi the opportunity to go into greater detail as to how, as shown in the example of Israel, individualism erodes (political) society (de Tocqueville); how he sees the relaxation of the military as a democratic weakness; how the Israeli population is a melting pot that has so far produced a lot of integration and mutual influence, and how the nationalists in the West Bank are politically important, even though they are electorally weak. He ended on a rather worrying note, namely, that Israeli society is, "on the move but on fragile feet," and that, "it might implode."

Meta: Type(s): Guest Speaker | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Blagojce Nestorov (AY'12, Macedonia) Luckily, May weather has, for the most part, been favorable to this ordeal and the unusually high number of public holidays has helped counter the Spring Term academic workload and leave greater space for activities outside our everyday scholarly environment. These two ingredients manifested themselves in the proliferation of both spontaneous trips to the numerous parks and lakes around Berlin, and parades, fairs and other open-air concerts and celebrations, organized annually and traditionally anticipated by local Berliners, always keen to share their enthusiasm about them with newcomers to their breathtaking city. The ambitious promise that the 1st of May manifestations carried was not only kept, but raised to new heights by the end of the month, by the long weekend "Karneval der Kulturen" in the ever-vibrant district of Kreuzberg. It managed to sum up Berlin life to an extent that would suffice in providing any one-day visitor or tourist with a decently abridging glimpse of this city's year-round spirit. Not that the procession of more than 100 trucks and vans blasting music from the most diverse (sometimes unheard of) parts of the world danced to by people dressed in national garments in the wildest combinations of colors and materials, happens every day, to avoid such a misunderstanding. The aspect of Berlin that this carnival zooms in on and encapsulates, with its display of decadence and hedonism in food, music and dance, is, as its name suggests, the celebration of multiculturalism as one of the most distinctive traits of the city. But far be it from calling Berlin the only or the most multicultural city in Europe. The reason it deserves its own commemorative carnival more than any other metropolis is the way the multicultural spirit is implemented and experienced. Different cultures in Berlin are not only accepted and to a certain extent admired, but fully embraced and integrated in the urban myth, constantly updated as its demographic structure changes from year to year. Staying true to their youthful and metropolitan spirit, Berliners exemplified this unique openness to the world in the 7-digit number of visitors at this year's Karnival der Kulturen, all almost randomly dispersed amongst the stands of food, handicrafts and drinks from every imaginable place in the world, or trailing behind and mimicking the dances of the carnival participants on the Sunday of the Pentecost's procession down Yorkstrasse. It was precisely this unique opportunity to partake in the procession alongside participants displaying their cultural diversity, but also with those experienced enough to keep up with them, that set aside Berlin's carnival from parades elsewhere in Europe. The image of a South African and an Indian enthusiastically attempting to keep up with the diametrically diverse sounds and dances of Ghana, Puerto Rico and the Balkans, was hardly an exceptional one, as it seemed as if everyone was there to move as far from their comfort zone as possible with the intention of discovering and falling in love with a new aspect of the assortment of ideas that Berlin offers every day. The end of the carnival and the return to every-day life went smoother than expected, given the aforementioned similarities between the two. For an ECLA student, it shouldn't come as a surprise—the past 8 months themselves have been comparable to a carnival of cultures, an exchange between 60 personalities even more diverse than the geographically dispersed home countries they came to Berlin from. As this micro-carnival in Pankow enters its final month, any melodramatic or nostalgic reminiscing should be put off until graduation day, before which there are just enough days to explore the city no one could've avoided falling in love with.

Meta: Type(s): Berlin | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Maria Androushko(1st year BA, Bulgaria) Theatre visits are not simply a recreation and break from the everyday-reality of intensive study, but are an integral part of academic education: after each performance students gather in class and discuss the 'experience' of theatre not only from the viewpoint of the spectator, but also from the perspective of the student actively involved in making theatre––as an actor or a director. In this little piece of writing that for me is much more a personal impression and reflection rather than a structured account of the events, I will share my experience as a viewer and an actor from one of the theatre visits. The first play we saw was Madame Bovary at Maxim Gorki Theater. From my own vantage point, the play was created visually through a constant opposition between the richness of 'spectacle' that the text offers and the lack of the enactment of that particular spectacle in the spatial-visual reality of the stage. This is not to say, however, that 'spectacle' was lacking as a whole. On the contrary, if one takes a mental recourse to the original linguistic connection between spectator and spectacle, one begins to forget that established tie between the scandalous, the provocative, and even the gory as quintessential features of 'spectacle'. The spectacular moments, in the original sense, gave the viewer her proper place in space as the spectator when they offered her glimpses into that which makes one uncomfortable and which cannot be experienced in any other way except as the seen, the witnessed. Those same moments refused the possibility for 'cheap' spectacle as the literal visualization of the text, the expectation that the 'scandalous' would be uncovered. The space that the stage created was that of intriguing discomfort. The structure was that of a triangular ramp, or a ramp-cut pyramid. At the 'vanishing' point of the structure one could see the painting or picture of the Bovary family. Thus, the space created was that of perspectival play and also one of discontinuity, as the 'tip' of the cut pyramid was distorted––moved to the viewer's left––and so disrupted the expectation of geometrical completion. The staging played with the idea of the space: it was as if one was looking at a painting, which obeys most of the laws of perspective, at the same time making one feel uncomfortable as the 'picture' was moving, while calling upon the expectation of pictorial perspective without fulfilling it. When the actors came to the edge of the stage and addressed the audience the feeling was even more bizarre: they were like speaking portraits, which at the same time were not 'alive' or moving freely enough in space to be considered real human beings. In a word, there were demands made on the spectator that led to a sense of near exhaustion, perhaps in a good way, perhaps not. The play was by no means mere entertainment or passing of one's time––it necessitated the active involvement of the viewer as the one who endures and witnesses. The experience of witnessing brings me back to the idea of the spectacle, the unseen, the uncomfortable, the spectacular that can only be witnessed or endured, but never enjoyed simply. There were moments, however, in which the spectacular became so abstract that the burdensome experience of witnessing became the experience of the visual, or the beautiful, as sublime. As Madame Bovary's mental world approached its ultimate darkening and destruction, Jullischka Eichel (Emma Bovary) sat on the edge of the stage and one of the panels, forming the lateral side of the pyramid collapsed close to her. There was an instant, in which she was looking at us, the audience, and then the whole thing was like a slow-motion sequence: the falling down of the wall, her hair getting disheveled for a moment, as if frozen in time. It was so fast, yet so very slow. It was as if the perspectival world that the stage created became gradually and uncomfortably the reality of the spectator and as it crumbled down, she tried to hold on to the moment, extend it, as if in disbelief. Perhaps, this is the magic of theatre itself: when the reality of the spectator and the spectacle become one as 'real time' is expanded so as to be 'theatre time'.

Meta: Type(s): Berlin | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Maria Androushko(1st year BA, Bulgaria) It might seem at first glance that it is simply one of those classes that ask you to take interest in something you are not interested in, bear and be done with it. ECLA, however strives to create an environment in which good higher education comes as close to a good general education, which does not limit one's perspective to a single area; in fact, this kind of education might provoke one to see that the idea of the 'single area' or the particular shade of green cannot be separated from the whole palette, or at least, that it just makes different sense when viewed from the interplay of the hues. The Core Course is primarily the medium that shows you why one needs to take interest in art and how this interest might illuminate one's general education and perceptions. The structure and idea of the core class at ECLA, as such, is intended to incite a 'reflective engagement' with the importance of the subject at hand. In the Core Values of Renaissance Florence students engage in deliberation on the significance of the values of the Renaissance and how they transform and inform the conception of values throughout history. Why Renaissance Florence? The Florentine values, according to Peter, present an essential phenomenon of note: Florence becomes the site where the determination of the concept of values lies in their interconnectedness: "The Core focuses on Florence because it is a particularly striking example of the interrelation of social, economic, and artistic values." Peter also suggested that the Florentine Renaissance is of great interest from a socio-historical perspective. Marxism for instance, sees Florentine culture as engendering a modern sense of individuality based on a dialogue of ancient and modern values in the context of a, "proto-capitalist society without the alienation," in which human 'labour' is the manifestation of the humanistic idea of the individual and his inspiration, creativity, and aspiration to knowledge. Further, Florence is an interesting object of study for a liberal curriculum in an, "obvious sense," Peter said, "[as] values are the things by which we orient ourselves in the world," an education focusing on the historicity of values, their development, so to speak, helps one figure out something about the direction of one's life. In a not so plain sense, the study of the Florentine Renaissance helps to illuminate the conflicts of values, which mark modernity. These conflicts first emerge in the Renaissance, as, for instance, the value of the sacred stands in tension with the value of art. The complex interplay of these values within an elaborate, self-reflexive framework of illusionary painting is evident in Giotto's cycle at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, which the class visited for the first time this year. Later on Dante's Comedy and Boccaccio's Decameron pose the question of 'what if divine justice did not exist?' within an artistic medium that is densely constructed on the symbolism of the religious. Did the original idea of the course evolve? How? According to Peter the curriculum has evolved as Geoff Lehman, an ECLA faculty, brought new perspectives to the class. Originally, the course was more tied to the historical development of the dialogue of values. The 1st year BA and AY programme calls upon reflection of the conflicts and the interrelation of values via the study of the artistic works of three great historical periods: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. But because of Geoff's conceptual interest in realism and naturalism, the spring term Core, "has become more about illusion and reality, which can always be tied back, however, to the fundamental questions about art and society." Another way, perhaps not so obvious, in which the core has changed this year in particular, was through the slight changes in the destinations of the "Italy Trip", which itself is a pivotal part of the core class. This year students visited the cities of Venice, Padua, and Milan in addition to Florence. In the words of Laura Scuriatti, faculty and one of this year's Core course leaders, the visit to Venice and Milan would provide students with an illuminating contrast and, "help them raise critical questions about Florence." She further noted that, we will see for ourselves the polarity set by the artist Vasari between Venice and Florence: he identified what later on would become a paradigm, viz. that Florentine art focuses on and is much more interested in lines and drawing, whereas Venetian art discloses itself through colour and volume. The idea of the course, as Laura explained, is also to think critically about the Renaissance as a concept, exploring the ways in which it came about in history, since the Florentine Renaissance seems in many ways to present itself as a foundational myth.

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Aurelia Cojocaru (2nd year BA, Moldova) The BA2 Core Course for the spring term, on the topic of 'Property', co-taught by faculty members Catherine Toal and Michael Weinman, commenced on the 16th of April with two guest seminars from Frank Ruda, Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Philosophy, Scientific Research Centre in Ljubljana, Research Associate in Philosophy at the Free University of Berlin, and the author of the book Hegel's Rabble. Catherine Toal referred to the book as one of the examples of the lecturer's successful integration of an analysis of problems of contemporary concern with a reading of classic philosophical texts. Through an interpretation of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Ruda explores the consequences of a structural impossibility besetting civil society and the state: not everyone who needs to will be able to secure the means of subsistence through labour, and so a 'dispossessed' group is created (which Hegel calls the "rabble") whose duty to society's continued orderly functioning is thus also thrown into question. To begin the term's discussion on property, Frank Ruda proposed a consideration of what is 'proper' to the process of thinking itself, and to the definition of what it means to be human. In the first seminar, he outlined a reading of Hegel's 1808 essay 'Who Thinks Abstractly?', a text which takes its point of origin from the existence, within the "beautiful" (or aristocratic) world, of an apparently dismissive attitude to those who 'think abstractly', implicitly, the scholarly practitioners of philosophy. Ruda affirmed that one of Hegel's strategies is to dismantle the assumptions which lie at the heart of this attitude, by delineating evidence which contradicts its premise and exposes symptoms of inconsistency. The examples Hegel gives involve situations in which a single attribute of an object is extrapolated and made to stand for its whole essence (particularly important when what is at stake is human essence), as for instance when someone sees "nothing in the murderer except the fact that he is a murderer". As the lecturer put it, we could conclude from Hegel's text that in the same way as abstraction is considered a form of hypostatisation (of one quality), the strict division between concrete and abstract is itself a form of hypostatisation. Furthermore, the examples themselves serve to confirm that the 'abstract', or metaphysics itself, is everywhere present in the ordinary everyday world. This is an implicit answer, Ruda suggested, to the condemnation of philosophy and, specifically, of metaphysics (as the prototype of the 'abstract' mode of dealing with or – perhaps -- fleeing from the world). But, if Hegel is defending philosophy, he is also defending it from its own (false) defenders and demonstrating that it is the role of philosophy to clarify the problematic filiations of the abstract and concrete as they operate in practice. The subject of our second seminar, Frank Ruda's essay 'Humanism Reconsidered, or: Life Living Life' seeks to be a "transformative re-construction of Marx," and, more precisely, of the dominant readings of early Marx. Ruda is especially interested in how these readings stand vis-à-vis humanism. There is, first of all, a school of thought which affirms early Marx as a humanist, celebrating him as a thinker who upholds a "conception of man as being that is determined by a substance, a free species-being." A second, anti-humanist approach, contends that Marx later definitively abandons this "(proto-)substantialist, or […] Aristotelian conception of the human species-being". A third reading, described as a-humanist, focuses on a more or less linear reconstruction of Marx's thought. Frank Ruda's own approach undertakes to show that Marx's humanism is of a different nature: "a humanism of impossibility". One of the premises of his investigation is the attempt to understand why, as Jacques Rancière has put it, alienation (of the human essence) is a necessity; why what Marx calls the impoverishment [Entwesung] of the human being is a condition for the constitution of a (new) human essence. Ruda's conclusion is that what is meant by this radical impoverishment is merely the demonstration that there cannot be anything proper to the human essence, that the only property of man is to have no property. The vast implications of this conclusion are to be found, he argued, in early Marx's definition of the proletariat and the notion of "universal production". What follows the emergence of proletariat and its participation in universal production is not an indeterminate state for humanness, or a new determination of what it means to be human. Rather, this historical development reveals that it is through a sequential redetermination that the production of the truth of humanness occurs. As Ruda mentions in his essay, the process of determination, i.e. the operation of 'universal production', has to be understood as, "at least potentially – infinite"; it is only retroactively that any determinations of the human essence can be seen to have appeared. The constant interplay of indeterminacy and redetermination— which Ruda did not hesitate to identify with the very understanding of communism for Marx— are also connected to a complex rhetoric of possibility and impossibility (redetermination as an infinite actualization of possibilities) and to a change in the very notion of change itself. The further implications which are drawn in the essay lead to a notion of life implied in Marx's thought, which Ruda defines as, "life living life" or, simply put, "creative life": the universal production of life. It is a form of responsible life (perhaps an idea which has a Kantian subtext), Ruda pointed out in the seminar; it is, ultimately, what Marx would simply call freedom. Based on the political implications of Frank Ruda's reading of early Marx, our further discussion focused primarily on the ways in which the above definition of life and the understanding of universal production can illuminate contemporary debates on universalism and political action (in the work of Slavoj Žižek, Giorgio Agamben, and Alain Badiou).

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |

Michael David Harris (AY'12, USA) Our students and alumni were given an open forum to have any questions they wanted to pose answered on January 22nd with a visit from the President of Bard College, Leon Botstein. Also attending the event were administrators, faculty members and alumni of both Bard and ECLA. Not only was this a forum to have students' queries answered, it also gave a first glimpse into what the institution "ECLA of Bard" will look like. Botstein began his remarks by giving a summary of the process that ECLA has gone through to reach its new status, and the future that Bard envisions for it. He mentioned that the Endeavor Foundation which supports ECLA always had the intention of looking for partner institutions and sources of support. In 2009-2010 the Foundation began to search for a new home for ECLA, one that would be sympathetic to its mission. Bard stepped up to the plate, and ECLA became a satellite institution of Bard. In terms of the future, Botstein outlined a number of potential policies that are elements of the partnership. Bard students will have the option of spending their first year studying here at ECLA; or to split their collegiate education, spending two years in Berlin and two years in Annandale, New York. Botstein also emphasized support for ECLA's educational philosophy, including its core curriculum, small classes, and use of tutorials. He noted, however, that the natural sciences should be integrated into ECLA's academic purview and that its class sizes will grow to some degree. Following these remarks was a little over an hour of Q and A. Some questions concerned the future of financial aid and admissions. Botstein explained that Bard pursues a "redistributive justice" policy, whereby students with no income resources pay nothing, while those with the ability to pay contribute to the cost of their education. Bard will also pursue sponsorship and support from a variety of sources. One student asked about the extent to which the ECLA population would remain highly international. For Bard, this is one of the attractive features of ECLA as currently constituted and they intend to maintain it. As a response to a student's question concerning immediate adjustments to take place under Bard's stewardship, Botstein responded that the changes will not be as painful as perhaps feared, but will be greater than some may desire. He emphasized the imperative of making ECLA sustainable and economically viable, a goal required for the institution to continue to excel in pursuing the liberal arts mission it has set for itself. Some of these changes include altering the third year options for BA students, putting ECLA on a semester system in order to bring into alignment with other academic calendars, and accommodating those who wish to attend ECLA as off-campus students. New management under Bard undoubtedly brings good changes. Botstein spoke of ECLA having a more prominent Fine Arts component and also of offering an MFA degree in the future. Bard also wishes to draw on the resources and contributions of academics working elsewhere in Berlin, in providing students with a wide variety of internship experience. The development of existing and recently-acquired building resources on ECLA's campus will continue. ECLA students also now have a link not only to Bard but to its other partner institutions, with possibilities of exchange and cooperation with the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, Al-Quds University in Palestine and Smolny College in St Petersburg, Russia.

Meta: Type(s): General | Subject(s): Bard College Berlin | Institutes(s): Bard College Berlin |