2024 Past Events
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Thursday, March 21, 2024
KulturMarktHalle (Hanns-Eisler-Straße 93, 10409 Berlin) 7:00 pm CET/GMT+1
What does it mean to be a global citizen? This question has gained increasing salience as the world has become more globalized. With globalization, new problems surface that cut across national borders and fall outside the jurisdiction of individual nation-states. The event encourages a discussion to critically examine the concept of global citizenship, to investigates how the idea might work in practice, and how it is linked to human rights.
BCB professor Dr. Nassim Abi Ghanem has been invited to speak at the neighborhood center KulturMarktHalle in Prenzlauerberg alongside Blaise Baneh Mbuh, founder of Bamenda Film School in Cameroon. Nassim Abi Ghanem's research focus is on peace and conflict, non-state actors’ involvement in international politics, conflict management and peacebuilding, and social network theory. He recently taught the OSUN Network Collaborative Course Global Citizenship.
To register for the event, email [email protected].
This event is part of the 2024 Pankow Weeks against Racism (Wochen gegen Rassismus) event program.
For more info:
https://www.pankow-gegen-rassismus.de/woche-1-2/programm-2024
https://www.kulturmarkthalle.berlin/erdenbewohner-innen-festival-2023-24
https://opensocietyuniversitynetwork.org/education/courses/network-collaborative-courses/global-citizenship
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Thursday, March 21, 2024
K24 SR11 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Renée Eloundou will give a talk as part of the course Civic Engagement and Engaged Research: Berlin Lab. Please register via email to [email protected].
The association Decolonize Berlin e.V. is committed to the critical examination of the history and present of colonialism and racism, to the recognition and reappraisal of colonial injustice, and to decolonization throughout society. In 2019, the association emerged from a civil society network of Black, diasporic, postcolonial, and development groups in Berlin. This alliance continues their work and is supported by the commitment of more than 100 individuals. Renée Eloundou will give us a glimpse into the work of office.
Renée Eloundou heads the Coordination Office for a city-wide concept to come to terms with Berlin's colonial past. As part of the association Decolonize Berlin and in cooperation with civil society organizations, administration and politics, the coordination office develops a concept for a comprehensive social confrontation with the colonial past and its effects on today's society.
This event is part of the Pankow Weeks Against Racism.
- Thursday, March 21, 2024
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Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Online (Zoom) 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1
In this talk Prof. Christopher Lynch will present the core findings of his new book Machiavelli on War (Cornell University Press, 2023). The talk draws out the implications of Machiavelli’s assertion that a prince should make the art of war his exclusive concern. To understand this assertion, readers must consider the possibility that Machiavelli has in mind both actual physical warfare and intellectual or philosophical warfare, with the result that his thought must be regarded as even more philosophically radical than is generally believed.
Zoom link.
Register here.
Christopher Lynch is Professor of Political Science at Missouri State University and head of the Department of Political Science. He has served as a senior adviser at the US State Department. He is the editor and translator of Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli and the coeditor of Principle and Prudence in Western Political Thought.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Bard College Berlin (Lecture Hall), Platanenstr. 98A, 13156 Berlin 7:00 pm CET/GMT+1
American democracy takes off with the profoundly ambiguous phrase "We the people . . . " But who are "the people?" A motley collection of individuals, micro-communities, and macro-communities? Or a unified entity, national (das Volk), religious, or otherwise? Though it’s easy to define the word democracy as the power of the people, the definition doesn’t get us very far. The fragility of the democratic idea has much to do with the insecurity of democratic experience.
In this lecture, Michael Steinberg will argue, first, that democracy needs to be defined and historicized according to the principle of plurality and, second, that participation in a polity defined by plurality can be understood as a function of affect as well as contract—the affective dimension of what Avishai Margalit has called "thin relations." Third, where there is affect there is also the unconscious. Democratic affect needs to be understood, with the help of insights from psychoanalysis, to allow enough room for the unconscious and its manifestations, including the arts.
Register for the lecture here.
Michael P. Steinberg is the Barnaby Conrad and Mary Critchfield Keeney Professor of History, and Professor of Music and German Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. From 2016 to 2018 he served as president of the American Academy in Berlin. At Brown he served as the founding director of the Cogut Center for the Humanities (2005-2015) and as Vice Provost for the Arts (2015-16). He was member of the Advisory Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers ad Institutes (CHCI) between 2006 and 2016 and serves as a board member of Bard College Berlin as well as the Barenboim-Said Foundation USA. His books include The Afterlife of Moses: Exile, Democracy, Renewal (Stanford, 2022), The Trouble with Wagner (Chicago, 2018) as well as the edited volume Makers of Jewish Modernity (Princeton, 2016; winner of the National Jewish Book Award for non-fiction); Listening to Reason: Culture, Music, and Subjectivity in 19th - Century Music (Princeton, 2004), and The Meaning of the Salzburg Festival (Cornell, 2000), of which the German edition (Ursprung und Ideologie der Salzburger Festspiele; Anton Pustet Verlag, 2000) won Austria's Victor Adler Staatspreis in 2001.
Educated at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, he has been a visiting professor at these two schools as well as at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and National Tsing-hua University in Taiwan. He was a member of the Cornell University Department of History between 1988 and 2005; a fellow of the American Academy in Berlin in 2003 and at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in 2015-16. He is the recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Between 2009 and 2013 he served as dramaturg on a co-production of Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung at the Berlin State Opera and the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. He was curator of the exhibition “Richard Wagner and the Nationalization of Feeling” at the German Historical Museum in Berlin (April – September 2022).
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Wednesday, March 20, 2024
P24 Seminar Room 8 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm CET/GMT+1
This presentation will feature recent paintings and drawings from two series that have emerged in John Kleckner's Berlin studio since the COVID-19 pandemic. One is a group of blurred landscapes with meticulously rendered sticks and colorful shapes floating in the foreground; the other is a series of stippled, ink self-portraits framed by flora and fungi. John Kleckner will trace the development of these artworks, exploring their themes of nature, solitude, mimesis, fragmentation, juxtaposition, and the passing of time. The audience will gain an understanding of John Kleckner's artistic practice as it has evolved over 20 years, leading up to pieces currently in progress. The actual art objects will be on display for close examination and critique.
John Kleckner is a visual artist working in painting, drawing, and collage and a professor of Studio Arts, Painting, & Drawing at Bard College Berlin. John is known for making finely detailed paintings, drawings, and collages that use mimesis, fragmentation, juxtaposition, synecdoche, and stylistic clashing to explore ideas and feelings about nature, resilience, solitude, perception, and balance. He has exhibited his artwork professionally since 2003, presenting 11 solo exhibitions at galleries in Athens, Berlin, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, Palermo, and Stockholm. His works are featured in prominent collections including, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Magasin 3 Konsthalle in Stockholm, Deste Foundation in Athens, the Miettinen Collection in Berlin, and the Saatchi Collection in London. He has exhibited in institutions such as the Athens Biennial in Greece, Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Castrum Peregrini in Amsterdam, CAPC Musée d’art Contemporain in Bordeaux, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Lissone, Kunstraum Innsbruck, the Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture in Maastricht, the Riso Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia in Palermo, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In 2021 he received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant, and in 2022 was among 3 finalists for the 26th Wilhelm Morgner Prize for painting in Soest, Germany. John has been teaching at Bard College Berlin since 2013.
This presentation is part of the Faculty Colloquium Series.
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Saturday, March 16, 2024
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm CET/GMT+1
All members of the BCB community are invited to join the BCB Badminton Club's Spring Tournament at SPOK. Come together as students, faculty, and staff for an afternoon of friendly competition, sportsmanship, and camaraderie. Whether you're a seasoned badminton player or a beginner looking for some fun, we encourage everyone to join us. Type: Doubles (regardless of gender).
The deadline for registration is March 14, 2024, so be sure to secure your spot early. Register here.
- Friday, March 15, 2024
- Thursday, March 14, 2024
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Wednesday, March 13, 2024
W16, Learning Commons 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1
"Abendbrot" is your chance to improve your German skills in a fun and casual setting. If you are hesitant to speak the language or just want to practice in a relaxed environment, this is the place to be. We meet every other Wednesday of the month at 7:30pm, and you are welcome to join us anytime. At Abendbrot, we play games, enjoy a meal together, and simply hang out. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or more advanced in German; everyone is welcome. Come along, make mistakes, and improve your German with a friendly group of language enthusiasts.
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Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Bard College Berlin W15 Cafe (Waldstraße 15, 13156 Berlin) 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm CET/GMT+1
Join BCB's Office of Civic Engagement to get a taste of home from the Neukölln-based association Give Something Back to Berlin at the Bard College Berlin campus. This event is part of the 2024 Pankow Weeks Against Racism program. View the rest of BCB's Pankow Weeks Against Racism events here.
The event centers the role that food plays in creating a sense of home and belonging. We will talk about how sharing food builds communities and how food can be a part of building more inclusive societies. We will also introduce both the Open Kitchen, a shared cooking project run by the association Give Something Back to Berlin, as well as The Feast, a cookbook featuring stories and recipes of Berlin’s migrant communities and showcasing ways to become involved in the Open Kitchen. View a selection from The Feast here.
Everyone is invited to bring a cup, and a taste of their own favorite food.
Give Something Back to Berlin (GSBTB) empowers newly arrived and long-established Berliners through volunteering, education and a social network. Together with their community of migrants, refugees and locals, GSBTB promotes social cohesion, solidarity, and belonging by encouraging people from different backgrounds to co-create and learn together. Their work goes beyond the currently prevalent models of "integration" and enables people to develop their potential and get connected. It is about changing Berlin's cultural and social life together.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024
K24, Seminar Room 11 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Ahmad Denno is a BCB alum who pursued studies in Economics, Politics, and Social Thought at Bard College Berlin from 2018 to 2022. He is a Syrian refugee turned German citizen, arriving in Germany in December 2014 and gaining citizenship in March 2022 on the grounds of demonstrating exemplary integration. Since his arrival in Berlin, he's been an active volunteer with various social NGOs, initially stemming from his experience in a refugee camp. Notably, he spearheaded a political campaign in 2021, translating German election information into five languages to empower German citizens with a migration background.
In 2016, Denno co-founded the neighborhood center KulturMarktHalle e.V. to bridge cultural gaps between locals and migrants in Prenzlauer Berg, Pankow district. Simultaneously, he established Eed Be Eed e.V., fostering support for Arab/Syrian refugees in Germany through a free newspaper, workshops, and initiating the first Arabic Arts and Culture Festival in Berlin in 2017 to respond to the dearth of Arabic language offers.
Ahmad Denno´s visit is an opportunity to meet a multifaceted advocate for cultural exchange and political engagement in Germany, to get tips about how to navigate German bureaucracy, to become socially engaged and connected in Berlin, found your own association, or apply for public funding. Please register via email to: [email protected].
This event is part of the Pankow Weeks Against Racism series.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CET/GMT+1
From the many great ideas and candid thoughts that are shared in the SLC Community Forums, we have a responsibility as a larger community to turn those ideas into action. We can do so by brainstorming plans, identifying who can help us achieve these goals, and then carrying out the change over time. If you would like to take part, please come join the DEI Circle in the W15 Cafe from 1-2pm. ALL are encouraged to come.
Tuesday, March 12: Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
Tuesday, March 26: Cultural and Religious Diversity
Tuesday, April 16: Accessibility & Accommodations
Date TBD: Socio-Economic Challenges & Equitable Scholarship Opportunities
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 – Thursday, March 21, 2024
Bard College Berlin is participating in this year's Pankow Weeks Against Racism with four events on- and off-campus.
Tuesday, March 12, 4:00pm-5:00pm. On-campus, K24 Seminar Room 11.
Cultural and Political Engagement in Berlin with BCB Alum Ahmad Denno
Wednesday, March 13, 12:00pm-2:30pm. On-campus, W15 Cafe.
Taste of Home: Public Reading and Discussion about Cooking and Belonging
Thursday, March 21, 4:00pm-5:00pm. On-campus, K24 Seminar Room 11.
Talk with Renée Eloundou: How to Decolonize Berlin in 2024
Thursday, March 21.7:00pm. Off-campus, KulturMarktHalle e.V. (Hanns-Eisler-Straße 93, 10409 Berlin).
Discussion Salon: Global Citizens and Human Rights with Dr. Nassim Abi Ghanem and Blaise Baneh Mbuh
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Friday, March 8, 2024
W15 Cafe 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CET/GMT+1
This event explores the fascinating world of stories and tales. It aims to differentiate between the two, highlighting their unique characteristics and impacts. Participants will learn about the structure and elements of a story - a narrative that can be either fiction or nonfiction, encompassing characters, setting, and plot. The session will also delve into the realm of tales, emphasizing their traditional and often fantastical nature, and their role in passing down morals and lessons through generations. The event promises an insightful journey into the ways these narratives shape culture and contribute to the civilized world and modern humanity. Language of the event will be in Persian!
Organized by Dr. Ahmad Khosrawi.
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Thursday, March 7, 2024
W15 Cafe 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm CET/GMT+1
Join the DEI Office to engage in an open dialogue about gender identity and sexual orientation. We will discuss resources that BCB offers as well as Berlin-based organizations and initiatives that you can explore. We will also share events happening in Berlin for International Women’s Day (8 March).
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Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Lecture Hall 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Film screening and discussion organized by BCB student Ana Helena Mancilla Anguiano with special guest Carlos Pérez Osorio, Emmy-Nominated Mexican documentarist.
The session will start with a small introduction to the situation in Mexico and why it is important to draw international attention to the victims and not the perpetrators (Narcos). We will also explain Mexican feminism and 9th of March “A Day without Women” meaning, origin, and relevance in Mexico. Renata (4th year student at BCB) is doing her thesis on this topic so she will also share a few words (approximately 35 min).
Program:
Prayers for the Stolen (Noche de Fuego) - 2021
By: Tatiana Huezo
Duration: 1h 50m
Description of the movie: https://www.viennale.at/de/film/noche-de-fuego
Pause to debrief and talk about the movie along with clarifications regarding the movie. (10 min)
Brief context (5 min)
The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo (Las tres muertes de Marisela Escobedo) - 2020
By: Carlos Pérez Osorio
Duration: 1h 49m
Description of the documentary: https://anyoneschild.org/2020/11/las-tres-muertes-de-marisela-escobedo-review/
Interview with Carlos Pérez Osorio (40 min approx)
Concluding thoughts (10 min)
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Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Part of the Life After BCB event series
Lecture Hall, Platanenstraße 98A, 13156 Berlin 11:45 am – 12:45 pm CET/GMT+1
Join us for an Alumni Talk with Lucari Jordan '21, an EPST graduate from New Mexico, who started their career in the energy and economics sector in Berlin with the goal of eventually working at the intersection of the power industry and regulatory institutions. Lucari will share their experience at their current company, Aurora Energy Research, with BCB students: what they have found helpful for entry into the Berlin job market, and what they have found to be the most important qualities of a company in the early stages of building a career. We will also hear more about Aurora's Graduate Analyst Program, a traineeship which lasts 18-21 months, and allows you to get a perspective of the three main departments of the company (Advisory, Commercial, Customer Success and Research) by completing a rotation working in each.
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Saturday, March 2, 2024
K24, Seminar Room 11 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm CET/GMT+1
On March 2, from 2-5pm, the BCB chapter of the Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN) will host a workshop in K24 titled How (Not) to Report About Africa and Asia led by Dominique Haensell and Charlotte Ming.
As racist biases and colonial tropes about non-western countries and communities continue to persist in everyday media coverage across the global north, this workshop offers an opportunity to identify and dissect clichés and stereotypical narratives and examine the concept of “journalistic neutrality.” Through collective critique and creative reimagining participants will engage in a hands-on experience to develop more inclusive narratives and images. Working with examples from major English and German print media, the workshop aims to empower participants from diverse backgrounds to understand media stereotypes and play an active role in reshaping media discourse and promoting responsible representation.
Important note: Registration is required for this event. The number of participants is limited so please apply at your earliest convenience (latest by the 22nd of February) using this Google Form.
You will be notified if you have been accepted and receive further instructions for preparation by the 24th of February.
Dominique Haensell is a Berlin-based writer, translator, and editor. Born in the UK and raised in Germany, she studied English Philology, Comp Lit, and Critical Theory at the FU Berlin and King’s College London. In 2019, she completed a PhD at the JFKI’s Graduate School of North American Studies and her award-winning monograph Making Black History: Diasporic Fiction in the Moment of Afropolitanism was published in 2021. Dominique is co-editor-in-chief of Germany’s foremost feminist magazine, Missy (on sabbatical), and is currently working on a hybrid memoir about Afro-German identity, British colonialism, and her family’s relationship to German colonial Africa (The White Rasta, forthcoming with Luchterhand). She has been on the jury of various literary awards, regularly moderates literary panels, and is a member of different research groups such as Women of Color Resist and the African Atlantic Research Group (AARG).
Charlotte Ming is a journalist and visual editor based in Berlin. Her work focuses on underreported and nuanced stories on the themes of culture, history, and migration. She has been published in TIME, National Geographic, die Taz, and Atlas Obscura, among others. She is a recipient of the Robert Bosch Crossing Borders grant and the Kim Wall Memorial Fund for her research and writing on the legacy of German colonialism in China. Ming is a co-founder of Far & Near, a newsletter highlighting human-centric coverage of China by Chinese visual journalists and artists. Before moving to Berlin, she worked as a journalist and photo editor at TIME and Getty Images in New York. In 2023, she completed the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and graduated from Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism with a Master of Science in 2014.
- Thursday, February 29, 2024
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Wednesday, February 28, 2024
P24 Seminar Room 8 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm CET/GMT+1
By connecting Multilevel Governance Theory (MLG) with Hannah Arendt’s concept of civil disobedience, this lecture by Dr. Berit Ebert elaborates on the access of the gender equality concerns in Poland to the institutionalized policy-making realm of the European Union (EU). Whereas the 2023 Polish parliamentary elections are often depicted as a great success for women’s and LGBTQIA+, it will be shown that translatability of gender topics to the EU via subnational channels is quantitatively and qualitatively deficient. A variety of access configurations depend on the impact of gender roles in national contexts and lead to different legitimacy constellations across EU Member States.
Dr. Berit Ebert specializes in European Union law with a focus on gender equality. She received her master’s (2006) and doctoral degrees (2012) in political science from Aachen University, and a master’s degree in European studies (2007) from Vienna University. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of gender equity, democracy, and the rule of law, as well as the judicial reform in Poland, and subnational influence on supranational policymaking. She is the author of Wie Europa Zeus bändigte. Transnationalität im Gleichstellungsrecht der Europäischen Union (Equality and Gender in the Jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. An Analysis Considering Contemporary Theories of Justice) (Tectum/Nomos, 2021), which elaborates on the impact of EU citizens on the development of the Union’s gender equality framework. Her articles appeared in the Open Gender Journal, Democracy SOS, and The Berlin Journal. Recent articles are “The Power of One Woman: The Progress of Gender Equality in the European Union” (2023) and “Gender Equality und Rechtsstaatlichkeit in der EU. Die polnische Justizreform” (2022).
Berit Ebert is also the Director of Public Programs and Strategic Initiatives at Bard College Berlin. Prior, she served as Vice President of Programs at the American Academy in Berlin, where she oversaw the institution’s academic and public programming. She was affiliated with the UNESCO in South Africa and the Committee for Foreign Affairs at the Deutsche Bundestag.
This lecture is part of the Faculty Colloquium Series.
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Friday, February 23, 2024
The Factory 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Join the Ukrainian Club of BCB for a film screening and exhibition in the Factory. February 24th, 2024 will mark 2 years of the Russian full-scale invasion, 10 years of the war, and 300 years of colonial violence on Ukraine. The Ukrainian Club invites you to grieve together, support one another, and resist against terror in our troubling times.
20 Days in Mariupol is an Oscar-nominated documentary about the horrors of war and the will to live. As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
"Unissued Diplomas" is an exhibition dedicated to Ukrainian students who were killed in the war and never got a chance to graduate. They used to spend their days in study halls. They had favorite classes and those they dreaded weekly, but after February 24, 2022 classrooms turned into bomb shelters and battlefields. The exhibition will be displayed from the February 23rd until the March 8th in the Factory.
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Thursday, February 22, 2024
P98a 0.09 (Geoff Lehman's office) 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Of all Biblical motifs, the story of David is not only a favored subject of Florentine art but, in a way, its very emblem. Why? What made the figure of David so resonant that it was cast in bronze and carved in words as well as stone over and over again? How was David's story retold and interpreted, and what were its aesthetic, political, and religious ramifications?
Beginning with the Biblical text, in this special seminar we shall analyze three iconic takes on David – by Machiavelli, Donatello, and Michelangelo -- and probe their significance for Renaissance Florence. By exploring the vision of modernity elaborated in these works, we shall pose larger questions about the relationship between artworks and their context, and reflect both on the art of politics and the politics of art.
Please register for the seminar here.
Participants can read a selection from The David Story by Robert Alter prior to the event.
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Thursday, February 22, 2024
Learning Commons (W16, top floor) 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm CET/GMT+1
When it comes to doing complex, large tasks, do you struggle with maintaining focus?
Join us for this practical, short, hands-on workshop designed to set you up for success this semester. There will be a short presentation and then time to implement some of the tools we discuss. Bring your personal device and join us in the Learning Commons!
Part of the Set Your Semester Up for Success workshop series.
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Thursday, February 22, 2024
Lecture Hall P98a 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm CET/GMT+1
Legal scholar Dr. Nahed Samour will discuss the ICJ’s decision on provisional measures in the South Africa case against Israel for genocide, its consequences and implications, and the current legal discourse surrounding the decision on Palestine and international law, with special reference to Germany's position. The talk will be moderated by Dr. Marion Detjen.
Dr. Nahed Samour is Research Associate at Radboud University, Nijmegen in the Race-Religion-Constellations research project. She studied Law and Islamic Studies at the universities of Bonn, Birzeit/Ramallah, School of Orient and African Studies London, Humboldt University Berlin, Harvard University, and Damascus University. She was a doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt/Main. She clerked at the Court of Appeals in Berlin, and held a Post Doc position at the Eric Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, Helsinki University, Finland and was Early Career Fellow at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg, Göttingen Institute for Advance Study. She has taught as Junior Faculty at Harvard Law School Institute for Global Law and Policy from 2014-2018. From 2019-2022, she was Core Emerging Investigator at the Integrative Research Institute Law & Society, Humboldt University Berlin. She is member of the Arab German Young Academy and co-editor of the book Arab Berlin (transkript 2023).
In cooperation with the Mellon funded Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education
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Thursday, February 22, 2024
W15 Cafe 12:20 pm – 2:00 pm CET/GMT+1
The news industry has been in decline for decades, but the latest round of layoffs, closures of foreign news bureaus worldwide, and increased hostility against journalists leave little room for optimism for the young generation considering their chances entering this field. “How do you become a foreign correspondent?” became a question with seemingly no satisfying and universally applicable answer. This shift isn't due to a lack of talent among aspiring journalists, but rather to the features of the world that have changed and the opportunities that were unique to a specific era of the past.
Journalist Joshua Yaffa, in conversation with a BCB student, Jakub Laichter, discusses strategies for the new generation to enter this ever-diminishing field, drawing on their own experiences and reporting from Ukraine. No registration required.
Joshua Yaffa, a correspondent for The New Yorker and the writer-in-residence at Bard College Berlin, has spent a career reporting and writing on Russia and Ukraine.
Jakub Laichter, a BCB student and a freelance photojournalist focusing on Eastern Europe, has been covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2019.
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Thursday, February 22, 2024
Learning Commons (W16, top floor) Do you often struggle with managing your calendar and all the different competing assignment deadlines? Do you feel forever behind with your email? When it comes to doing complex, large tasks, do you struggle with maintaining focus?
Join us for three practical, short, hands-on workshops designed to set you up for success this semester. At each workshop there will be a short presentation and then time to implement some of the tools we discuss. Bring your personal device and join us in the Learning Commons!
Using Google Calendar + Google Tasks to Manage Deadlines
Thursday, 8 February from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Making Your Gmail Your Friend
Thursday, 15 February from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Maintaining Focus in a Distracting World
Thursday, 22 February from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
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Wednesday, February 21, 2024
P24 SR8 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm CET/GMT+1
This research from an interdisciplinary perspective, presented by Jana Lozanoska, focuses on international criminal law and the visual art exhibition “Radiography” by artist Henry Lewis and forensics. It discusses the nature of X-rays images as evidence and conceptualizes the term ‘contemporary forensics’ deployed during international criminal investigations of mass crimes by focusing on the standards for admission/authentication and probative value of this type of evidence in the International Criminal Court, in particular for the Lubanga case involving the recruitment of child soldiers. The research critically engages with novel approaches of (re)construction of evidence. It distinguishes between forensic radiology and forensic odontology and its interactions with forensic anthropology in examining the interrelationship between X-ray images and regular photographs. Finally, it examines the theoretical writings of the media and culture studies theorist Vilém Flusser proposing phenomenological aesthetics of X-rays as publicity on the one hand and confidentiality on the other as tension that stems out of forums, courts, or arts exhibitions.
Jana Lozanoska teaches human rights and international law at Al-Quds Bard College for Arts and Science, where she has headed the human rights and international law program since 2019. Her research interests are in the fields of technology, justice, spatiality and temporality, memory, evidence, and visuality. She has published several contributions in this respect. Lozanoska has written extensively across the Macedonian public sphere on issues of reconciliation, justice, and technology. She has contributed to and edited the volume Name Issue Revisited, Anthology of Academic Articles (MIC, 2013) collection of contributions from domestic and international authors across disciplines. Lozanoska has published a novel Living Room (ILIILI, 2015), which ran for best novel prize and entered the semifinal, and two poetry books. Her creative work deals with the interrelationship between memory, body, identity, photography, and painting.
This presentation is part of the Faculty Colloquium Series.
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Wednesday, February 21, 2024
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm CET/GMT+1
All are invited to this semester’s faculty colloquium. The colloquium is a multidisciplinary forum for discussing faculty work in various stages of progress, from brainstorming new ideas to already published work. Each session will take place over lunchtime and feature a variety of formats tailored to the presenter's preferences and objectives. Formats will include a short presentation and discussion of a pre-circulated paper, or a longer (20-30 min) presentation, followed by a discussion. All talks will take place from 12:30 to 1:30pm in P24 Seminar Room 8
Wednesday, February 21 – Jana Lozanoska, Assistant Professor at Al-Quds Bard College
“X-Rays Seeing the Invisible”
This research from an interdisciplinary perspective focuses on international criminal law and the visual art exhibition “Radiography” by artist Henry Lewis and forensics. It discusses the nature of X-rays images as evidence and conceptualizes the term ‘contemporary forensics’ deployed during international criminal investigations of mass crimes by focusing on the standards for admission/authentication and probative value of this type of evidence in the International Criminal Court, in particular for the Lubanga case involving the recruitment of child soldiers. The research critically engages with novel approaches of (re)construction of evidence. It distinguishes between forensic radiology and forensic odontology and its interactions with forensic anthropology in examining the interrelationship between X-ray images and regular photographs. Finally, it examines the theoretical writings of the media and culture studies theorist Vilém Flusser proposing phenomenological aesthetics of X-rays as publicity on the one hand and confidentiality on the other as tension that stems out of forums, courts, or arts exhibitions.
Wednesday, February 28 – Berit Ebert
“EU Multilevel Governance and the Disobedient Gender Movement in Poland”
By connecting Multilevel Governance Theory (MLG) with Hannah Arendt’s concept of civil disobedience, this lecture elaborates on the access of the gender equality concerns in Poland to the institutionalized policy-making realm of the European Union (EU). Whereas the 2023
Polish parliamentary elections are often depicted as a great success for women’s and LGBTQIA+, it will be shown that translatability of gender topics to the EU via subnational channels are quantitatively and qualitatively deficient. A variety of access configurations depend on the impact of gender roles in national contexts and lead to different legitimacy constellations across EU Member States.
Wednesday, March 20 – John Kleckner
“Stick Paintings & Foliate Heads: Recent Artworks by John Kleckner”
This presentation will feature recent paintings and drawings from two series that have emerged in my Berlin studio since the COVID-19 pandemic. One is a group of blurred landscapes with meticulously rendered sticks and colorful shapes floating in the foreground; the other is a series of stippled, ink self-portraits framed by flora and fungi. I will trace the development of these artworks, exploring their themes of nature, solitude, mimesis, fragmentation, juxtaposition, and the passing of time. The audience will gain an understanding of my artistic practice as it has evolved over 20 years, leading up to pieces currently in progress. The actual art objects will be on display for close examination and critique.
Wednesday April 10 – Cholpon Turdalieva, Professor at American University of Central Asia
"Gendered Mobilities of Central Asian Migrants in Germany through the Perspectives of Public Transport"
Aiming to remedy the lacuna in the interdisciplinary mobility and migration literature, the main objective of the present research project is to examine Central Asian migrant women in Berlin through their commuting experience on public transport. I aim to address several issues and questions as the following. To what extent is Central Asian women's integration in the host city influenced by daily commuting on different modes of public transit? How are women's employment, studying, income, and kinship networks realized or imposed in Germany's ethnocultural communities and other diverse multiethnic groups? Following these questions, my research will be geared to produce academic and practical insights into the intersection of gendered mobility, migration, and public transit. We argue that Central Asian women migrants realize their socio-economic, educational, professional, and other personal and public goals in Germany by navigating their mobility, presumably through public transit transport. In this vein, we may think that automobility technologies, particularly the well-developed public transit in Berlin, empower Central-Asian migrant women by allowing them to move through different public spaces and traverse physical and social boundaries with greater ease and practice.
Wednesday April 24 – Kai Koddenbrock
“Walking a Fine Line: Germany and the Question of Imperialism”
Imperialism is back in our everyday vocabulary to describe Russian expansionism. Yet the theoretical contours of the term imperialism are notoriously hard to pin down and its analytical added value is often disputed. The term exists as a descriptor of government action to qualify Russia or the US as ‘imperialist’ states. It also denotes the structural logic of capitalism on the world scale which tends towards war, value extraction and the bifurcation of the world into core and peripheries. In this paper, I investigate this dual meaning of imperialism with a view to Germany’s history, policy, and political economy. I suggest a contemporary analysis of imperialism focusing on domestic state-capital relations, military violence, and the extraction of value from the Global South. Applying this troika of imperialism to German state-capital relations, the paper focuses on its corporate giants Volkswagen and BASF, recent shifts in security and economic policy as well as the quest for mineral supplies from the Global South and argue that Germany can be – with some qualifications – called an imperialist state. In conclusion the paper shows that imperialism as an analytical term allows to go beyond the overly generic term of capitalism and is uniquely placed to make sense of a more openly violent world engulfed in war and crisis.
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Friday, February 16, 2024
P98a Lecture Hall 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Join the Ukrainian student community at BCB for a special event featuring the screening of the movie ADA followed by a talk with director Alina Matochkina. ADA is a movie about two artists Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnichenko, who were erased from the history of art due to oppressive Soviet politics. Their most important project, The Wall of Memory, was cemented. It is a movie about love, resistance, and memory. After the movie there will be a discussion about decolonization and destroyed cultural sites.
Alina Matochkina is a prominent director. Her film ADA was presented during numerous film festivals in Ukraine and abroad.
This film screening is part of the event series "Stories of Resistance": Ukrainian cultural, activist, and commemoration events dedicated to the second anniversary of Russian full-scale invasion in Ukraine and 10 years of war.
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Thursday, February 15, 2024
Lecture Hall 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Guest lecture by Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft. To register, email [email protected].
In 1194, the Egyptian philosopher and rabbinical authority Musa ibn Maymun (aka Maimonides, Rambam) responded to a series of queries by the Jewish community of southern France concerning the efficacy of astrology. This lecture will explore the religious and political dimensions of ibn Maymun's response within the context of how the nature of the cosmos, and the astral sciences---both astronomy and astrology--- were conceptualized in the medieval Islamic world.
Participants can read Maimonides' Letter on Astrology (1194) prior to the event.
Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft is a fellow of Bard's Hannah Arendt center. His main areas of interest are political philosophy, art history, and the history of religions. His book The Idols of ISIS: From Assyria to the Internet was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2020. He taught at Bard College Berlin between 2018 and 2021.
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Thursday, February 15, 2024
Learning Commons (W16, top floor) 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm CET/GMT+1
Do you feel forever behind with your email?
Join us for this practical, short, hands-on workshop designed to set you up for success this semester. There will be a short presentation and then time to implement some of the tools we discuss. Bring your personal device and join us in the Learning Commons!
Part of the Set Your Semester Up for Success workshop series.
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Thursday, February 15, 2024
Learning Commons (W16, top floor) Do you often struggle with managing your calendar and all the different competing assignment deadlines? Do you feel forever behind with your email? When it comes to doing complex, large tasks, do you struggle with maintaining focus?
Join us for three practical, short, hands-on workshops designed to set you up for success this semester. At each workshop there will be a short presentation and then time to implement some of the tools we discuss. Bring your personal device and join us in the Learning Commons!
Using Google Calendar + Google Tasks to Manage Deadlines
Thursday, 8 February from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Making Your Gmail Your Friend
Thursday, 15 February from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Maintaining Focus in a Distracting World
Thursday, 22 February from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
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Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Learning Commons (W16) 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm CET/GMT+1
This two-part workshop offers the opportunity to work with renowned journalist Joshua Yaffa on crafting non-fiction prose. Like academic writing, essay-writing for journals and magazines requires precision, evidence, and a sharp argument, but in other ways, the approach to writing is distinct. In the second of the two-part workshop series, participants will have the chance to revise pieces intended for a broad readership. The workshop will take place in the Learning Commons (W16). Space is limited to 15 participants.
Session 1 is on Wednesday, 14 February, 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Session 2 is on Wednesday, 21 February, 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Register here.
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Thursday, February 8, 2024
Lecture Hall 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1
This lecture by Roger Berkowitz offers an account of Hannah Arendt’s thinking about friendship especially as it connects to her thinking about politics. Friendship, according to Arendt, involves intimate conversations between two people who share their views and differences, creating a common world. Arendt distinguishes friendship from love, emphasizing its respect for personal boundaries and thus respect for the friend in their uniqueness and difference. Friendship, in her view, humanizes the world by allowing individuals to engage in meaningful dialogue despite their differences. Arendt believes that friendships can bridge gaps in political discourse and unite people while respecting their diverse opinions. The lecture explores the role of friendship in Arendt's political thinking, its limitations in cases of extreme wrongdoing, and its relevance in today's political conversations.
Register for the event here.
Roger Berkowitz is the founder and academic director of the Hannah Arendt Center as well as professor of politics, philosophy, and human rights at Bard College. Berkowitz writes and speaks about how justice is made present in the world. He is author of The Gift of Science: Leibniz and the Modern Legal Tradition, editor of Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition (2022), coeditor of Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt's Denktagebuch (2017), Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2010), The Intellectual Origins of the Global Financial Crisis (2012), and editor of the annual journal HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the Arendt Center weekly newsletter, Amor Mundi. His writings have appeared in numerous venues such as The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Paris Review online. In 2019, Berkowitz received the Hannah Arendt Award for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Bremen, Germany.
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Thursday, February 8, 2024
Learning Commons (W16, top floor) 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm CET/GMT+1
Do you often struggle with managing your calendar and all the different competing assignment deadlines?
Join us for this practical, short, hands-on workshop designed to set you up for success this semester. There will be a short presentation and then time to implement some of the tools we discuss. Bring your personal device and join us in the Learning Commons!
Part of the Set Your Semester Up for Success workshop series.
- Tuesday, February 6, 2024
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Sunday, February 4, 2024
Humboldtforum (Schlossplatz 10178 Berlin) 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm CET/GMT+1
We are going to visit the Humboldtforum: A new center for culture, art, education and research housed in the renovated Berlin Palace in the heart of the city. Besides looking at some of the new exhibitions on Asian culture we will also attend a guided English tour about the handling of objects from German colonies titled: "Empty showcases?"
To sign up, email [email protected]
Meeting Location: Ticket office at Humboldtforum (Schlossplatz 10178 Berlin)
Note: Bring your student ID/transportation pass along. The Humboldtforum is located within a short walking distance from the last station of the M1 tram.
Part of Berlin Weekend.
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Sunday, February 4, 2024
12:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Named among the best street food in Berlin by Exberliner, we’ll travel from campus to this Berlin staple. Once you’ve got your kebap in hand, check out nearby attractions like Victoria Park, Tempelhofer Feld, or wander around Kreuzberg.
Meeting Point: W15 Cafe
Part of Berlin Weekend.
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Saturday, February 3, 2024
3:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Join Muhammed Sayed for a sunset hike to the Drachenburg Viewpoint, from which you can see all of Berlin and the surrounding areas. At 53 meters high, it is perfect to get an expansive view of all of Berlin. Bring a blanket and enjoy watching the sun set over Berlin, and watching the moon rise all in one go. After that, join us to have a lovely late dinner in one of the many amazing restaurants Berlin has to offer!
Meeting Point: W15 Cafe
Part of Berlin Weekend.
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Saturday, February 3, 2024
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm CET/GMT+1
Join us for a guided tour of the exhibition on 'Black Resistance and Global Anti-Colonialism in Berlin, 1919-1933' at Villa Oppenheim in Charlottenburg. The tour is offered in collaboration with the course 'Civic Engagement and Engaged Research: Berlin Lab' that focuses on current community issues in Berlin, including efforts to address the city’s colonial past. Berlin became a post-colonial metropolis in a largely colonial world: Migrants from former African colonies – which Germany had to renounce – remained in the city.
Berlin attracted actors from African, Asian, and Arabic regions. They formed anti-colonial alliances, demanded independence for their countries of origin, and resisted against racism. The anti-colonial Berlin unfolded in the political forcefield of the Weimar Republic, the end of the monarchy and colonial rule, the ascent of communist internationalism and the rise of the National Socialists. It caused frictions and was anchored in everyday urban life, but its effect as a global movement reached far beyond the city.
Participants are asked to register via email to: [email protected]
Meeting Point: Villa Oppenheim - Museum
Charlottenburg Wilmersdorf
Schloßstraße 55, 14059 Berlin
Part of Berlin Weekend.
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Saturday, February 3, 2024 – Sunday, February 4, 2024
Please join us for the Spring 2024 Berlin Weekend from February 3-4! Berlin Weekend is a collection of free or low cost activities hosted by students, staff, and faculty that offer the entire BCB community a chance to explore Berlin and attend unique events.
Complete list of Berlin Weekend events:
Saturday, February 3, 2:00pm-3:30pm - Guided Tour: Black Resistance and Global Anti-Colonialism in Berlin, 1919-1933 (Exhibition at Villa Oppenheim)
Saturday, February 3, 3:00pm - Drachenburg Sunset Hike
Sunday, February 4, 12:00pm - Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap
Sunday, February 4, 12:30pm-3:30pm - Visit to the Humboldtforum
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Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Lecture Hall, Platanenstr. 98A, 13156 Berlin 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm CET/GMT+1
The United States is facing a fateful election and it looks very much like the same two old men, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, will compete again. According to recent studies, the overall public mood in the US is bad. Young Americans, in particular, are frustrated about the lack of reforms and how power is generally organized in the country. While trust in the political system is in ever graver decline, we have seen a revival of the labor movement in the last few years. Grassroots unions are taking on companies like Starbucks and Amazon; established unions like the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers won significant gains in recent strikes. Journalist Lukas Hermsmeier discusses both developments, growing political apathy and union revitalization, and explains what political actors, the Democratic Party in particular, could learn from the labor world.
Register for the lecture and Q&A with Lukas Hermsmeier with this Google Form. A reception will follow the event.
Lukas Hermsmeier is an independent journalist from Berlin based in New York. He writes for publications such as Zeit Online, Die Wochenzeitung, and The New York Times about politics and culture. His first book Uprising – America's New Left (Klett-Cotta, 2022) is about the resurgence of the US left since Occupy Wall Street.
- Monday, January 29, 2024
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Saturday, January 20, 2024
Meet us online!
Online Event 2:00 pm – 7:30 pm CET/GMT+1
Interested in learning more about Bard College Berlin? Save the date and join us on January 20 for Virtual Open Day!
You will have the chance to join a conversation with current students, and attend informational sessions about our degree programs, student life, campus facilities, and more.
View the program and register for the Virtual Open Day sessions at this link.