Berlin 2016 – Design & Art Experience
The time of the year had come again for The Design School at Taylor’s University to conduct its annual overseas excursion, known as Activity Week. For 2016, Berlin, Germany was selected for Activity Week to take place.
Berlin is a world-class city of culture, politics, media and science. Its economy encompasses a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife and contemporary arts.
Photo by Jinchi Yip
An 8-day, 7-night educational trip (27 October 2016 – 3 November 2016) was made to expose The Design School’s students to a foreign culture, filled with vast design and art elements.
This trip was led by two academic staff, Mohd Asrizal Razali and Yip Jinchi, and was participated by 29 students ranging from the Foundation in Design (FID), BA (Hons) in Graphic Communication Design (BGCD) and BA (Hons) in Interactive Multimedia Design (BIMD) programmes.
Photo by Asrizal Razali
Among the highlights of the excursion were a 2-day workshop organised by Bauhaus-Archiv Museum¹, titled Symphony of the City: Composition with Light and Sounds and a tour of the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum. The first day of the workshop was a tour of the museum, focusing on works of photography by László Moholy-Nagy, a famous painter and photographer, as well as a professor at Bauhaus. This was followed by a session at the youth centre, where students were encouraged to do experimental works of making shapes, collecting audio sounds and photographic techniques without a camera. The session was continued on the second day of the workshop. The finale of the session was to put together handmade shapes, images produced from the photographic techniques and collected sounds into a video.
Photos by Jinchi Yip
Besides that, there was also an exploration of Berlin’s best weekend art market, Art Market@Zeughaus, where one can see many kinds of handmade arts and crafts produced by the stall owners themselves. Visits were made to a host of Berlin’s well known museums, such as Computer Games Museum, DDR Museum, National Art Gallery, Natural History Museum, Museum for Communication, Germany’s Parliamentary Building, Dali Museum, Museum of Film & Television.
A live performance, The One Grand Show at Friedrichstadt Palast Berlin, which portrayed the wonderful and quirky wilderness of this metropolis; with costumes designed by the renowned Jean Paul Gaultiér, created a unique experiential learning of colours, light, music and performance for both students and lecturers.
For students of the three design programmes, this trip served to enrich their experiential learning, create a more holistic learning experience, enable intercultural exchange to take place and create an opportunity for open communication among students of different programmes and semesters.
Upon the completion of this Activity Week, an exhibition will be held. It will be a joint effort between the students and the lecturers in-charge, to document the interpretations and artistic expressions of the students’ learning experience and their discovery of new knowledge gained throughout the trip.
ITINERARY:
Cost of Travel (Per Person)
Quotation from HOLIDAY TOURS & TRAVEL SDN BHD
Air ticket (Qatar Airways) – RM3515.90
Ground accommodation (MEININGER Hotel Berlin Central Station, twin sharing) – est. RM1350
Other costs (Museums entry fee + ground transportation) – est RM800
TOTAL: RM 5665.90
Will vary according to exchange rate at time of booking
