Press releases in detail

Grand finale in Konstanz of the touring exhibition “ARTHEN - In search of Europe” in November. Photo exhibition by Nora Schröder and Anna-Lena Sender presents graffiti art from Athens as a mirror of the euro crisis. The Cluster of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Integration” is extending an invitation to a public preview at 19:30 on Wednesday, 4 November 2015 at the Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz (Otto-Adam-Str. 5).

Nora Schröder studied the “Cultural Foundations of Europe” in the master’s programme with the same name of the Cluster of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Integration” at the University of Konstanz. Together with Anna-Lena Sender, also a Cultural Studies student, she had set off in search of Europe: three weeks with Interrail from Hungary through Croatia to Italy and finally Greece - a country taking a stance against a crisis which was understood as European.

What is was about the Athenians’ way of dealing with the political emergency which impressed the students most of all - more than their noisy demonstrations - was the graffiti in Greece’s capital city. The street art in Athens was so captivating because it makes exactly that which we call the ‘European crisis’ directly visible. That’s where we got the idea for the photo exhibition”, says Schröder. 

Sponsored by the EU’s “Youth in Action Programme”, Schröder and Sender were able to show their photographs of Athenian graffiti in Brussels, Lüneburg, Hamburg, Göttingen, Ulm and Kehl am Rhine before these now reach their final destination in Konstanz. The exhibition is on view from Wednesday, 4 November 2015 to Tuesday, January 2016 during the events of the Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz (www.exzellenzcluster.uni-konstanz.de/kolleg-veranstaltungen.html) as well as on request (Carolin Schulz, Phone +49 7531 36304-15).

The exhibition will be opened by Dr. Ulrich Blanché, art historian from Heidelberg, at 19:30 on 4 November 2015 in the Bischofsvilla, Konstanz. Blanché, whose research work focuses on the famous British street artist Banksy, will speak on when and to what extent street art is political. Against the backdrop of the special situation in Greece, he will examine the tension between the political statement and the aesthetic claim of graffiti. 

Further information under: www.arthen.eu

Dates:

4 November 2015
“When is street art political?” Exhibition preview with lecture by Dr. Ulrich Blanché, 19.30, Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz, Bischofsvilla am Seerhein

5 November 2015 to 26 January 2016
The exhibition can be viewed upon request (Contact: Carolin Schulz, Phone +49 7531 36304-15

26 January 2016
“The Fight for Publicity. Street Art in Contemporary Urban Politics and Economics”: Closing ceremony with a lecture by Christian Schmidt, 19.30, Institute for Advanced Study Konstanz, Bischofsvilla am Seerhein