International workshop program

Courses in Fine Arts, Music, Design, Performing Arts as well as transdisciplinary formats: the summer and winter program at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin) unites all these elements. Over 30 workshops invite artists, advanced students and graduates from all artistic disciplines to develop their artistic practice further, connect with international artists, and create new spaces for artistic exchange together. Kicking off in June, the summer program runs until September. A small selection of winter courses is available in January and February. We offer a discount of 100 Euros to all Summer University and UdK Berlin alumni, as well as a 50 Euro discount for multiple bookings.

This year’s course program centres around the theme UTOPIA:

In times marked by instability and uncertainty, art plays a key role in processing experiences, challenging existing boundaries, and creating alternative spaces. It invites us to envision alternatives to the status quo, providing a platform to challenge boundaries and rethink the way we engage with the world around us. Participants will have the opportunity to dive deep into these ideas, using their artistic practice as a means of exploring and expressing visions of a better world.

You can find a small selection of workshops in various disciplines below. Discover all courses here.  

Fine Arts
Drawing (On) Insects (June 21–25)
…studies the insect world from different perspectives: by visiting Berlin’s Natural History Museum, through field trips with environmental scientists, and through the microscope.  

The City never Sleeps (August 4–8)
…explores Berlin’s urban spaces and develops tools for artistic responses to these places, engaging with their utopian potentials.

‘Fake it till you make it!’ (August 11–15)
…investigates practices of imitation in the context of art and design: money and art forgery, prop making, deep fakes, and fake news. The research will be manifested in realistic cake sculptures.

Performance
NO UTOPIA: Artivism and collective action today (August 4–8)
…plans and realizes small interventions within urban spaces in the city based on visits and dialogues with different artivist groups in Berlin.

Overwriting Berlin: Utopian Futures (August 18–22)
…lets you create immersive audio walks set in Berlin in the year 2525, blending sci-fi and social theory, reimagining the city through themes like AI, climate crisis and utopian vs. dystopian futures.

‚Yes, and…‘ Co- Creativity and applied improvisation (September 1–3)
…gives an introduction to the rules of improvisation, focusing on processes of co-creativity.

Sound
The Space between Voice and Gesture (July 21–24)
…explores the intersections between oral and written phenomena in sound, and experiments with new interdisciplinary methodologies in vocal performance art.

Pendulum—an interactive sound installation (August 28–30)
…engages in a performative exchange that plays with the object in space, the rhythmic shifts and the in-betweenness of expectation and silence.

Artistic research
Visualising urban resilience through film (August 18–22)
…researches the interstices of urban resilience, utopian imaginaries and space by creating short films.

World Order of Our Hearts (September 22–26)
…explores visions of living together: How can we create worlds from the perspective of love, care and interconnectedness in times of antagonism?

Winter courses
Critical Horizons: The New Dimensions of Art Criticism (January 19–23) / Editing for Film and Video Art (January 19–23) / Animation for the iPad (January 26–29) / Body and Creative Flow (February 16–20).

Visit here for detailed information on our program and its workshops, as well as online application. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us: summer-courses@udk-berlin.de.