Winter 2016/17, 30 Years of Erasmus. What next?
Students: Eva-Maria Unglaube, Swantje Malz, Alpaslan Karaaslan, Kristina Becker, Maxime Leleux, Gabriel Barbu, Simon Martin, Anat Gutberg
Where would we be without Erasmus? He has come to symbolize mobility, openness towards international academic exchange programs, tolerance, and a humanist, good-humored perspective on the world. During the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Erasmus student exchange program held in 2012, no one expected how often these values would come to be questioned over the following five years. Who could have foreseen the Brexit, for example, or the rise of nationalism across Europe? Moreover, what will come next? And how will this impact academic exchange programs? The students taking part in this project created books, pamphlets, postcards, a video, and a website covering the topics of language diversity, cultural exchanges (such as ones surrounding eating habits), the history of European identities, and personal observations. At the end of the semester, their work was shown at the Kunsthalle am Hamburgerplatz, a transdisciplinary workshop and exhibition space close to the weißensee academy of art berlin.