The animal kingdom, with its seemingly endless variety, offers ideal starting points for drawing and painting explorations—for experiments, quick sketch exercises, narrative compositions, character development, anatomical studies, and much more. In art history, literature, and especially in illustrated (picture) books, animals have long played a significant role as subjects, protagonists, or as deliberate embodiments of certain human traits. Illustrating animals allows one to move freely between realistic and fantastical realms, expanding, exaggerating, embellishing, or even discarding and reassembling reality. Clearly, one’s imagination knows no bounds.

The Weserburg, together with the Center for Artist Publications, offers an inspiring environment that can provide a variety of opportunities for writing and illustration exercises.

For more detailed course information and registration, please contact: info@ankebaer.de.

Fig.: Illustration by Petra Spreen

Three hours of singing together, experiencing harmonies, and creating a special atmosphere with new people. During this time, we will devote ourselves to a polyphonic piece that we sing in a relaxed, intimate setting. By preparing the piece at home, we quickly dive into making music and enjoy how many voices merge into one. Curator Ingo Clauß will kick off with a brief introductory talk through the current exhibition FORT. FANTASY ISLAND.

Leader of the One-Day Choir: Line Papendieck
Organization: Janna Rohloff

Registration by March 24, 2025: anmeldung@brynja-raum.de

An event as part of the exhibition FORT. FANTASY ISLAND at the Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst.

Fig.: One-Day Choir, Photo: brynja e.V. – Raum für Psyche und Gesundheit

What happens when a mop suddenly starts questioning social conditions? How does art change our understanding of belonging and exclusion? These questions are at the heart of the guided tours through the exhibition The Way We Are, taking place as part of the International Weeks Against Racism. Together with cultural psychologist Dewi Stümer, the tours will focus on works by Anna Ehrenstein, Nil Yalter, Kasia Fudakowski, and Zoe Leonard. Their works address themes of belonging, exclusion, and racial marginalization, demonstrating how art can challenge societal norms and open up new perspectives.

Parallel to the tours, a creative workshop will take place from 12 to 3 pm for visitors of all ages. Under the guidance of artist Sirma Kekeç, participants can try out printmaking techniques, work with collage, and create with modeling clay to creatively engage with the themes of the exhibition.

Registration is possible until March 28, 2025, via email to info@weserburg.de. Please specify the desired tour time and the number of participants for the creative program. Capacity is limited.

This project is funded by the Senator for Labour, Social Affairs, Youth and Integration with funds from the state and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

About the people involved:

Dewi Cynthia Stümer studied social and cultural psychology at the London School of Economics. Her research focuses on social identity, migration, and discrimination. As a consultant at the Bremen Integration Council, she develops strategies against exclusion and implements projects addressing anti-racism, intersectionality, and political participation. Previously, she worked at the Berlinale and currently serves as Board Director of EVRESEA, an organization combating anti-Asian racism. Her work combines academic research with practical education and cultural work, critically examining social power structures and creating new spaces for inclusion.

Sirma Kekeç studied painting with a focus on printmaking at the University of the Arts Bremen. From 1999 to 2000, she was a master student with Professor Wolfgang Schmitz. In addition to her own artistic practice, Sirma Kekeç has been active for many years at the intersection of art and education. She serves as the artistic director of kek Kindermuseum Bremen. With her extensive experience working creatively with children, youth, and adults, she initiates and leads courses, workshops, training sessions, and projects at various institutions and schools – in Bremen and beyond.

A found footage collage in search of the ultimate happy ending, a cartoon animation featuring a Snow White hooked on a needle, a Tatort inspector singing about a dead child, and a luxury limousine driver screaming out his loneliness in a music video.

Audiovisual fantasies full of eerie stories and melancholic scenarios reflect a sense of exhaustion and refusal in the face of the performance-driven society, the emptiness behind consumerism’s promises of happiness, and the pervasive uncertainty stemming from lost certainties.

Part of the exhibition FORT. FANTASY ISLAND

Film Program:

• Schorsch Kamerun | Das eigensinnige Kind | 2022 | 4:51
• Roz Mortimer | Safety Tips For Kids | 2003 | 5:06
• Ulu Braun | St. Mickeyland | 2023 | 12:54
• Susann Maria Hempel | Die Hüter des Unrats | 2022 | 11:00
• FORT | The Calling | 2014 | 9:09
• Clemens von Wedemeyer | Occupation | 2002 | 8:00
• Johan Grimonprez | … because superglue is forever! | 2011 | 12:21
• Timo Schierhorn, UWE | Auch im Bentley wird geweint | 2023 | 3:15

The program is part of the ongoing curatorial series film:art, which presents films at the intersection of art and cinema.

Fig.: Clemens von Wedemeyer, Occupation, 2001-2002 (Film still)

An abandoned drugstore with empty shelves. Heart-shaped balloons floating through the exhibition. A room filled with cabinets, from which children’s songs can be heard. The exhibition FANTASY ISLAND brings together unsettling works – everyday scenarios and objects that at first appear familiar but, through subtle distortions, take on a surreal and sometimes eerie character.

What stories do these works tell us? The focus of the tour is on detailed, interactive descriptions of spaces and works, collective conversation, and the opportunity to touch selected objects. The tour concludes with a visit to the sound installation Last Song (2025), created especially for the exhibition at Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst.

Meeting point: In front of the museum entrance. There will be time to arrive, store coats, and for a brief introduction before the tour starts.
The tour with art educator Karin Puck will take place from 4 to 5 PM.
The tour was developed in collaboration with and will be accompanied by Denise Evers.

As part of the exhibition FORT. FANTASY ISLAND.

Fig.: FORT, Hercules, 2017, Courtesy Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, Photo Tobias Hübel