HSAP-811C: TLB: The Berlin Way

This class provides a first-hand immersion into the vibrant creative industries of Berlin to explore the "Berlin Way" of living & making in one of the world's most dynamic creative environments. Through the lens of social science, students will gain insights about the interrelationship of Berlin's development as a city with the evolution of its creative industries. Berlin's magnetism to the creative class has dramatically increased over the past twenty years. Ironically, the city's economic stagnation in the early 2000s, which came after a very brief post-reunification gold rush, turned out to be fertile ground on which the German capital's current status as creative global hub could flourish. The combination of cheap inner-city property and strong endorsement of creative freedom helped revive Berlin, which now draws artists and cultural entrepreneurs from around the world. Tech and web entrepreneurs, who are following in increasing numbers artists, designers, writers, and musicians from around the world, have established themselves in Berlin over the past few years and helped create a dynamic economic base for the creative industries and for the city as a whole. Berlin's urban density mixes living and workspaces, facilitated by a shared, highly integrated transport system. Informal encounters between greatly diverse populations are a daily reality, making the city a place of inclusion and constant creative inspiration. Built on rich sediments of cultural heritage, Berlin's pavement is literally vibrating with creative energy from the underground. Cultural trends born in various subcultures quickly find their way into the mainstream, allowing for rapid innovation in design, technology, and cultural expression. In addition to guest lectures and discussions with Berlin-based experts (architectural historians, urban developers, city marketeers, etc.) students will meet and interview protagonists of Berlin's creative scene, visit their studios, and will also learn to search and discover the next up-and-coming talents of Berlin. Collectively, all participants of this course will contribute through writing, audio-visual edits and visual interpretations to a webbased knowledge base that maps the ever-evolving creative industries of Berlin. The Berlin Way project could evolve into an ongoing signature project of the ArtCenter Berlin studio, a resource to current and future Testlab Berlin participants - and potentially to the creative industries of Berlin.