What Connects Us: Love as a Transgenerational Experience in Art
This seminar explores love as an intergenerational emotional and social experience within the context of artistic practice. It focuses on how biographical, societal, and historical conditions shape the perception, experience, and representation of love.
People across different generations have experienced, lost, sought, remembered, or passed on love. What differences emerge in this process? What commonalities connect different stages of life? And how can emotional experiences be made visible through art?
Through collaborative artistic processes and dialogic encounters involving students, residents of the Belia senior living facility, and participants from the AWO project "LiA," spaces for perception, exchange, and reflection are created. Individual memories, personal objects, stories, and materials serve as starting points for collaborative artistic work.
The intergenerational perspective makes it possible to perceive, critically examine, and interrelate social and emotional differences. Art is understood here as a medium for encounter, communication, and a shift in perspective.
The seminar aims to open up new perspectives on interpersonal relationships and social realities, as well as to develop shared forms of artistic expression. The resulting works will ultimately be presented as part of a traveling exhibition.
Kathrin Brommer, M.A.
Mein Name ist Kathrin Brommer. Nach nunmehr sieben Jahren als Koordinatorin der FreiwilligenAgentur Witten, bin ich seit März 2022 als Referentin für Service Learning und Gesellschaftliches Engagement im WittenLab.Zukunftslabor Studium Fundamentale der Universität Witten/Herdecke tätig. Mir liegt sehr daran,
einen interdisziplinären Austausch zu schaffen und Synergieeffekte zwischen Universität, Student*innen, Stadt und Region zu ermöglichen und zu bündeln. Durch das Zusammenspiel zwischen regionalen Kooperationspartnern, Studierenden und Universität will das gesellschaftliche Engagement in der Region
gestärkt werden. Zugleich sollen Studierende die Vielfalt des Engagements in der Region kennen lernen; sich selbst und andere im gesellschaftlichen nachhaltigen Tun besser verstehen lernen und das vorhandene Know-How im Sinne des bedarfs- und gemeinwohlorientierten zivilgesellschaftlichen Einsatzes mit Unterstützung begleitender und reflektierender Seminare anwenden.
Prof. Dr. Claus Volkenandt
Objectives & Competences
Seminar objectives:
• intergenerational exchange and social interaction
• sensitivity to diverse lived realities
• reflection on love as an experience shaped by societal and biographical factors
• practical artistic expression
• communication and empathy skills
• the integration of theory, practice, and social participation
Students benefit in particular from:
• practical experience in intergenerational work
• insights into the biographical and emotional worlds of other generations
• the development of social, communicative, and reflective skills
• experiencing art as a social and dialogic practice
• engaging with societal issues regarding intimacy, relationships, and memory
• the opportunity to shape artistic processes outside the university setting
• experience in the fields of cultural education and socially engaged art practice