Seminar on the exhibition Series. Printmaking from Warhol to Wool (Hamburger Kunsthalle, 26 February to 27 June 2021)

University of Hamburg · Art History Seminar · Winter Semester 2020/21

Lecturer: Dr. des. Ina Jessen

“What exactly fascinates artists about the series, and even more so about serial repetition in printmaking?” This initial question of the exhibition concept Series. Prints from Warhol to Wool (curator: Dr. Petra Roettig) is the starting point for the course for students of the art history seminar. The interactions of print media in series as well as interactions between artists and printers pronounced in the exhibition at the Hamburger Kunsthalle form the starting point for this. These will be expanded to include art historical questions and ways of dealing with print media around the series / the serial.

Series of different artists’ positions and printmaking processes are embedded in the art historical framework of the 20th century on the basis of the materials used as well as their temporal, artistic and motivic context of origin. This includes works by Ulla von Brandenburg, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Maria Lassnig, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Nam June Paik, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Dieter Roth, Rosemarie Trockel, Andy Warhol, Christopher Wool and others.

Guest lecturers from HAW (Hamburg) Katie Oberwelland, Louise Heyman, Andrey Kolesnikoff and Walter Kerkhofs will provide participatory insights into the practical production processes of basic printmaking techniques (relief printing, letterpress, planographic printing, through-printing). Furthermore, insights into publishing aspects (Griffelkunst-Vereinigung Hamburg e.V.) and art education as part of the exhibition programme of the Hamburger Kunsthalle are part of the practice-oriented seminar content.

This makes the course an explicit contribution to professional qualification for future art historians. The aim is to provide art-historical as well as practice-related training with regard to the handling of print products, insights into collection- and exhibition-specific questions as well as publishing and printing processes. Designed as a cooperative project, the seminar is both academic-theoretical and practice-oriented.

The results of the seminar will be presented in the form of short lectures by the students as part of the Hamburger Kunsthalle’s art education programme for the exhibition Series. Prints from Warhol to Wool. Active participation in the form of presentations in the context of the exhibition is obligatory for all seminar participants.

Cooperation partners:

Dr. Petra Roettig – Hamburger Kunsthalle (Dr. Petra Roettig)

Prof. Ellen Sturm – Printmaking Labs – University of Applied Sciences (Hamburg)

Dr. Dirk Dobke – Griffelkunst-Vereinigung Hamburg e.V.