berlin libraries 101: the art of (offline) discovery
How can we use libraries, books and other paper-based tools to unleash creativity, expand imagination, and ultimately seek a free mind for ourselves and others?
• 19. October - 16. November 2024
• In-Person at School of Machines and on-site in Berlin libraries (and one museum!) in various locations in Mitte, Berlin
• Five-weeks, Saturdays, 10AM-1:30 PM CET
• Small class of participants
Artist / Student (Full Time)
€195*
Freelancer
€225*
Professional
€255*
Generous Supporter Ticket
€275*
course
description
“Free your mind and your ass will follow”
—Funkadelic, 1970
Through the in-person exploration of Berlin’s libraries and our own pen-and-paper practice, this course is designed to facilitate an unmediated connection back with our own imaginations.
In the age of hunching over laptops at our “home offices”—not to mention our increasingly hopeless attempts to practice activism and maintain relationships via our personal devices—our digitally-mediated lives have left us truly, physically exhausted. What was originally purported to save time and energy has become a relentless sucker of both.
Meanwhile, we have awoken in the ruins of the post-digital revolution to discover the archives of our lives corrupted or unmanageable, and our childhood ability to dream outsourced to platforms that only profit billionaires. It has become difficult to imagine free spaces within—and without—our minds that are not somehow littered with insidious forms of advertising or data mining.
Enter the library.
Together, we will discover public knowledge spaces and develop creative research projects both on our own and in the group—regardless of our mother tongues, our academic backgrounds or previous experience with books, archives and collections.
Through in-library wandering and activities, simple zine-making and notebook practice, we will take a stab at unlearning unhealthy patterns of information acquisition, and follow our own path to knowledge. Unlike computers, our brains have unlimited storage space; the challenge is just retrieval. We will be doing just that—working on the art of retrieval. This means letting ourselves go down potentially unfamiliar roads, where we might look like total weirdos on the way, to get to that thing we know in our hearts is somehow related, even if we have no idea what it is yet!
By just trusting our instincts and letting the kooky and occasionally brilliant connections between bits and pieces of information just occur to us, we get closer to true, human, freedom of thought.
Along the way, we will practically learn how to take advantage of the fantastic network(s) of libraries in the city of Berlin. A lot of material that in other countries is under lock and key, behind paywalls or only available to people with certain credentials is wide open to Berliners—if we just know the right way to ask. Indeed, with no gatekeepers except for a few security guards asking us to check our backpacks, we will enter and explore veritable temples for thinking whatever, and however, we like. And almost always for free.
In this course, you will
learn unique artistic research skills for pursuing a dedicated personal project; experience haptic thinking and developing your creative ideas offline
stretch your legs, hands and mind working with books and analog writing devices; flesh out your notebook practice and thinking with pen and paper
get inspired exploring Berlin’s libraries and other public knowledge spaces
practice acquiring library cards, using library catalogs and consulting reference books
untangle and meditate on your relationship to information and knowledge in the internet age/in the capitalist patriarchy with other curious humans
consider media mindfulness and how media consumption affects your mental and physical health
follow wild threads of imagination using strategies of bibliomancy and synchronicity
course
outline
Week 1: Introduction, About the Library + How to Find What You’re Looking For / Letting What’s Looking for You Find You
Coming from various generations, circumstances, and academic backgrounds, what is our personal connection to the library, books, notebooks and creative research? What’s working and what’s not?
We will discuss goals for the coming weeks and introduce our fields of interest—or talk through their ambiguities.
For this session we will briefly discuss the history–and present–of Berlin public and private libraries and the digital vs. analog worlds.
Meet at ACUD for introductions and intentions & short lecture/discussion.
Walk across the street together to the Berlin city library, Philipp-Schaeffer-Bibliothek
Everyone will acquire a city library card. We will get acquainted with the city library system and catalog (VOeBB – Verbund der Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins).
Week 2: Humboldt Library - Bibliomancy and Finding the Connections … Everywhere
This week we will meet to explore the meatiest stacks in town—the gorgeous central library of Humboldt University: the Grimm-Zentrum. As one of the few mega-libraries left in Berlin where you don’t have to order, but can browse and fetch the majority of books yourself, the Grimm-Zentrum is an ideal library to simply let the synchronicity synchronize! There is a subject out there that you never imagined you might be interested in … but it is looking for you.
You will enter, paper and pen in hand, ready to receive.
Meet at the Grimm-Zentrum/Humboldt University Library
Acquire Humboldt Library card
Tour and understanding practically how to use the Humboldt system in general and the Grimm library in particular
Directed and undirected library exploration and simple zine-making
Round table about personal findings and projects
Week 3: The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Unter den Linden - Finding Ourselves in the Encyclopedia
This week we will explore one of Berlin’s more beautiful—and stuffier—libraries to investigate the rare manuscripts room and explore the extensive network of reference books.
Meet at Staatsbibliothek Unter den Linden (StaBi)
Acquire StaBi library card
Tour and understanding practically how to use the StaBi system in general and the Unter den Linden library in particular
Practice accessing and handling “rare” materials in the Manuscript Reading Room, perhaps with white gloves!
Creative exercises with reference books for self-discovery
Round table about personal findings and projects
Week 4: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Potsdamer Platz / KulturForum - Space to Think
With a population explosion and a tight rental market in Berlin making space for contemplation narrower—not to mention heating and electric costs soaring—libraries are a great space to just be.
We will explore the StaBi Potsdamer Platz, the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and the KulturForum/Kunstbibliothek across the street as public spaces to plug in and tune out. Over a potluck of boxed lunches in the lobby, we will discuss issues of public space, the value of quiet and concentration, and how to hack the city to find some peace.
Meet at Staatsbibliothek Potsdamer Platz (StaBi)
Tour and understanding further how to use the StaBi system in general and the Potsdamer Platz library in particular, practice together using the Stabi catalog
Time and interest permitting, introduction to the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and Kunstbibliothek systems (which are yet two OTHER separate library cards!)
Share on progress of personal projects
Week 5: Bottom of the Rabbit Hole?
Libraries are not the only free information source in the city, there are also numerous museums and galleries that have free entrance—and can be visited regularly. Taking the focus off of exhibitions and looking to museums’ permanent collections as sources for information and inspiration, we will do a “quality not quantity” visit to the Humboldt Forum, concentrating on just a few items at a time.
After taking some time to explore the Ethnological and Asian Museums at the Humboldt forum, we will gather in the Oceania section in the same museum to talk through items we discovered, and the progress or final iterations of our projects.
Part 1: Meet at the Stadtbibliothek Mitte (in the city library/VOeBB system) for a short tour and practice acquiring library cards for those who did not manage to get one one the first day, practice using VOeBB catalog as needed
Part 2: Walk together across the street to the Humboldt Forum, short exploration of one small section of the permanent exhibition
Round up and show-and-tell of progress projects.
Where to go from here
who is this
class for?
This class is for anyone curious about libraries and publicly-available resources in Berlin and worldwide. Neither previous experience with libraries—nor complete ignorance—is required. Just an openness to a new way of looking at things. Expect the unexpected!
in-person classes
Classes are 'in-person' meaning that it will take place at School of Machines in Berlin, Mitte, and in the case of this course, in-person also refers to the brilliant libraries and spaces we will be visiting together IRL. For specific questions, please email us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
meet the
instructor
Mara K.
Artist, Media- and Biblio-Trashologist
Raised in a family of US-American tabloid newspaper journalists, Mara grew up surrounded by paper, print, and every type of analog media device imaginable. In her later 18 years in Berlin, in the city’s public libraries, archives, state museums, not to mention book flea markets and bookshops, she found a home away from home.
Among other eclectic creative activities, Mara works consistently on book and ephemera collecting, notebook and ‘zine practice, and has collaborated as an artistic researcher/research consultant with other artists.
Though she likes to think of herself as a punk auto-didact, she has a few degrees under her belt: a BA in Spanish literature and Latin American studies, a MA in History and Cultural Studies from the JFK Instutit at the Freie Universität Berlin, an Associate's in accessories design and millinery from FIT-NYC, a certificate from the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS). She is currently pursuing self-directed study on art printmaking at the Berlin Volkshochschüle (community college), as well as Polish language and lunar astrology independently.
For more on her, read her interview and follow her project, The Night Library, a cross-section of ideas, research methods and physical collections and artworks.