The relationship between Art and Life, between artefact and reality in its embedded and non-embedded manifestations are starting point and ongoing tension of artistic production since Antiquity. The research seminar held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing in the Winter semester of 2023 focused this constitution of artistic challenge in very different „case studies“. (The seminar plan for download: CAFA_Winter23-24_Lecture Plan)

Orienting on Sherlock Holmes‘ deduction and, respectively, scientific methods of analysis, the Students took on the roles of „detectives“.

A three-hour live-stream from the Humboldt-Forum was the practical climax, with program director Jan Linders vividly presenting the programatic and institutional challenges of a multi-disciplinary arts institution open to society. (Students‘ observations from the visit can be found here: CAFA_Winter23-24_Observations on the Humboldt Forum)

In February 2024, the Chinese „detectives“ the Chinese students, working in groups of five, will document their case studies and potential answers from their perspective, their observatons and searches for evidence – narratively and multimedia-based.