Warte, später wird das nichts mehr sein. - Einzelansicht

'Wait, later this will be nothing' explores the format of the artist book as a vessel for interdisciplinary expressions of slowness and materiality in the post digital age. Artist books are works of art themselves, created as individual or limited editions. They push the boundaries of representation and storytelling by utilising unexpected materials and taking unorthodox forms. The course will encourage experimentation and collaboration with participants from a range of faculties, investigating themes of tactility, accessibility and temporality. Their artist books will be exhibited at the Winterwerkschau, and will be used to apply for a number of European artist book fairs in summer 2026, to showcase the output of the Bauhaus-Universität.

Interdisciplinarity | By inviting students from a broad range of disciplines and backgrounds, the course will encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and skill sharing. Through introducing a spectrum of artistic and critical positions, as well as introductions to relevant technical possibilities, the course remains as open and welcoming as possible. The universal format of a book allows for a level of accessibility rarely seen with other mediums, and is just as relevant to faculties outside of Art and Design. Creative workshops and joint feedback sessions will foster new cross disciplinary relationships between participants, and lead to the development of new forms of visual communication and story telling.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants can display an acute awareness of the history of artist books in the development of their individual presentations.
2. Participants can demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between different mediums and materials and how these can be used to construct meaning within the format of a book.
3. Participants are able to apply the practical and theoretical skills introduced during the course to the creation of their own artist book.
4. Participants can analyse the relationship between their own work and the broader artist book canon.
5. Participants are able to make a critical judgement on their own artist book based on a theoretical viewpoint introduced during the course.
6. Participants create a unique artist book that displays a sensitivity to the interplay between meaning, material, and form.

Didactic Concept | Students will engage with key texts through weekly readings, along with a selection of relevant texts in the library. They will be set practical exercises as homework to assist with the conceptual development of their artist book. Two compulsory field trips accompany the course, to the artist book archive at the university library and site visits to archives and collections in Berlin. Introductory lectures with examples of significant artist books will be presented to the students. Each student will give an input to the class about an artist book. The artist Jonathan Monk will give a guest lecture to discuss the importance of the book format to his expansive artistic practice. Prof. Sabine Golde, the head of the only specialist book art course in Germany at the Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, will also deliver a lecture and book binding workshop. Feedback sessions will enable students to refine their ideas and processes.

The course is conducted as a „Students' Bauhaus.Module" by Henry Charles Copas (stud. Ma KG). The mentorship lies with Florian Hesselbarth (KG).

Please email a brief introduction about yourself and your practice (3-4 sentences) and a portfolio with 4-5 recent works to henry.charles.copas@uni-weimar.de until October 12th, 2025.

Participants are expected to attend at least 80% of the scheduled 14 classes. Each student must contribute to class discussions and feedback sessions, and attend at least 1 each of the 2 scheduled field trips and guest lectures. A short research presentation and participation in the Winterwerkschau are the formal assessable requirements for the course. An additional written component must be completed by Masters students to demonstrate deeper critical thinking and interdisciplinary integration. Masters students are also required to attend an additional session after Winterwerkschau to construct an application template for submission to an artist book fair in Europe in summer 2026.