2024 Graphic Design Excursion to Berlin: exploration and inspiration

10 February 2024

Berlin trip Years 2 & 3

Our second and third-year Graphic Design students embarked from January 31 – February 4 on a design journey to Berlin to extend their studies with exploration and inspiration.

The main part of the excursion was visiting the Transmediale, an annual festival for art and digital culture. The student-group was guided by our yearleads and tutors of year 2 &3: Hannes Bernard & Karin Korfmann and Marthe Prins & Louis Braddock Clarke.

Besides the dense programme of the Transmediale the students delved into the vibrant contemporary art scene, important museums and galleries and engaged with local graphic design practices.

Below you can find some reports of our participating students:

Eva Bragadóttir

"Going to Berlin for a few days was a super nice opportunity to explore, get inspired and get to know each other a bit better.

I was excited to attend Transmediale and the festival’s schedule of various events provided a nice structure to the trip. We had all the resources to get inspired and take in interesting topics at our own pace, which I appreciated a lot. It also made it possible to take nice breaks in between talks and exhibitions to explore the city, including its many nice cafes and second-hand stores.

As well as the festival we could visit other exhibitions and museums such as Hamburger Bahnhof, which was very interesting to visit. However, what stood out for me overall from the trip was definitely one of Transmediale’s exhibitions. It was called this is perfect, perfect, perfect and was a bit different from all the other events of Transmediale. I actually found the atmosphere quite eerie but the works on display were so unique and inspiring. The most memorable was an installation by Jenkin van Zyl, which was deeply unsettling but so insanely well executed that I couldn’t help but engage with it".

2024 GD Berlin trip Eva Bragadóttir 3
photo: Eva Bragadóttir
2024 GD Berlin trip Eva Bragadóttir 2
photo: Eva Bragadóttir
2024 GD Berlin trip Eva Bragadóttir 4
photo: Eva Bragadóttir
Reflecting on the trip, I feel it was the perfect mix of intellectual stimulation and fun moments. I came back to The Hague feeling refreshed and with plenty of good memories.
Eva Bragadóttir

Jasper Naus

"I had such a nice time on our recent school trip to Berlin and the Transmediale. A part of the group had their first stop at Hamburger Bahnhof where the main art collection was really nice and gave me some ideas for other classes.

We also checked out Kunstraum Kreuzberg, which used to be an old hospital. They had an exhibition called 'This Is Perfect, Perfect, Perfect' where one piece stood out to me. It was about astroturfing, where companies fake public protests. The artists staged a protest with people holding blank signs in green.

Aside from art, exploring Berlin was a lot of fun. We went to multiple different kinds of second-hand stores, bookshops, and stayed at a hostel where you could always find someone hanging around in the lobby. The breakfast wasn't great, but they did have a pool table which kinda made up for it.

And, of course, I couldn’t miss out on trying some of Berlin's beer. We spent evenings chilling in cozy bars, having parties, and getting to know each other better. Overall, it was a great trip filled with different experiences and a nice break from school, while still checking out some nice exhibitions."

2024 GD Berlin trip Jasper Naus 1
photo:Jasper Naus
2024 GD Berlin trip Jasper Naus 2
photo: Jasper Naus
2024 GD Berlin trip Jasper Naus 3
photo: Jasper Naus
2024 GD Berlin trip Jasper Naus 4
photo: Jasper Naus
2024 GD Berlin trip Jasper Naus 5
photo: Jasper Naus

Kim Akkermans

(Year 3)

"Berlin was a fun trip with many different activities. The main reason for this trip was to experience the Transmediale. The event itself was not the best but the festival’s main exhibition, located at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, was quite diverse and interactive.

If you come to Berlin, I would definitely check out if this place has an event as it is often a space for young people to showcase their works. I would also recommend the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum which shows a great range of works by known and unknown artists."

Matthew Moss

(Year 3)

"This year we went to Berlin for an educational trip to visit the Transmediale art festival and the lectures. After a long and funny bus journey from the Hague to Berlin, we finally made it to capital. We freshened up, and we headed over to the opening night of the festival. The, ‘this is perfect, perfect, perfect’ exhibition that a few of us managed to visit had a diverse range of work from various artists and makers. A particular work that stood out for me there was, ‘Demo’ by Juan Obando and Yoshua Okón.

This expansive green room that had other installation elements to bring it all together. I was drawn to the political elements of the work and it allowed me to further expand my overall awareness of installation based work that implements graphic design into it.

Another moment that stood out for me was being able to visit the ‘Hamburger Banhnhof’ museum and look at some of the work there.

I really enjoyed the independence and free-choice sort of trip this was, as it allowed for everyone to be able to go see and experience things that interested them rather than being dragged along to things you really weren’t keen on.
Matthew Moss

There was also ample time given to us to independently explore all the treasures that Berlin has to offer, which was made possible by having a travel pass for the four days we were there. Also, it was so easy and nice to be able to travel about the city with such ease. For example, we went to the really small independent book store. It was filled with gems and I think some of us even bought a few books and publications."

2024 GD Berlin trip Matthew Moss 1
photo: Matthew Moss
2024 GD Berlin trip Matthew Mosss 2
photo: Matthew Moss