The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universities in the city. The university is known for being one of the biggest and most diversified universities of the arts worldwide. It has four colleges specialising in

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

, architecture, media and design, music and the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

with around 3,500 students. Thus the UdK is one of only three universities in Germany to unite the faculties of art and music in one institution. The teaching offered at the four colleges encompasses the full spectrum of the arts and related academic studies in more than 40 courses. Having the right to confer doctorates and post-doctoral qualifications, Berlin University of the Arts is also one of Germany's few art colleges with full university status. Outstanding professors and students at all its colleges, as well as the steady development of teaching concepts, have publicly defined the university as a high standard of artistic and art-theoretical education. Almost all the study courses at Berlin University of the Arts are part of a centuries-old tradition. Thus Berlin University of the Arts gives its students the opportunity to investigate and experiment with other art forms in order to recognise and extend the boundaries of their own discipline, at an early stage of rigorously selected artists and within the protected sphere of a study course. Within the field of visual arts, the university is known for the intense competition that involves the selection of its students, and the growth of applicants worldwide has increased during the years due to Berlin's important current role in cultural innovation worldwide. In the same way, the University of the Arts is publicly recognized for being on the cutting edge in the areas of Visual Arts, Fashion Design,

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

, and Experimental Design.

History

The university's origins date back to the foundation of ''Academie der Mal-, Bild- und Baukunst'' (Academy of the Art of Painting, Pictorial Art, and Architecture), the later Prussian Academy of Arts, at the behest of Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg. The two predecessor organisations were ''Königliche Akademische Hochschule für ausübende Tonkunst'' (Royal Academy of Musical Performing Art) established in 1869 under Joseph Joachim, which also had adopted the tradition of the famous Stern Conservatory, and the ''Berlin State School of Fine Arts'' founded in 1875. In 1975, both art schools merged under the name ''Hochschule der Künste Berlin, HdK''. The organization received the title of a university on 1 November 2001. File:Akademie der Künste Berlin 1902.jpg, Main Building in 1902 File:Berlin, Schoeneberg, Grunewaldstrasse 2-5, Medienhaus Universitaet der Kuenste.jpg, Media House File:Berlin joachimsthalsches gymnasium hauptgebaeude 09.10.2011 15-40-35.jpg, Joachimsthaler Gymnasium File:Charlottenburg Hardenbergstraße 41.JPG, Institute for Church Music File:UB TU Berlin Innenhof.JPG, Main Library File:Charlottenburg Konzertsaal der UDK.JPG, UDK Concert Hall

Exchange program

The exchange program with UDK is a direct enrollment program offered during the fall, spring, and academic year to students interested in the arts and with four semesters of German language study. Each academic year the school receives 100 exchange students on the basis of institutional agreements. Students participating in the exchange are required to subsidize their own accommodations with little help from the school.

Art fair

Annually, the university opens its doors to the public in its four colleges (UdK Rundgang), offering one of the most important art fairs in Berlin due to new proposals that highlight its young artists.

Notable alumni

Günter Grass (1986) by Erling Mandelmann

Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0119, Kurt Weill

* Claudio Arrau, pianist * Claudia Barainsky, soprano * Esther Berlin-Joel (1895–1972), graphic designer *

F. W. Bernstein F. W. Bernstein (born Fritz Weigle; 4 March 1938 – 20 December 2018) was a German poet, cartoonist, satirist, and academic. He worked for the satirical biweekly ''pardon''. After teaching at schools, he was professor of caricature and comics at ...

(1938–2018), poet, cartoonist, satirist and academic * Norbert Bisky, painter * Antonia Brico, pianist and conductor * Kai Bumann (1961–2022), conductor * Antonio Piedade da Cruz, (1895–1982) Indian painter and sculptor * Daniela Comani, painter * Marie Fillunger, opera singer * Caroline Fischer, pianist *

Bruno Flierl Bruno Flierl (born 2 February 1927 in Bolesławiec, Prussia) is a German architect, architecture critic, and writer. He is considered one of the most important figures in the architecture and city planning of East Germany. He assisted in the desig ...

, architect and city planner * Eduard Franck * Catherine Gayer, coloratura soprano *

Ria Ginster Ria Ginster (15 April 1898 – 11 May 1985) was a German soprano who appeared mainly in recital and concert, including international tours. She was an academic voice teacher at the Zürich Conservatory, and gave master classes internationally, i ...

, soprano * Leopold Godowsky, pianist *

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

, sculptor, 1999

Nobel prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

Burkhard Held Burkhard Held is German painter living and working in Berlin, Germany. His art is based on figuration dissolving into abstraction. Biography Held was born in 1953. He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts as a "Meisterschüler" (Master ...

, painter *

Carla Henius Carla Henius (4 May 1919 – 27 December 2002) was a German operatic soprano and mezzo-soprano, voice teacher and librettist. She played a decisive role in promoting recent works by composers such as Arnold Schönberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen and L ...

, mezzo-soprano *

Philip A. Herfort Philip Adolph Herfort (November 28, 1851 – March 24, 1921) was a German violinist, violist and orchestra leader. Early life and education He was born in Berlin, Prussia (now Germany), on November 28, 1851, to Jewish parents, Adolph (Aron) Herf ...

, violinist, orchestra leader * Arnulf Herrmann, composer * Li Hua, artist *

Ali Kaaf Ali Kaaf (born 1977) is a Syrian-born German visual artist. His artistic style focuses on pictorial language, and works to connect the worlds of Beirut, Berlin, and the United States. Education Kaaf studied Visual Art from 1994 to 1998 at th ...

, artist * Ingo Kühl, painter, sculptor and architect * Christian Leden, ethno-musicologist; composer *

Kim Yusob Kim Yusob (born 1959 in Gwangju) is a South Korean artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Seoul, South Korea. Biography After graduating from the Department of Fine Art at Chosun University, Gwangju, in 1983 Kim Yusob moved to ...

, South-Korean painter * Otto Kinkeldey, (1878–1966), musicologist, academic music library pioneer * Otto Klemperer, conductor * Uwe Kröger, actor, singer *

Felicitas Kukuck Felicitas Kukuck (2 November 19144 June 2001) was a German music educator and composer of opera and other works. Biography Felicitas Kukuck was born in Hamburg in 1914. Her parents encouraged their daughter's artistic development from childhood an ...

, composer * Josephine Meckseper, artist *

Una H. Moehrke Una Helga Moehrke (born July 7 1953 in Hanover) is a German visual artist specializing in painting, drawing, performance art and experimental text. She was a Professor for Art and Art Mediation at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in ...

, painter * Moritz Moszkowski, pianist, composer * Isabel Mundry, composer * Adolfo Odnoposoff, cellist *

Rudolph Polk Rudolph Polk (25 November 1892 New York, New York – 16 June 1957 Los Angeles) was an American concert violinist based in New York City during his early years and, during his later years, a Hollywood film director, film industry executive, and art ...

, violinist *

Enno Poppe Enno Poppe (born 30 December 1969 in Hemer, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German composer and conductor of classical music, and an academic teacher. Career Enno Poppe studied composition and conducting at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with ...

, composer * Max Raabe artist *

Hermann Rosendorff Hermann Rosendorff (1860–1935) was a violinist. Born in Berlin, he arrived in Australia in 1879. By 1887 he was first violin in J. B. Hickie's Theatre orchestra and enjoyed a career of thirty years involvement with His Majesty's Brisbane. He i ...

, conductor, composer * SEO, artist *

Herbert Schachtschneider Herbert Schachtschneider (5 February 1919 – 26 October 2008) was a German operatic tenor and voice teacher. Career Born in Allenstein, East Prussia (Olsztyn, Poland), Schachtschneider grew up in Berlin and began his private singing studies i ...

(1919–2008), operatic tenor *

Gabriel and Maxim Shamir Gabriel Shamir (1909-1992) and Maxim Shamir (1910-1990) were Israeli graphic designers. They designed Israel's official state emblems, medals, stamps and currency notes. Biography Guttel (Gabriel) and Maxim Sheftelowitz (later Shamir) were bor ...

, (previously Scheftelovich), early 1930s, Graphic Artists * Christine Schäfer, soprano *

Martina Schumacher Martina Schumacher (born 1972 in Geislingen an der Steige, Germany) is a painter and conceptual artist. ArtFacts.NetMartina Schumacher Education Concomitantly while attending Royal College of Art in London, Schumacher was a master student under t ...

, painter * Maya Shenfeld, composer and musician *

Paul Gutama Soegijo Paul Gutama Soegijo (29 January 1934 – 7 January 2019) was an Indonesian composer and musician, active in Berlin. Born in Yogyakarta on the island of Java, Soegijo studied composition with Boris Blacher at Berlin's . He began his compositional ...

, composer and musician * Kathrin Sonntag, artist *

Agnes Stavenhagen Agnes Stavenhagen (3 September 1860 – 30 September 1945), pseudonym Agnes Denis, was a German operatic soprano. Through her work at the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar, Weimarer Hoftheater and in concerts throughout Europe, s ...

, soprano * Bertha Tideman-Wijers, composer * Sarah Traubel, soprano *

Richard Aaker Trythall Richard Aaker Trythall (July 25, 1939 – December 21, 2022) was an American and Italian composer and pianist of contemporary classical music. Early life and education Trythall was born on July 25, 1939 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the younger b ...

, pianist, composer * Agnes Tschetschulin, composer, violinist *

Christa Frieda Vogel Christa Frieda Vogel is a German photographer who lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She has published several photo books and presented her work in national and international exhibitions. Biography Christa Frieda Vogel was born in 1960 in Mep ...

, photographer * Jorinde Voigt, artist * Ignatz Waghalter, composer, conductor * Bruno Walter, conductor *

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

, composer *

Wang Xiaosong Wang Xiaosong (Chinese: ; born 1964) is a Chinese artist and professor. Having studied in Beijing and Berlin from 1983 to 1997, Wang uses a confluence of Chinese and Western art in his works. Early life and education Wang was born in Wuhan, ...

, artist * Isang Yun, composer

Notable teachers

File:Olafur Eliasson 2015.jpg, Olafur Eliasson File:Ai Weiwei 2008.jpg, Ai Weiwei File:Vivienne Westwood Life Ball 2011 c.jpg, Vivienne Westwood File:Georg Baselitz by Erling Mandelmann.jpg,

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his subjects upside down in an effort to overcome the ...

* Hito Steyerl * Ai Weiwei 2012– *

Joseph Ahrens Joseph Johannes Clemens Ahrens (April 17, 1904 in Sommersell – December 21, 1997 in Berlin) was a German composer and organist. Ahrens received early training in organ and choral music with Wilhelm Schnippering in Büren and Fritz Volbach i ...

1945–1969 *

−2005 *

, (1984–1999) *

Jolyon Brettingham Smith Jolyon Brettingham Smith (9 September 1949 – 17 May 2008) was a British composer, Conducting, conductor, performer, author, and radio presenter, and a university teacher at the Berlin University of the Arts. Life and work Brettingham Smith w ...

1977–1981 *

Beatrix Borchard Beatrix Borchard (born 1950) is a German musicologist and author. The focus of her publications is the life and work of female and male musicians, such as Clara and Robert Schumann, Amalie and Joseph Joachim, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and Adriana H ...

Siegfried Borris Siegfried Borris (born Siegfried Jakob Boris Zuckermann; 4 November 1906 – 23 August 1987) was a German composer, musicologist and music educator. He became a lecturer at the Musikhochschule Berlin in 1929, but his career was interrupted during ...

* Katharina Sieverding * John Burgan 1996–2001 * Massimo Carmassi * Tony Cragg −2006 * Pascal Devoyon 1996– * Olafur Eliasson 2009–2014 *

Heinz Emigholz Heinz Emigholz (born 22 January 1948 in Achim, near Bremen, Germany) is a filmmaker, actor, artist, writer and producer. He lives and works in Berlin and Malta. Emigholz has produced a comprehensive filmic and artistic oeuvre and has also done p ...

Valérie Favre Valérie Favre (born 1959, Evilard, Switzerland) is a Berlin-based artist. Since 2006 she is Professor of painting at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. Background Valérie Favre grew up in the Swiss canton of Berne. Having worked as a stage ...

2006– * Emanuel Feuermann 1929–1933 * Friedrich Goldmann 1991–2005 * Christian Grube 1973– * Elisabeth Grümmer 1965–1986 *

Byung-Chul Han Byung-Chul Han (born 1959) is a South Korean-born philosopher and cultural theorist living in Germany. He was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts and still occasionally gives courses there. Life and work Byung-Chul Han studied ...

2012– *

Pál Hermann Paul Hermann (Budapest, 27 March 1902 – unknown 1944), also known as Pál Hermann, was a virtuoso cellist and composer. Career Hermann was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 27 March 1902 and came from a Jewish family. About his early childhood not ...

1902–1944 * Fons Hickmann 2007– * Paul Hindemith 1895–1963 *

Karl Hofer Karl Christian Ludwig Hofer or ''Carl Hofer'' (11 October 1878, Karlsruhe – 3 April 1955, Berlin) was a German expressionist painter. He was director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most prominent painters of expressionis ...

* Leiko Ikemura *

Amalie Joachim Amalie Marie Joachim (née Schneeweiss; 10 May 1839 – 3 February 1899) was an Austrian-German contralto, working in opera and concert and as voice teacher. She was the wife of the violinist Joseph Joachim, and a friend of Clara Schumann and J ...

* Joseph Joachim 1869–1907 * Gesche Joost 2011– *

Mark Lammert Mark Lammert (born 30 September 1960, in Berlin), is a German painter, illustrator, graphic artist and stage designer. He lives and works in Berlin. Biography Lammert studied painting at Kunsthochschule Berlin from 1979 to 1986 and from 1989 ...

2011– *

Mitzi Meyerson Mitzi Meyerson is an American harpsichordist and photographer. Biography She was born into a musical family in Chicago, Illinois, where she began her concert career at the age of seven. After completing her university and graduate studies in Ch ...

* Lula Mysz-Gmeiner 1920–1945 * Aurèle Nicolet 1926– *

Corinna von Rad Corinna von Rad (born 1971) is a German-American opera and theatre director. Biography Von Rad was born in 1971 in New York City. She descends from a patrician family. She studied musical theatre directing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theate ...

* Daniel Richter 2005–2006 * Max Rostal 1928–1933 *

Joachim Sauter Joachim Sauter (16 May 1959 – 10 July 2021) was a German media artist, designer and technology entrepreneur. He was appointed Professor for New Media Art and Design at the Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK (Berlin University of the Arts) in ...

1991–2021 *

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

1922–1933 *

Ernst Gerold Schramm Ernst Gerold Schramm (8 July 1938 – 8 June 2004) was a German baritone in opera and concert, and an academic voice teacher. He was a member of the Staatstheater Hannover and Oper Frankfurt ensembles and performed internationally. He taught at ...

* Clara Schumann 1819–1896Bertita Leonarz Harding, ''Concerto: The Story of Clara Schumann'', G.G. Harrap, 1962, p. 191. * Laszlo Simon 1981–2009 * Walter Stöhrer *

Witold Szalonek Witold Szalonek (born in 1927 in Czechowice-Dziedzice, died in 2001 in Berlin) was a Polish composer. In 1949-56 he studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. Following his first successes at international composers' competitions, h ...

1973–? *

Leo van Doeselaar Leo van Doeselaar (born 1954, Goes) is a Dutch classical organist and conductor. Leo van Doeselaar studied the organ (with Albert de Klerk) and piano (with Jan Wijn) at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. He was awarded by the Prix d'Excelle ...

1995–2019 * Jean-Philippe Vassal 2012– * Vivienne Westwood 1993–2005 * Josef Wolfsthal 1926–1931 * Ji-Yeoun You 2009– * Isang Yun (composer) 1970–85 * Siegfried Zielinski 2007– *

Walter Zimmermann Walter Zimmermann (born 15 April 1949) is a German composer associated with the Cologne School. Born in Schwabach, Germany, Zimmermann studied composition in Germany with Werner Heider and Mauricio Kagel, the theory of musical intelligence a ...

1993– *

Thomas Zipp Thomas Zipp (born 1966, Heppenheim, Germany) is an artist based in Berlin. Education Zipp studied at the Städelschule, Frankfurt (with Thomas Bayrle) and the Slade School London from 1992–1998. Work Art With a palette that favors burnt umber ...

2008–

References

External links

Berlin University of the Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin University Of The Arts Music schools in Germany Performing arts education in Germany Universities and colleges in Berlin Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Public universities Educational institutions established in the 1690s 1696 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire