The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, is the second largest

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four

research universities A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of knowledge production", along with "intergenerational knowledge transfer and the ...

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 (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

and

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

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 involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

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 visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

, 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 The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

Fashion Design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A 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 adva ...

, and

Experimental Design The design of experiments (DOE), also known as experiment design or experimental design, is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. ...

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 The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

, 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 Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely ...

, 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 A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

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

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean and American pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque music, baroque to 20th-century classical music, 20th-century composers, especially B ...

(1903-1991), Chilean and American pianist * Claudia Barainsky, soprano * Else Berg (1877–1942), German-born Dutch painter *

Esther Berlin-Joel Esther Berlin-Joel (also known as Esther Berli-Joel, Esther Barli-Joel, ; May 2, 1895 – March 7, 1972) was a German-born Israelis, Israeli painter and graphic designer. She designed the coat of arms, coats of arms for the Israeli cities of Haif ...

(1895–1972), German-born Israeli painter and graphic designer * F. W. Bernstein (1938–2018), poet, cartoonist, satirist and academic * Norbert Bisky, painter * Jacob Brandenburg (1899-1981), Polish-born Israeli sculptor * Guy Braunstein (born 1971), Israeli-American composer, conductor, and classical violinist * Antonia Brico, pianist and conductor * Kai Bumann (1961–2022), conductor * Michael Chapman, artist * Antonio Piedade da Cruz, (1895–1982) Indian painter and sculptor * Daniela Comani, painter * Alexander Davidis, television director *

Gunter Demnig Gunter Demnig (born 27 October 1947) is a German artist. He is best known for his ''Stolperstein'' ("stumbling block") memorials to the victims of Nazi persecution, including Jews, homosexuals, Romani people, Romani and the disabled. The project ...

(born 1947), artist * Marie Fillunger, opera singer * Caroline Fischer, pianist * Bruno Flierl, architect and city planner * Eduard Franck * Catherine Gayer, coloratura soprano * Ria Ginster, soprano *

Leopold Godowsky Leopold Mordkhelovich Godowsky Sr. (13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher, born in what is now Lithuania to Jewish parents, who became an United States of America, American citizen in 1891. He ...

, pianist * Berthold Goldschmidt (1903–1996), composer *

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm 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 Danzig (now Gda ...

, sculptor, 1999

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

* Ilse Häfner-Mode (1902-1973), artist * Burkhard Held, painter * Carla Henius, mezzo-soprano * Philip A. Herfort, violinist, orchestra leader * Arnulf Herrmann, composer * Li Hua, artist * Hanoch Jacoby (1909–1990), Israeli composer and viola player * Ali Kaaf, artist * David Kaplan (born 1983), American piano soloist and chamber musician *

Leo Kestenberg Leo Kestenberg (27 November 1882 – 13 January 1962) was a German-Israeli classical pianist, music educator, and cultural politician. Working for the government in Prussia from 1918, he began a large-scale reform of music education (''Kesten ...

(1882–1962). German-Israeli classical pianist, music educator, and cultural politician * Lilli Kuschel, artist, filmmaker * Ingo Kühl, painter, sculptor and architect * Christian Leden, ethno-musicologist; composer * Kim Yusob, South-Korean painter * Otto Kinkeldey, (1878–1966), musicologist, academic music library pioneer *

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...

, conductor * Günter Kochan (1930–2009) , composer * Uwe Kröger, actor, singer * Felicitas Kukuck, composer * Josephine Meckseper, artist * Una H. Moehrke, painter * Moritz Moszkowski, German-Polish pianist, composer *

Isabel Mundry Isabel Mundry (born 20 April 1963) is a German composer. Life and work Isabel Mundry was born in Schlüchtern, Hesse in 1963 and studied composition at the Berlin University of the Arts, Hochschule der Künste and electronic music, musicology and ...

, composer * Adolfo Odnoposoff, cellist * Karl Oppermann, painter * Rudolph Polk, violinist * Enno Poppe, composer *

Max Raabe Max Raabe (born Matthias Otto, 12 December 1962) is a German jazz singer. He is best known as the founder and leader of the Palast Orchester. Career Raabe developed an interest in the sound of German dance and film music of the 1920s and 193 ...

artist * Hermann Rosendorff, conductor, composer * SEO, artist * Herbert Schachtschneider (1919–2008), operatic tenor * Gabriel and Maxim Shamir, (previously Scheftelovich), early 1930s, Latvian-Israeli graphic artists * Christine Schäfer, soprano * Karl Ulrich Schnabel (1909–2001), Austrian pianist *

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

(1874–1951), Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher, and writer * Martina Schumacher, painter * Maya Shenfeld, Jerusalem-born composer and musician * Paul Gutama Soegijo, composer and musician * Kathrin Sonntag, artist * Thomas Spiegelhalter, academic * Agnes Stavenhagen, soprano *

Bertha Tideman-Wijers Albertha Wilhelmina Tideman-Wijers (8 January 1887 – 1 January 1976) was a Dutch composer who lived in Indonesia for almost two decades and incorporated Indonesian elements into her compositions. She published her music under the name Bertha Tide ...

, composer * Sarah Traubel, soprano * Richard Aaker Trythall, pianist, composer * Agnes Tschetschulin, composer, violinist * Christa Frieda Vogel, photographer * Jorinde Voigt, artist *

Ignatz Waghalter Ignatz Waghalter (15 March 1881 – 7 April 1949) was a Poland, Polish-Germany, German composer and conducting, conductor. Early life Waghalter was born into a poor but musically accomplished Jewish family in Warsaw. His eldest brother, Henryk W ...

, composer, conductor *

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...

(born Bruno Schlesinger), 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 hi ...

, German-born American composer * Stefan Wolpe (1902–1972) , German-born American composer. * Wang Xiaosong, artist *

Isang Yun Isang Yun, or Yun I-sang (; 17 September 1917 – 3 November 1995), was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany. Early life and education Yun was born in Sancheong (Sansei), Korea under Japanese rule, Korea in 1917, ...

(1917-1995), composer

Notable teachers

File:Olafur Eliasson 2015.jpg,

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson (; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scaled installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's experience. In 1995, ...

File:Ai Weiwei 2008.jpg,

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...

File:Vivienne Westwood Life Ball 2011 c.jpg,

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (; 8 April 1941 – 29 December 2022) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. In 2022, ''Sky Arts'' ranked her the ...

File:Georg Baselitz by Erling Mandelmann.jpg,

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...

* Shinkichi Tajiri 1969 - * Ineke Hans 2017 – *

Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image visual artist, artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...

2012– * Joseph Ahrens 1945–1969 *

−2005 * F. W. Bernstein, (1984–1999) * Jolyon Brettingham Smith 1977–1981 * Beatrix Borchard * Siegfried Borris * Katharina Sieverding * John Burgan 1996–2001 *

Massimo Carmassi Massimo Carmassi (born 5 June 1943 in San Giuliano Terme near Pisa) is an Italian architect. Biography Massimo Carmassi graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Florence in 1970. In 1974, he established the Project Office of the Commun ...

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

−2006 * Pascal Devoyon 1996– *

2009–2014 * Heinz Emigholz * Valérie Favre 2006– * Emanuel Feuermann 1929–1933 * Friedrich Goldmann 1991–2005 * Christian Grube 1973– * Elisabeth Grümmer 1965–1986 * Byung-Chul Han 2012– * Pál Hermann 1902–1944 * Fons Hickmann 2007– *

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

1895–1963 * Karl Hofer *

Leiko Ikemura is a Japanese-Swiss artist who works in a variety of mediums, including oil painting, sculpture, and watercolor. She divides her time between Cologne and Berlin, teaching painting at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Active on the internat ...

* Amalie Joachim *

1869–1907 * Gesche Joost 2011– * Mark Lammert 2011– * Axel Kufus 2004 – * Lula Mysz-Gmeiner 1920–1945 * Aurèle Nicolet 1926– * Corinna von Rad * Daniel Richter 2005–2006 * Max Rostal 1928–1933 * Joachim Sauter 1991–2021 *

1922–1933 * Ernst Gerold Schramm *

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

1819–1896Bertita Leonarz Harding, ''Concerto: The Story of Clara Schumann'', G.G. Harrap, 1962, p. 191. * Laszlo Simon 1981–2009 * Walter Stöhrer * Karl Oppermann 1971-1996 * Witold Szalonek 1973–? * Leo van Doeselaar 1995–2019 * Jean-Philippe Vassal 2012– *

1993–2005 * Josef Wolfsthal 1926–1931 * Ji-Yeoun You 2009– *

(composer) 1970–85 * Siegfried Zielinski 2007– * Walter Zimmermann 1993– * Thomas Zipp 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