Frederik Sukop: Hey, Bea! You were responsible for this year’s summaery design. Tell me, what were your thoughts behind it?

Beatrice Girth: This year’s summaery is hosted by the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism. Their motto this year is »Gardens« and, as a nod to the motto of the anniversary year of »23:ideas«, the slogan became »23:gardens«. A number of things inspired this: small ideas spaces that represent each individual exhibition at summaery, ultimately growing together. 

FS: How did that work out? The motto was chosen by the Faculty. How did you decide on the theme and apply it to what we see now?

BG: I find it a bit hard to explain a creative process like this; it often unfolds in a very chaotic way. In the end, what I did was select individual components and thought about how to visualise them -  each one separately. And then I looked for a way to bring them all together again. It’s important to keep in mind that when we talk about gardens, we are talking about a space, so I wanted to somehow make a two-dimensional media appear three-dimensional as well. 

FS: The posters from the last few years have all had some kind of thematic style elements. In 2018, for example, it was soundwaves. If I’m not mistake, this year’s theme is boxes, cubes... What does this mean?

BG: These »boxes« are inspired by allotment gardens, which —if you look at them from above— always form a grid. I mentioned earlier that I wanted to give these two-dimensional media a three-dimensionality. To do this, I decided to design the grid isometrically and extend it by doing so. That’s why we have the green and yellow boxes.

FS: Of course, the theme is summaery — summery, as it always has been. But why green and yellow? Is there more behind this beyond them being summery colours?

BG: Yes — absolutely. The summer vibe should be obvious. But the many individual shades of green are also meant to represent diversity at our university and all of our ideas. Also, people find it easiest to distinguish between shades of green on the colour spectrum. That’s why the colour was chosen.

FS: This is the last weekend before the summer break begins. What are you most looking forward to on this particular weekend?

BG: The end of the lecture period is definitely a good time to stop and take a breath, and also to look at what other students have accomplished during the semester. One highlight that I am looking forward to is the »Klangrausch«, which is organised by students and will take place on Saturday evening in the Main Building of the university. 

In the »FIVE QUESTIONS« interview series, various individuals at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar meet and ask one another five questions. Beatrice Girth and Frederik Sukop kick off the series.