Matriculation Ceremony 2023 - Speeches

WELCOME TO STUDY
Dr. Simon Frisch
Vice-President of Student & Academic Affairs

WELCOME TO WEIMAR
Peter Kleine
Mayor of the City of Weimar

KEYNOTE SPEECH »Beginner's Luck«
Dr. Theres Rohde
Director of the Museum für Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt
Graduate of Media Culture

Dear President Peter Benz,
Dear Mayor Kleine,
Dear colleagues, dear guests,
And, most importantly, dear first-year students!

Congratulations on starting your studies at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

My name is Simon Frisch and I am Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs. It is my great pleasure and honour to welcome you to your studies.

I have been reflecting on what today and the next days, the next weeks, in fact the next years of your studies might mean for you, and for all of us.

In these introductory days, I often hear from people whose studies took place some time ago that: Your time at university is the best time of your life. And now you are beginning your studies. I find it is overstepping to tell you that now is going to be, is supposed to be, the best time of your life – complaisant, even! I mean, what are you supposed to say to that?

Let me reassure you.

It's not like that.

It is not the best time of your life; at least it won’t always feel like it.  Starting university is an exciting new phase. It is an intense time: irritating, uncertain and overwhelming. Sometimes it can be crowded, sometimes very lonely. Not always, of course, but often. And this is normal.

You will experience exhausting phases, phases where you won’t understand, where you are overwhelmed, full of doubt and afraid. Afraid of failing, of not being enough, afraid of showing up, afraid that you won’t succeed – and that's normal.

You will experience inhibitions and writer's block. You will feel bogged down, like you're losing yourself, like you don't even know yourself anymore. And that's is normal.

And your head will spin, you might not be able to sleep, you may not be able to settle own and you may not have any strength left– this is all normal – if you are studying properly!

You are growing, you are gaining new skills, new powers and new perspectives. The world will change, you will change. You are growing and these new dimensions are unfamiliar. You will have to learn and practice navigating these new abilities and skills.

The things that you learn and practice here will help you to be effective in shaping the world. In your practical application - whether it is architecture or urban planning, civil engineering, art or design, theory or computer science - in each of these instances, you learn here how to become effective and shape the world. You are developing new skills here. And this is not without risk; you need to learn to use these skills responsibly. Professor X from X-Men always tells his students: You must master your powers, or they will master you.

And so it is absolutely true that this is the most beautiful time of your life that you are starting right now, even though it won’t always feel like it. Precisely because it is an intense time: irritating, uncertain and overwhelming, a time of excessive demands, and sometimes a crowded time and sometimes a very lonely time. This period has its own special beauty. After all: You are forming your own identity, establishing your own authorship, whether in designing, calculating, planning, programming, drawing, painting, building, writing or building, discussing, gluing, assembling, recording or sending, installing, compiling or celebrating. No matter how it is expressed, no matter the discipline learned and practised: At the Bauhaus-Universität you learn a language that is your own. And what is perhaps most exhausting of all is learning this one thing: Nothing is a given.

»In these trying times«...I had planned to say this next, but decided against it. I don’t want to make another imposition on you. And certainly not one that tell you that your studies are beginning in a particularly difficult time. Besides, that’s not true at all: Every time is difficult, and every time is difficult in different ways Now is your time, it belongs to you – and you to it. Others had and have other times and other challenges – and at all times, they have said: in these trying times.

Nothing is a given.

As a Bauhaus institution, we sometimes identify ourselves with the traditional Bauhaus, founded here in Weimar just over 100 years ago n 1919, and at this point in time, this is appropriate. When the Bauhaus was founded, a World War had just ended. The world had completely changed. The terrible experience of the war was, for many, a message that we could not go on as we had before.  Everything old, everything that had worked in the past, was no longer applicable But a different future did not come on its own; it had to be shaped. And this new design had to be learned – and it had to be taught. But how? The Bauhaus – and this is why I tell you this – was presented with the task of establishing a form of teaching that was no longer dictated by the knowledge and values of the past. This form of teaching had to be based on and in the present, and it had to be directed from the present into the future. And so, a curriculum was created in which nothing was taken for granted. Everything was deconstructed into its most basic forms, colours, abstractions, analysis, etc. – classic modernism.

I tell you this because we are living in a time where many things can no longer be taken for granted. Because today we are again called upon to re-establish our learning in the present. Because we find fewer and fewer answers by looking at the past.

You are now beginning your studies. And this noble task of not taking anything for granted falls to you. This is exactly why it is true, and at the same time untrue, when people say: Your time at university is the best time of your life. Because it is too big today – and because later, you will say: that’s when I grew up.

You will develop the foundations upon which you can form judgements and evaluations. Judgements and evaluations based on the times you live in. Judgements and evaluations based on what is and isn’t important – when and because nothing is a given.

Always question, but don’t always doubt. We are here too: the faculty, your fellow students, staff in the departments, advising services, administration, in the departments, in the library, in the study programmes, etc. etc. We all come to work every day so that you can study here. Don’t hesitate to reach out. Especially in Weimar, we are not hard to find. Come to us, talk to us. And if someone doesn’t have time to talk, someone else will. Talk to us even when you don’t know what to say or when you don’t know what to ask. It is incredibly important, and I experience this again and again in conversations with students, that we get to know one another and that we engage in conversation.

But most importantly, take action! Think, read, write, draw, tinker, calculate, design, discuss! Explore the University and the world - yours and others' - with your eyes, ears, hands and with your nose. Get to know one another and get to know yourself. Learn how to fail over and over, and learn how to succeed. Look to the future, but also to the past. Where is forwards? Where is backwards? Where is up? Where is down? Take on challenges, and skip one every now and again. Soar to the highest heights and discover how far you can see. Explore the deepest valleys and discover the water that collects there, that you can drink or cross quickly by boat. Travel over plains and search for their challenges. Maybe you’ll find them, or perhaps something else?

Turn around again and again: Your eyes, your ears, your arms, your fingers, your thoughts, the pages of books, machines, tools. Don’t settle for one single view; play around with the distances. Get close up, and go far away. Look directly into it, and take a cursory glance too. Close your eyes. And listen. And stop listening sometimes too. Hold on, and let go. Take a break, and get going. Move forward, and fall down. Stand up, or stay down. Step aside, to one side and then the other. Get flexible – your ankles, your hips, your neck and your head.

You are beginning your studies now! And I – we – wish you courage, strength and confidence! May it be a time of special beauty in your life!

Thank you!

Dear Prof. Benz
Dear Dr. Frisch
Dear StuKo (Student Government) Board
Dear deans, professors, lecturers and students
And above all: Dear first-year students

Welcome to Weimar, and welcome to the Bauhaus-Universität!

I hope you have been enjoying your time in Weimar so far and have had the opportunity to explore the city and University and to meet your fellow students during the Student Orientation Week.

The city is quite small, as you may have noticed, so I’m sure you’ve already had a chance to explore the essentials of the city in the few days leading up to the start of your studies.

It only takes a few minutes to reach the end of the city on a bicycle, and it only takes slightly longer if you’re on foot. Finding clubs and big parties in Weimar can be a bit of a challenge.

But according to the students in Weimar, this may not necessarily be a drawback. In fact, those who choose to study in Weimar can anticipate a unique microcosm and a familial environment in which students receive the close supervision and support of the University.

If the city doesn’t have a lot in the direction of exciting nightlife, what else does it have to offer?

Weimar is of great significance for German culture and history. Goethe, Schiller, Bach, Liszt, Nietzsche and the Bauhaus geniuses surrounding Walter Gropius all worked and lived here. All of them have drawn inspiration from the highly vaunted atmosphere of this city and played a significant role in shaping its essence. The city continues to exude their spirit to this day.

Weimar also holds significance in terms of its democratic history: The constituent National Assembly met here in 1919. The first democratic constitution for all of Germany was drafted here, and its values – including equal rights, abolition of the death penalty, adherence to the rule of law and so on – still apply today.

However, the name Buchenwald is also strongly associated with the city. More than 56,000 people died in the concentration camp located on a nearby hill known as Ettersberg.

Weimar should therefore be considered as a whole. The city’s essence is deeply rooted in the conflicting poles of high culture and barbarism.

The Bauhäusler in Weimar personally witnessed this period of history.

From the very beginning, people cast wary glances at these eccentric students who were not exclusively occupied with painting, design and architecture, as was expected of proper students of that era.

It was also about a certain mindset towards life and the quest for an answer to the question of, »How do we want to live?«

They caused quite a stir with their search for answers, which involved

wild costume parties, skinny-dipping in the Ilm River and culinary experiments such as »Icelandic moss pudding« and »garlic cold dish«.

The Weimar bourgeoisie considered all of this to be beyond the pale at the time.

The outrage was something that the members of the movement could bear, and it is clear that their provocations were also a deliberate stylistic choice. However, the fact that the Bauhaus in Weimar ultimately met such an inglorious end and was expelled from the city by the Nazis was truly shocking. It’s an unfortunate event that will have reached its 100th anniversary in 2025.

The Bauhaus was located here for a mere six years. The traces it left behind endure to this day, and every fresh group of new students adds their own impetus, carries on the journey and perhaps discovers a few intriguing detours along the way.

When I look through your ranks, I have a strong sense of confidence in your ability to handle the important tasks that lie ahead of you.

»What makes Weimar is the people!« is what a student once said a few years ago – and it’s true. I would also like to mention that the students of the Bauhaus-Universität contribute greatly to the unique atmosphere of the city. All of you belong to Weimar and will be living in this city for at least the next few years.

I am asking you to become a part of the city, to actively contribute to its development, to challenge norms, to disregard conventions and to embrace an unconventional approach – following in the footsteps of your predecessors from over a century ago. However, as the person responsible for ensuring public order, I am obliged to refrain from stating all of this too openly. Instead, I would like to discreetly emphasize the importance of adhering to the relevant laws.

No matter where you come from – whether Delhi, Beijing, Valencia or Grossbrembach – both the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the city itself provide ideal circumstances for exploring and embracing a creative, pragmatic, innovative and inquisitive way of exploring how we want to live.

Regardless of your field of study, this question will always be with you, and I am curious to see how the answers you discover during your studies will be applied in Weimar. One example that comes to mind is the Spielpunkt am Graben, a new »play point« in the city centre of Weimar that includes street furniture created by two students from the Bauhaus-Universität’s Produktdesign (Product Design) programme. It has been serving as a multifunctional space for people of all ages since January.               

I would be delighted if you were to choose to remain in Weimar after your studies, as it would allow you to witness the positive outcomes of your efforts in the city.

I know that at first glance, Hamburg, Berlin or pursuing a career abroad might appear highly appealing. However, in Weimar, you will enjoy a welcoming and familial environment even after your studies are complete. Networks are very quickly established in this city, as it is a place where you can easily discover competent partners and where the infrastructure is perfectly suited for young professionals.

Despite its size, Weimar is a media hub that demands attention and features an impressive array of offerings in the form of the Pressehaus, multiple local radio stations, cultural channel ARD Kultur and regional public broadcaster mdr.

Weimar also has a lot going for it as a business destination and offers optimal conditions, especially for start-ups. Our Office of Economic Affairs and Markets, for example, uses rental payment assistance to foster the founding of creative enterprises and technology/knowledge-based businesses in particular.

However, all of this is still a long way off at the moment. For now I would like to say that I am happy that you have chosen to pursue your studies in our city. Make yourself at home here, savour the experience, and when the time for your studies to conclude ultimately arrives, I hope that you will fondly think back on this day.

I hope you have a wonderful time in Weimar!

Thank you!

Dear President, dear Mayor, dear Student Government, dear professors, lecturers and university staff. And above all: dear first-year students, 

Matriculation Ceremony at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar – wow.

I know you’ve been through a lot – passed your school leaving examination, written applications, given your all in entrance exams, nervously waited for results and responses, hoped, fretted, jittered...

ACCEPTANCE

Then the big question: do I definitely still want this? Here of all places?

Decided. For Weimar. For the Bauhaus-Universität.

My congratulations are already in order: good choice, very good choice!

Many of those near me in this room can underscore this sentiment – especially you, Mr. Peter Benz.

We know each other. Do you remember?

Winter semester of 2003. Exactly 20 years ago, I commenced my studies at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and found myself in your Media Design course. The auspicious title: Beginner’s Luck.

You don’t remember? Not entirely surprising since I was pretty much average in your course.

And I can already tell you this, dear students: average is not memorable.

So, what am I doing here amongst you, and why wasn’t I one of the whiz kids?

There were two main reasons.

·       Firstly: I had only average talent when it came to creating my own designs.

·       Secondly: I wasn’t very convincing.

Because I didn’t study Media Design, but Medienkultur. Back then they were still part of the same faculty. The study regulations stipulated that, in the first semesters, you were also required to complete credits in the faculty’s other degree programmes.

So it was a choice between Media Design and Media Systems, which is now known as Computer Science.

It wasn’t such a difficult decision.

My interests were art and design. Computer science indubitably meant too much mathematics, too many systems, too little media.

Because my interests were the reason I was here. I too, I concede, wanted to do something with media.

Ah, yes – with culture, too. After all, that’s why I wanted to come to Weimar, no doubt about it.

Because where better to learn about culture than here? Here, where concentrated facets of German history – both dazzling and jet-black – as well as art and culture meet.

Goethe, Schiller, van de Velde and – certainly not to be forgotten – the Bauhaus!

But the choice was also influenced by the special orientation of the studies and by the people passionately advertising at fairs and university information days. I remember a speech there by Prof. Lorenz Engell so inspiring that I knew: it must be Weimar – here, and nowhere else.

So, like you, dear freshmen, I also applied, then waited, hoped, fretted and jittered… And was overjoyed when the acceptance finally came.

Suddenly I was no longer at the close of a chapter in my life, but at the opening of a new one. At the beginning of my life, it felt like, because I was so buoyed with beginner’s luck.

As I hope you are at this moment, and I don’t mean this so much in the usual sense ascribed to the term.

Beginner’s luck: someone who has no idea about anything but simply gets lucky.

I don’t subscribe to that at all. Because virtually none of you were accepted here purely on the basis of luck.

Even if there wasn’t always a Numerus clausus or an entrance exam, at least one decision had to be made: to study here, and – excuse me, Mr. Kleine – thus also to choose to study in a more provincial location.

And if this choice did coincidentally ensue from beginner’s luck, well: lucky you!

There is a second meaning hidden in this chosen term: the luck of being a beginner.

The world, with all its possibilities, now lies at your feet.

I know this can be daunting: the possibilities are simply illimitable, and with that comes the danger of choosing incorrectly.

Also because it sometimes feels like we will be experiencing the future of this world – with all its problems – through shattered glasses rather than rose-coloured ones.

Nevertheless: the possibilities are there for the taking, and they will likely never again be so numerous and so within reach than at the beginning of your studies.

Beginner’s luck flooded me with endorphins and I started full of enthusiasm. I was in Weimar – what was going to happen?

I’d chosen to pursue the Medienkultur degree programme; few people could imagine what it would involve, or more than that, where it would all lead.

I felt good about it, although I didn’t have many conclusive answers at hand to appease the sceptics.

In the first days of study, so far from home, numerous acquaintances were made in a short time. But knowing many people did not yet mean I was at home here.

And then there was the permanent overload in the first weeks. For me it looked a bit like this: course; introduction to Medienkultur, allocation of papers, which lot did I draw? Michel Foucault, The Historical A Priori and the Archive

Prof. Engell, I admit it 20 years later: I didn’t understand any of it at the time.

And so, the reverse side of beginner’s luck revealed itself. For long stretches, it felt as though I really had no idea about anything at all, and that really detracted from my happiness.

I’m sorry to say this feeling has nothing to do with the highly philosophical Medienkultur texts, but is instead associated with all the other subjects, particularly the natural sciences, and it will last for a while.

But I can tell you this: it will pass, or at least get better.

The studies didn’t get any easier, but as each semester passed, the overall picture became clearer; it became increasingly evident that it wasn’t about individual courses, but that everything together constituted part of a whole.

Yes, perhaps I also became smarter – or at least more well-read.

But that wasn’t enough; I didn’t acquire the tools necessary for life simply in the lecture theatres and seminar rooms.

Gathering practical knowledge is necessarily just as important.

So, I did my first internship at Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Naturally: after all, I wanted to do something with media.

And then came the bitter realisation:  this wasn’t my calling.

I neither liked radio, nor did I seem to be particularly talented in that area. Beginner’s luck had left me frustrated.

Was this not the path I wanted to take? Was there any sense in it all? Did this internship, which afforded me little joy, even teach me anything?

I now know the answer: yes! I still didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but at least I had discovered what I didn’t want.

So, I tried my hand in the most diverse fields of cultural work: DNR; the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs at the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany; the Program and Culture Department at the Goethe-Institut in Washington D.C.

I developed a continuous routine in practical work as a student assistant in University Communications.

This experience was just as important for my path as the studies themselves. There I also met such inspiring people, especially women, who let me learn from them and simultaneously facilitated my own growth.

They gave me responsibility for a major task: coordinating the Bauhaus Walks, which were just being established at that time.

There I learned to lead. The group of guides, myself and of course the guests who took part in the daily tours.

And that was really a school of life. Look out: this might be a bit clichéd, but as an educated media studies scholar, I affirm the following Forrest Gump quote, if I may: »Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.«

School classes, tourists, journalists, wannabe celebrities, prominent politicians.

Cultural enthusiasts, people forced into the programme of another organisation or event, know-it-alls.

You would learn to react spontaneously to all this. Beginner’s luck didn’t help here – only routine and growing expertise.

You develop a feeling for people, for conflict situations in randomly formed groups and, above all, for telling stories and histories.

The knowledge of Bauhaus that I accumulated in this process sustained me throughout my studies, my Master’s thesis and my doctoral dissertation.

Even today, this knowledge still supports me in my role as director of the Museum for Concrete Art and Design.

I am enthusiastic about the ideas of Bauhaus and I consider passing on such enthusiasm across various levels to be the essence of my work.

So here I am now, at the museum, and you might ask: how did that happen?

Wasn’t there this desire back in 2003 to do something with media?

In retrospect, everything in my curriculum vitae made sense, although it didn’t always feel like it.

The classic path to a museum certainly looks different: Art History studies, volunteer work, curator, director.

I skipped the first two stages.

After my studies came the desire to complete a doctorate, which began with a slew of setbacks. From today’s perspective it all looks so clearly chronological, but back then I went through rejection after rejection until I was finally accepted for a scholarship.

Again I was at a beginning phase, but this time the feeling of beginner’s luck wouldn’t set in. Instead came what I can retrospectively say was the hardest time of my life.

Never had I felt such self-doubt. There was always something more to read, more to know, more archives to visit, more to do: was I good enough? Wait, good wasn’t enough – was I brilliant enough?

Today I feel a sense of unbelievable gratitude for that, for the scholarship, for the time that was given to me to be able to familiarise myself with a subject in such a way, and for all the professors and fellow students who guided and accompanied me along the way.

Even if I didn’t feel this way at the time, I am also grateful for an experience of a completely different kind: that of recognising one’s own limitations. Not everyone is born to be an academic genius. Be glad, dear freshmen, that you will surely meet so many people around you, because you really do learn from the best at the Bauhaus-Universität.

I knew my path wouldn’t lead in the direction of a professorship but would instead come to an end after submitting my doctoral thesis, whereby I once again found myself at a fork in the road of my life. Another new beginning.

There it was again, the familiar feeling of being a beginner, clinging to the hope that beginner’s luck would propel me. It seemed I hoped in vain.

The phenomenon of a shortage of skilled workers was less prevalent in the field of humanities at that time.

After many rejected applications, I wrote a speculative application to the Museum für Konkrete Kunst.

Blessed be the lucky – they were looking for someone in the inventory department.

I asked myself, was this something I could do? My answer: yes!

So I took a – quite literally – hands-on approach to the art housed in this museum and got to know the collection in a way that no description on paper could ever convey. Smaller exhibition projects followed.

Fortunate circumstances led to the position of curator becoming vacant. Therein I found it, my calling: from now on, only preparing exhibitions.

Five years of utter professional fulfilment followed.

And then, another new crossroads. The museum’s director moved to another institution.

There it was, the great opportunity, but with so many uncertainties…

I was faced with an elaborate application process full of top-tier competition. Luck could no longer help me here.

Instead, there was the possibility of failing in a public setting, of stepping back into the second row, of not getting along with the new supervisor, the feeling of having to apply elsewhere even though this city had become my home.

Even if I succeeded: would I like it? In terms of job description, it would be a far cry from what I had fallen so in love with. Creating exhibitions. Instead it would entail budgets, bureaucracy, politics.

I took the risk, applied and succeeded.

At the age of 37, I had become director of the Museum für Konkrete Kunst. Now I design on a completely different scale and find myself in a job that, although not fun every day, always gives me pleasure.

The name of this museum has come up a few times now. No one wants to admit it and risk coming across as a philistine, but I’m quite sure very few people know what Concrete Art actually is.

Concrete Art emancipates itself from the representational in art. That is, its aim is not to depict objects, landscapes, faces or anything else worldly, but to focus on forms, colours, materials, systems and even their own rhythms.

They are not only means in art; they are at the same time its content.

The manifesto for this art movement, compiled in 1930, states: “We foresee the time of pure painting. Because nothing is more concrete, more real, than a line, a colour, a surface.”

What does all this remind us of? The Bauhaus, especially Johannes Itten’s preliminary course.

In fact, therein lies one of the roots of Concrete Art; works by Max Bill or Josef Albers are thus also among the finest in our collection.

So who coined the term “Concrete Art” almost a century ago? Theo van Doesburg.

And where did he stay in the years before coining the term? In Weimar.

And so, the circle closes. The knowledge I acquired in Weimar can never be taken away from me and it forms the basis of everything I do.

How lucky I was to have started right here 20 years ago.

Beginner’s luck? That has accompanied me from time to time.

Although I don’t actually believe in the concept, I do believe in another model: I believe in the luck of the capable!

To be capable – I also can’t give that up anymore.

For it is now my task to lead Concrete Art into the future, and for this purpose we are building a much larger museum building, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

Although this art form – which began with Kasimir Malevich’s Black Square painting on a white background – has changed, it remains relevant. For the preoccupation with the materials of our time, with the systems, continues.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have chosen your course back then, Peter Benz, but one in media systems?

Indeed, I would have been better equipped to deal with the architects and civil engineers during the many building sessions I now attend on a weekly basis.

But I have it on good authority that media systems – computer science – certainly wouldn’t have been something for me. You see, I ended up marrying the media systems engineer who was my neighbour in the student hall of residence.

You can find all kinds of things in Weimar – even love.

You, dear freshmen, are now at the beginning of it all. You are likely searching for something that cannot yet be fully grasped.

My story will most definitely differ from many of the stories of my fellow students back then, as too will your lives develop differently.

You belong to a different generation than mine, you face a different set of world problems in your younger years than I did back then.

Start looking, be active, but also take time to find yourself. I didn’t find my profession, my calling found me.

I was able to recognise it, too, because so many inspiring people, professors, lecturers and staff of this university – but also friends and kindred spirits in Weimar – led me to the realisation. So now is also the moment for me to say thank you to all those people in Weimar! I think you already know who you are.

Dear freshmen,

·       I wish for you to also find such people, especially for those times when things aren’t going so well.

·       I wish you the strength to endure any doubts you have.

·       I wish you experiences that show you what you don’t want, so that what you do want becomes ever clearer.

·       I wish for you to go out into the world, and that the many turns you take in life do not lead to dead ends.

·       I wish you the wherewithal to extricate yourself from any dead ends you do find yourself in.

·       I wish for you to find something that helps you find yourself again.

·       I wish you something that enraptures you!

None of this is a given.

But for this moment, I wish you one thing above all:

Hold on tight to the feeling gripping you right now: to be here at the beginning of all the possibilities.

Throw yourself into the here and now, into the fantastic luck of being a beginner.