Ephra on the road

What kind of materials do you prefer to work with? What tools do you use?
In which colour do you prefer to paint? Why did you become an artist?
What was your dream job when you were a child? Where do you get your ideas from?
For how long do you work on a piece of art? If you had one wish, what would it be?

Ephra on the road (Ephra unterwegs) is the core of Ephra. Together with groups of primary school pupils from different grades, we have been visiting various artists living in Berlin in their studios and interviewing them for half a year since 2018.

In the Ephra Studio the students first get to know themselves and each other. From rounds of introductions and getting-to-know-you games to artistic methods for perceiving and presenting one's own strengths and weaknesses, these introductory workshops contain everything needed to get to know the children's individual world and create a space for exchange. We invite experts to give the pupils professional input on topics such as photography or interviewing. With each group, we then visit four different artists who work in their studios all over Berlin. The artists are selected according to the themes, interests and everyday lives of the children.

The visits are conceived without any fixed expectations regarding the results in order to enable strong participation of the pupils and to focus on the dialogue between artist and child. An artistic-research approach is central. The aim is to encourage the students in their open view of the world and to encourage the artists to open up to the children's view. The children discover Berlin and its art, get to know new means of expression, practise asking questions and presenting themselves and are strengthened in their self-confidence. As part of the workshops, artists offer small artistic exercises with their art materials. In addition, the excursions are prepared together with the children and documented with their sketches, texts and photos.

 “I’m so full of ideas, I could explode.“

So far we have visited the following artists: Ilit Azoulay, Said Baalbaki, Sabine Beyerle, Özgür Erkök, Albrecht Fersch, Jay Gard, Wolfgang Georgsdorf, Stella Geppert, Lena von Goedeke, Ethan Hayes-Chute, Claudia Hill, Jeppe Hein, Christina Huber, Christian Jankowski, Michelle Jezierski, Ali Kaaf, Ruprecht von Kaufmann, Christopher Lehmpfuhl, Helge Leiberg, Ayumi Paul, Lilla von Puttkamer, Quadrature, kate-hers RHEE, Julia Rüther, Yorgos Sapountzis, Tomás Saraceno, Nadine Schemmann, Martina Schumacher, Zuzanna Skiba, Wie-Yi Takasaki-Lauw, Philip Topolovac, Ulrich Vogl, Nicole Wendel, Michael Wesely, René Wirths, Markus Wüste, Malte Zenses, Filip Zorzor and time and again Rebecca Raue in her studio.