Kusama Kids Programme
The exhibition Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective in Berlin's Gropius Bau is accompanied by a multifaceted programme for families, children and young people offering exciting insights into the artist's work with audio pieces, workshops and a Kusama Kids Tour.
Yayoi Kusama is one of the most important Japanese artists of the present day. In spring 2021, the Gropius Bau will dedicate Germany’s first comprehensive retrospective to Kusama. Ephra has been commissioned by the Gropius Bau to design and implement the programme for families, children and young people. In close consultation with the directorate, exhibition management and the mediation department, we have developed an extensive programme that brings children and young people closer to the world of Kusama in a sensual and individual way.
Kusama Kids Tour
With the Kusama Kids Tour, children and young people can discover the exhibition interactively. A specially developed booklet guides the young visitors through the exhibition. Who is Yayoi Kusama? Why does she paint all these dots everywhere? In order to give the young visitors an individual approach, we have developed a game of questions - based on Kusama's life and way of working - each with nine possible answers leading to their own Kusama code.
What kind of point are you? If you were an artist, what material would your artworks be made of?
To create your Kusama code, you have to match a colour code to your chosen answer in the exhibition and stick them the dots into the booklet. Once you have created your Kusama code, you discover your Kusama animal and its wondrous attributes . Which Kusama animal will you be?
The booklet is available in the exhibition for free and offered in German and English.
Kusama Kids Studio
The Kusama Kids Studio invites visitors young and old to let their impressions of the artworks linger and to get even closer to Kusama's world.
Have you found your Kusama animal? Then listen to the octopus, hummingbird and chameleon telling you of their admirable characteristics in atmospheric audio pieces in the Kusama Kids Studio. Their tales have astonishingly much to do with the artist. In the specially made listening booths, one listens to the voices of Wanja Mues, Max von Pufendorf and Regina Lemnitz. Our sound expert Ilka Lorenzen was responsible for the concept, direction and mixing.
The reading corner with books about Kusama's world offers space to relax. The books were kindly provided by Dussmann - Das Kreativkaufhaus. To make it comfortable, you can sit on stools from Made.com and rest, nurse, chat. We thank them for the support.
With creative boxes, animal stencils, mirror pens, fridge poetry and much more, we invite children and young people to fill the space with their own ideas and artworks. After visiting the exhibition, there are bound to be some impressions that can be duly processed and expressed in the Kusama Kids Studio. In addition, regular workshops for school classes take place here.
Location: Gropius Bau, 2nd floor Opening hours: Thursday and Friday, 15:00-18:00, Sunday, 11:00-18:00.
Workshops
We offer special workshops for day-care centres and school classes, inviting them to immerse themselves in the world of the artist, to process own thoughts and feelings and to become creatively active themselves in the Kusama Kids Studio.
Free workshops with the duration of 3 hours or 1.5 hours, bookable for school classes, Thursday or Friday, from 9:00 a.m., booking at: info@ephra.de
Free holiday workshops during the summer holidays, bookable for youth or after-school groups or other institutions, Thursday or Friday, from 9:00 a.m., booking at: info@ephra.de
Time period: 23 April to 15 August 2021
Project management: Maxi Böhme
Project assistance: Michaela Englert, Shirin Fleur Krieg, Rebecca Raue
Partners: Gropius Bau, Made.com, Dussmann, Studio 25 Holzmarkt
Booklet
Concept: Maxi Böhme, Michaela Englert, Rebecca Raue
Texts German: Maxi Böhme
Translation English: Maxi Böhme
Editing German: Philippa Halder Editing English: Mira Raue
Illustrations, Layout: Marie Parakenings
Printing: Buch- und Offsetdruckerei H. Heenemann
Thanks to: Jenny Sréter, Lennart Salek Nejad, Elena Montini, Maximilian Vietzke / Gropius Bau
Audio plays
Concept, direction, sound: Ilka Lorenzen
Voiceover artists: Wanja Mues, Max von Pufendorf, Regina Lemnitz
Recorded at: Studio 25 Holzmarkt
Thanks to: Hannes Husten
Kusama Kids Studio
Illustrations Listening booths, canvases, costumes: Marie Parakenings
Furnishing with stools, mirrors and seat cushions: Made.com
Furnishing with books: Dussmann - Das Kulturkaufhaus
