Mix it up Summer ART INSTITUTE

Overview

This summer, we’re mixing things up – literally. Whether you’re sketching outside the lines, molding wild ideas, or painting your way into new creative zones, BAI’s line up of master classes, workshops, and online courses is here to make your inner artist do a happy summer dance.

Duration:
Tuesdays, Apr 29 – May 20, 2025 | 4 – 6 PM (CEST)

What might art look like in a world not shaped by private ownership, market pressure, or institutional gatekeeping? In this live online course, artist and writer Mitch Speed invites participants to reimagine creative communities grounded in solidarity, collective practice, and speculative thinking. Together, we’ll explore how historical artist groups have resisted Eurocentric, capitalist structures – and ask:
Can artists reclaim their practice from these forces today? Through case studies, open dialogue, and guided reflection, you’ll develop new ways of thinking about art’s function, access, and future. This course is ideal for artists, writers, and cultural workers interested in aesthetic activism, alternative economies, and critical art-making.

Duration:
May 07 – 08, 2025

Discover the power of papier-mâché as both a historical craft and a contemporary sculptural technique in this hands-on, high-energy workshop with artist Emily Hunt. Learn how to create large, lightweight, and cost-effective sculptures that can be used across installation, performance, stage design, or exhibition-making. Participants will be introduced to the global history of papier-mâché, from its origins in China, Mexico, and Europe, to its current role in resourceful, experimental art practices.

You’ll develop a finished piece using intuitive, rapid techniques and leave with a versatile skill you can immediately incorporate into your practice. Perfect for artists working with materiality, scale, and improvisation.

Duration:
June 02 – 06, 2025

What happens when you stop drawing to represent and start drawing to rethink? In this transformative Master Class, artist Dagmara Genda leads participants into a radical exploration of drawing as conceptual practice, gesture, and embodied knowledge. From collaborative mark-making to drawing with the body, the class encourages you to leave behind familiar habits and discover new visual languages. You’ll work through exercises that challenge traditional expression and unlock new ways of developing self-directed projects.

Whether you’re just starting or ready to deconstruct and rebuild your approach, this course supports bold experimentation in a supportive, critically engaged environment.

Duration:
June 30 – July 04, 2025

How do we construct, perform, and aestheticize the idea of “evil”? In this deeply layered Master Class, artist and theorist Steven Warwick explores the creation of folk devils and the social dramaturgy behind fear, conflict, and power. Drawing from queer theory, critical art history, and narrative structure, participants will examine how artists can challenge normative representations through experimental storytelling, performance, and visual forms.

Each session supports the development of individual projects while building theoretical fluency around cultural taboos, binaries, and resistance. This class is designed for artists of all disciplines looking to make work that interrogates complexity and confronts uncomfortable truths.

Duration:
July 07 – July 11, 2025

Enter the realm of ritual, intuition, and material enchantment. This course by artist Emily Hunt explores how artists can engage with esoteric knowledge and surrealist strategies to give shape to the unseen. Combining haptic processes with conceptual exploration, participants will examine how art becomes a ritual act. Participants will study historical frameworks of Western esotericism, and experiment with ways to connect these to…