The Deep

A two-days workshop on bookbinding with artist and writer Ela Spalding and Deutsch-Skandinavische Gemeinschaftsschule

2. May 2023
09.00-13.00

10. May 2023
09.00-13.00

Save the Date

For free

for 13 - 16 year-olds

in German/in English

How are we connected through water? Mayur and Tushar Vayeda say in their book The Deep:

Aren’t all living things related in some ways? It’s water that connects marine life in Awashima to the freshwater life in Ganjad. Around the world we use different languages and give different names to the seas and oceans, but they’re all related. Most rivers flow into the sea, and common currents connect nature and people to each other.

Inspired by the book The Deep (Mayur and Tushar Vayeda, Tara Books, 2020) Warli art and the force of water to connect humans and non-humans, Ela Spalding will encourage teenagers to create their own imaginary landscape connected by water . This visual narrative will be told on a handbound book that portraits nature and water in different places, and how we could be fictionally united, by taking Warli art as an inspiration to then move with the participants own forms of expression.

Part I: One-day Session in School: (4 Hours) 

The class gets guidance to investigate rivers and lakes around Berlin, to learn about practices and initiatives dealing with water protection , while engaging with their immediate surroundings by interviewing members of various initiatives. In this way, they acquire input to create the visual storytelling and gather materials for their books.

Part II: Two-day Sessions at Spore (4 Hours per Session) 

In two 4-hour sessions, the students will share the materials they have gathered - drawings, paintings, illustrations or graphic material. They will be guided through the process of creating an artist book with Japanese binding. The work in pairs continues as they will design their books in such a way that they will be shown as one artwork together, in dialogue with one another.