Arts for Juniors

Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata is delighted to be back with the seventh edition of Arts for Juniors. In a series of different and exciting activities, children and teenagers (9-12 as well as 13+ years old) can get in touch with, discover and explore the world of art, music and books. These sessions are not designed to ‘teach an art form’. Rather, they introduce children and young people to various artists and authors, let them share their ideas, spark their imagination, and encourage participants to explore their own creativity.

About the sessions:

1. Female Composers in Classical Music - Tracing the often-overlooked contributions of women composers to the history of Western classical music. The participants will listen to works by several artists, ranging from Hildegard von Bingen to Clara Schumann.
2. Emil and The Detectives - Emil, one of Germany's most beloved children's characters, has to put his thinking cap to work in this classic detective story as he travels to a new city all alone and is met with strangers and dangers at every step along the way! The session also speaks about Erich Kastner's life and thoughts on writing.
3. Emil O Goyenda Bahini - Bengali session on Emil and The Detectives.
4. The Flying Classroom, Erich Kästner - Erich Kästner, was a writer, poet, and journalist, born in Dresden in 1899. Martin’s school is no ordinary school. There are snowball fights, kidnappings, cakes, a parachute jump, a mysterious man called ‘No-Smoking’ who lives in a railway carriage and a play about a flying classroom. As the Christmas holidays draw near, Martin and his friends – nervous Uli, cynical Sebastian, Johnny, who was rescued by a sea captain, and Matthias, who is always hungry (particularly after a meal) – are preparing for the end of term festivities. But there are surprises, sadness, and trouble on the way – and a secret that changes everything. The Flying Classroom is a magical, thrilling, and bittersweet story about friendship, fun and being brave when you are at your most scared.
5. My First Kafka - Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic.
6. Kant For Juniors - Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics have made him one of the most influential and controversial figures in modern Western philosophy, being called the "father of modern ethics", "father of modern aesthetics" and, by bringing together rationalism and empiricism, the "father of modern philosophy".
7. Franz Marc - Franz Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), one of the most significant art journals of that time period. He is known for his experiments with colour - why did he paint a blue horse? Or a yellow cow? This session explores his life, works and some of his thoughts about art.
8. Anna Blume - Born Anna Helming in Bork, Westphalia, Prussia, Germany, on 21 April 1936. She studied art at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf from 1960 to 1965. She enjoyed having the same name as Kurt Schwitters' imaginary figure, Anna Blume. Anna created installations, sequences of large photo scenes and, mostly in the 1990s, Polaroids. She also created drawings. She staged and photographed scenes in which she appeared herself, with objects taking on a "life" of their own.
9. Jazz from Germany - The session will take the participants on a journey covering the last 100 years of Jazz in Germany, from its beginnings to the present. They will also listen to a selection of jazz music by various artists from Germany.
10. Rosemarie Trockel - Rosemarie Trockel is a German artist who has worked in several mediums; drawing, painting, sculpture, installations, and videos. From 1985, she began to use knitting machines to create pictures!
11. Bach and Beethoven - One of the most recognizable figures in Western Classical music, often cited as the 'father of harmony', Bach's music changed the way music was composed forever. However, his works were largely restricted to private study until Felix Mendelsohn revived his work and brought it back to concert halls in 1841, conducting the Passion of St. Matthew. Ludwig van Beethoven has composed some of the most recognizable piano music of all time - from Symphony no. 5 to Fur Elise, most people have heard at least a few notes composed by him without realizing it! This session explores Beethoven's life and work, while encouraging participants to respond creatively to the music.
12. Gustav Mahler - Gustav Mahler 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.
13. Paula Mendersohn Becker - Famous for painting portraits of women and children, Paula Modersohn-Becker was one of the most important representatives of early expressionism. Explore the artist's life and works at this session.

Find more information about the session by sending an e-mail to info@thinkarts.co.in.