A group of MA students based at Kent’s Paris Centre recently visited Berlin with their module tutor, Dr Vybarr Cregan-Reid, from Kent’s School of English. Having put the precepts of the module to the test in Paris, by means of regular study trips, the visitors were able to extend their research in Berlin. Their trip was part-funded by Kent’s Schools of Arts and English and by the Faculty of Humanity’s International Mobility Fund.

Activities in Berlin included visits to Berlin’s small galleries such as C/O Galerie for an exhibition by Stephen Shore and the VeneKlasen Werner gallery exhibiting work by the Japanese artist Koji Enokura. As an example of experimental story)telling in film, students viewed ‘The Dreamed Ones’, directed by Ruth Bekerman, which featured in the Berlinale film festival. On the street they put into practice the psychogeography tactics of the Situationist International, taking a photo every 30 seconds or determining the next direction but the flip of a coin.

One of the participants, Rebekah Mays, commented: ‘It was such an enriching experience to travel with a tutor and our classmates to Berlin. We went to contemporary art galleries and experimental films I probably wouldn’t have gone to on my own, and we explored the city not as tourists but as thinkers, helping us delve further into concepts introduced on our modules. Thanks to the International Mobility Fund, our study group was able to expand our academic enquiry beyond the classroom, and even beyond Paris.’

Left to right students Rebekah Mays, Ryan Brown and Sarah Bolwell with (second from left) tutor Vybarr Cregan-Reid.