Teaching
Anja Langer’s research on her core artistic themes continues in her role as a lecturer at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, where she initiates interdisciplinary discourses on material knowledge, artistic identity, and collective authorship.
Langer’s artistic practice is deeply connected to questions of collective authorship, the transmission of craft, and self-representation. Her engagement with collaborative authorship became a central theme during her time as part of the artist duo Jeschkelanger. In 2019, the duo established a company based on their self-developed material, BASIS RHO, to explore the intersection of art and functionality. Parallel to this entrepreneurial venture, Langer began reflecting on how an individual artistic identity can find its place within a suitable market.
Since 2023, she has been leading the seminar series Transparency and Interaction: Glass as a Contemporary Key Material, which examines the material’s cultural and artistic implications. In addition to her ongoing seminar series, she is currently developing Body of Work, a new program focused on self-positioning, artistic integrity, and the economy of artistic practice.
Transparency and Interaction:
Glass as Contemporary Key Material
/Seminar
The seminar Transparency and Interaction explores glass as a contemporary artistic material, focusing on how its production process shapes artistic meaning and authorship. Students examine the dual qualities of transparency and fragility while reflecting on themes of gender, collaboration, and artistic identity.
Glass, as a material, inherently requires collaboration—whether in industrial production or handcrafted techniques. This aspect becomes central to the seminar, prompting students to reflect on the dynamics of collective authorship and explore ways to integrate interaction and cooperation into their own artistic practices. The seminar aims to foster a deeper understanding of the material’s cultural and artistic implications, encouraging students to experiment with new forms of expression and collaboration.
The seminar alternates between theoretical and practical sessions. In the theoretical part, we discuss contemporary artistic positions and expand our perspectives through excursions. In the practical part, students collaboratively create a glass-based work, experimenting with its processes and shared authorship. The results of the seminar are presented in exhibitions or group presentations within the class.
Body of Work /Seminar
Body of Work is a seminar that explores the intersection of artistic practice, personal identity, and entrepreneurial thinking. It addresses how artists can navigate the balance between creative freedom and the practical realities of positioning their work within different markets. The seminar considers a broader range of opportunities alongside the traditional art market, recognizing that the potential applications of artistic practice vary depending on each student’s individual approach, resources, and networks.
The discussion extends beyond economic sustainability to consider how artistic practice can be aligned with personal resources, relationship structures, and individual modes of living and working. Through a combination of theoretical input and practical exercises, students will engage with core questions of artistic self-positioning: How do goal-setting, networking, and collaboration intersect with the creative process? What strategies enable artists to sustain long-term engagement with their practice and financial sustainability?
Rather than providing fixed models, the seminar is structured as a collaborative process in which established frameworks for structuring artistic careers are analyzed together. Using methods as strategic planning, value generation, and audience development — students examine how artistic work can move beyond the studio and enter into dialogue with a wider public. The seminar encourages participants to develop their own approaches to defining artistic value and structuring their work.
Lectures and Workshops
- 2021
- Seminar Encapsulation – Guest lecture on forming interdisciplinary intersections with artistic practice, Prof. Paul Devautour, École Offshore (Shanghai, CHN) & École nationale supérieure d’art de Nancy (online)
- 2019
- The Paradox European Fine Art forum biennial conference 2019 Riga – Workshop Are symposia still up to date?, introduction to the artistic practice of Jeschkelanger, The Art Academy of Latvia, Riga
- Seminar Corso Curatori – Guest lecture on Jeschkelanger’s interdisciplinary work with and on glass, School for Curatorial Studies Venice, Venice