10th Grade | J.-G.-Herder Gymnasium, Berlin | 2022

This bilingual unit, developed over six lessons, explored how art and language intersect to build cultural awareness. Over 6 weeks, students investigated art forms of the 1960s — performance art, happening, installation — while reflecting on how these terms were coined and how they evolved across languages and histories.

Using English as a lingua franca, they:

• Researched key art terms (e.g., happening, performance art, avant-garde, underground).

• Discussed how language frames cultural memory.

• Presented artworks that resonated with their own cultural backgrounds, views and/or preferences, linking personal perspectives to a global narrative.

The final reflection revealed a powerful insight: language shapes how we see art — but art also transcends words – as “Art is a form of communication beyond words and languages.”, in the words of a 10th grade student.