After several stays in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen), Silvan graduated in Urbanistik at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar with his documentary ADDIS ABABA – CHINESE NEW FLOWER on China’s investments in Ethiopia. In Weimar, he co-initiated the artistic-urbanistic collective Raumstation Weimar, Berlin, Vienna in 2013. His M.A. degree video-essay ZEIT ZU GEHEN on the topic of a car-free future was produced within the Social Design Arts as Urban Innovation Studio at Vienna’s University of Applied Arts.
Silvan is part of CITYMAKERS’ core-team since 2016. He is also an editor of Goethe-Institut China yì magazìn.
Silvan Hagenbrock: “CITYMAKERS is not about building bridges between cultures. It’s about a (virtual) sphere where the supposedly “other” becomes a little more familiar.”
“What drives me is using video as a medium to communicate and mediate topics between Peking and Berlin.”
During our first virtual CITYMAKERS walk, Popo Fan 范坡坡 showed us what it is like to see Berlin through the eyes of a queer Chinese filmmaker. Its online premiere was followed by a panel discussion between Popo Fan, Carmen Herold, Mo Sun and Silvan Hagenbrock. If you are interested in this discussion, which touched many transcultural topics such as the comparison between queer life in Berlin and Beijing, you can now watch it here.
In September 2018, YANG Fan from CECP (China Endangered Culture Protectors) and Silvan Hagenbrock, urbanist and editor of CITYMAKERS, travelled together for 10 days from Xi’an to Taiyuan tracing cultural relics sites. Why go to all these places?
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of city relations between Berlin and Beijing our CITYMAKERS-team developed a new framework for Sino-German twin cities to further learn and innovate for liveable city making.
»Traces: Xi’an« ist auf der Suche nach Spuren lokaler Identitäten im öffentlichen Raum Xi’ans – einer Stadt zwischen chinesischer Tradition, industriellem Erbe und neuer Kreativwirtschaft. Aber was bedeutet lokal überhaupt?