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Naakpɛɛi Ni Nmaa Wolo – Wunderblock – 魔術板

The Summer School 2025 under the motto "Naakpɛɛi Ni Nmaa Wolo /Wunderblock/ 魔術板" was the meeting of three art universities from Africa, Asia and Europe from September 22 to 28, 2025 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. It continued the collaboration that was successfully launched in 2024 at the CAA Hangzhou under the title Traces.

Wunderblock 2025 took place as part of the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Program of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and was carried out jointly with two ASA partner universities – K.N.U.S.T. (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana) and CAA (China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China). Learn more about the ASA network here.

The three art universities that met: The CAA China Academy of Art Hangzhou has been one of China's most prominent art universities since its founding in 1928. K.N.U.S.T. Kumasi played a key role as a university institution in Ghana's declaration of independence and founding of the state. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is one of the oldest art universities in the world.

The visit to the two partner universities focused on Vienna as an incubator of modernism, and the theme was Sigmund Freud's "Wunderblock" (a kind of block of paper). Freud imagined human memory and the psyche as the surface of a wax tablet over which soft paper is placed—a so-called "Wunderblock" (a kind of block of paper), on which the human perception of the world is inscribed with a sharp object. For him, the surface was the conscious mind, and the softer part beneath was the unconscious, and together they form the visualized form of our memories—two images superimposed within one image. The symbolism of this susuɔ niŋmaa wolo/miracle block/móhuàn jìshìbên is far-reaching and was intended to take on a new impact in the context of the summer school. Over seven days, the participating students and teachers met for lectures and discussions at the Academy and realized a joint exhibition project at Exhibit Eschenbachgasse. The program included visits to collections and institutions, and Rector Johan Hartle guided the guests from Kumasi and Hangzhou through Red Vienna. The Freud Museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Ibrahim Mahama exhibition at the Kunsthalle Wien, and the Wien Museum provided controversial and inspiring starting points for opening up and discussing different ideas, approaches, and discourses.