FarbWege: Children and young people show their art at Alanus University

Exhibition at Alanus University offers insights into an artistic project for encounter, participation, and democratic coexistence

How can art bring people together and enable social participation? This is what the project “FarbWege – Artistic Encounters and Participation” demonstrates, the results of which will be on display from November 4, 2026, in the Study Gallery at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter. The exhibition presents paintings, drawings, and collaboratively created artworks by children and young people aged six to fourteen.

“FarbWege” is a collaborative project aimed at children and young people with and without refugee experience, especially those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The project creates a protected space in which participants can express their ideas and feelings artistically, discover their own abilities, and experience community. Through creating together, encounters arise across different life worlds and experiences. At the same time, the project promotes self-efficacy, social participation, and democratic coexistence.

“What is special about the studio program is that the children do not have to achieve or prove anything here. They are free to try things out, make changes, and find new paths. In this way, a space is created in which they can discover their own means of expression, contribute their perspectives, and experience that they themselves can make a difference. At the same time, there is also room for what occupies and burdens them – without their having to find words for it,” says Prof. Dr. Rabea Müller, Professor of Art Therapy at Alanus University. Together with Alexia Xiromeriti, social worker at the Municipality of Alfter, she leads the project. Students from the Department of Artistic Therapies and Therapy Sciences at Alanus University are involved in its implementation. The collaboration combines municipal social work and artistic practice and opens up new opportunities for the children and young people to contribute creatively and make their perspectives visible.

The aim of “FarbWege” is to create access to participation and social inclusion and thereby support integration, personal development, and peaceful coexistence in the municipality. The project is funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the state program Teil.Sein.NRW and by the Municipality of Alfter.

Exhibition opening on November 4, 2026

The public vernissage will take place on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at 5 p.m. in the Study Gallery in the yellow Studio House on Campus II of Alanus University. The exhibition will then remain on view until December 21, 2026. The building is generally accessible Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Vernissage:
November 4, 2026, 5 p.m.

Exhibition period:
November 5–December 21, 2026
Mon–Fri: 9:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

Location:
Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences
Yellow Studio House
Campus II – Villestraße 3
53347 Alfter

Admission: free

Contact for press inquiries:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu