Artist Talk | Who am I when I am here?

Borders. They can be fine, tiny lines in between or big walls constraining the thought. Are borders a concept of the human mind? What is migration then? 
As part of the film series “Migration” playing this September, the Department of Culture and Education invites designer and director of “The Hype” Aslan Malik. He has won several design prices and has held exhibitions in Spain, Germany, the US, and Switzerland. As he calls three cities his home, Berlin, New York and Shanghai, migration is part of his day to day life. In each of these cities he is treated and accepted differently: His name tells the story of his father’s family, while his mother tongue and his face reveal him as European.  
Oliver Hartmann, head of the Department, talks with his friend about personal experiences of migration, and its impact on life, stumbling upon questions that concern us all. Their conversation is based on spontaneous reactions to 15 keywords related to migration. 
Where do I come from? Who am I to you? Entering a pool of biases and prejudices collected throughout your life, you will react to these questions. 
What does my name seem to tell you? 
Whether or not I am welcomed in the culture, I am emigrating to depends on my background, the colour of my skin, my name – and the biases attached to it. We judge and are being judged by our appearance, because our inner values are not visible at first sight but an immediate categorization is required by the human mind. We observe the differences while the commonalities that lie within us are universal. Yet the reason for emigration influences the ability and willingness of integration. External perceptions form and influence self-perception and behaviour. So, who am I when I am here? 

Aslan Malik 
Aslan Malik is a Director and Chief Creative / Co-Founder of “The Hype” Pixomondo’s design boutique in Shanghai. He’s been announced design rookie of the year by the Berliner Technical Art School in 2005. After winning dozens of national and international design awards (Among them the Red Dot Award and the Art Director’s Club Award) he left his hometown Berlin to move to New York and more recently to Shanghai. 
With a predominant focus in the automobile and fashion industry, Aslan Malik continues working for clients such as Nike, Puma, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Adidas, MINI, Apple, Motorola, Cartier, Vogue, Absolute and many more. 
His videos, illustrations and photographs has been exhibited in the International Center of Photography in New York / USA, the Fundación Barrié in Vigo /Spain, Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich / Switzerland & galleries in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.