Barbara Hielscher-Witte
PhD. Cand.
Program Director M.A. Division Arts, Health & Society
Program Director M.A. Division Arts, Health & Society
Biography
Barbara Hielscher-Witte is the Program Director of the Expressive Arts M.A. Programs and Senior Faculty in the Arts, Health & Society Division of the European Graduate School EGS. Barbara is a PhD Candidate in Expressive Arts at the EGS, and holds a CAGS Certificate in Advanced Graduate Studies from the Arts, Health & Society Division, and a Eurhythmics Diploma from the University of Music, Detmold. In addition, Barbara Hielscher-Witte is licensed Music Therapist & Lecturer, licensed Health Practitioner for Psychotherapy, and obtained a Certificate in Dalcroze Eurhythmics from Longy School of Music, Boston, a Certificate in Somatic Emotional Integration SEI® for Healing Developmental and Early Trauma and a Certificate in Culture Management from the BRE, Remscheid.
Barbara is Founder and Director of the Expressive Arts Institute Berlin, where she leads the M.A. Programs in Expressive Arts in Germany. Her professional profile encompasses long-term experience as Lecturer for Eurhythmics, Music Therapy, and Aesthetic Education at the Hamburg Conservatory, the University of the Arts Berlin, the Institute for Music Therapy Berlin, and the University of Applied Science, Cottbus. As Therapist and Supervisor, Barbara has experience with a wide range of target groups and individuals of all ages. Since 2010, Barbara serves at the European Graduate School EGS among other things as Faculty member, Lecturer, Artist in Residence and Counselor. Since 2016, Barbara is Board Member of the Scientific-Artistic Council of the IGPE Polyaesthetic Education International.
Barbara’s interest in phenomenological-artistic theory formation arises from a deep concern with the lived experience of being human, and with the ways in which art can disclose dimensions of existence that remain inaccessible to purely conceptual or empirical inquiry. Within the framework of existential anthropology, she is motivated by the question of how artistic practices—whether performative, visual, or material—can function as modes of phenomenological investigation: how they make visible, audible, and tangible the subtle textures of human existence, embodiment, and relationality.
What fascinates Barbara is the intersection between artistic creation and phenomenological reflection: the moments when aesthetic experience becomes a form of thinking, and when theoretical insight emerges from the artistic process itself. Rather than treating art as an object of analysis, Barbara views it as a way of engaging with existential phenomena—temporality, vulnerability, presence, and transcendence—in a manner that unites perception, affect, and reflection.
Both trained in Music and Dance, her interest as a performing artist is focused on their intermodal interactions. Barbara choreographs and performs primarily 20th century Music and Music and Dance in the intermodal dialog with Visual Arts.