At this year’s Re:publica POP, I will debate together with Karim Chabrak (Coinsence), Peter Harris (Resonate), Kei Kreutler (Gnosis), and moderated by wonderful Ela Kagel (Supermarkt), about the impact blockchain already has and will have on our cultural and social structures, discussing topics like how to run a successful of coop, a systemic design approach, data-privacy and a new definition of development work. The way I see it: blockchain finally merges technology, design and spirituality and creates the next stage of consciousness. Don’t miss it!
Tag: system criticism
Designing with Blockchain for Culture – University of the Arts Bern, Switzerland
With Peter Harris, CEO and founder of resonate.is, I taught a 3 day workshop in the MA design course in Bern. We were blessed with a highly motivated and savvy group which digested the vast amount of information very well and came up with several very promising concepts for a sustainable, future society. We have collected their projects on this website.
Talk at DGTF Conference, Halle Burg Giebichenstein
At this year’s conference of the German Foundation for Design Theory and Research I was invited to speak about the projects I conducted with the University of Arts Berlin in Nairobi, Kenya. In my talk I presented theses and conclusions I draw from the experience of the collaborative work we did there to address a more contemporary, just and realistic approach towards international development and how design could actually contribute towards this change.
Field Research in Nairobi, Kenya
Starting in October, I will work much closer with the NGO Nyendo, who is supporting the Love School and 13 other privately run schools in the slums of Kangemi and Kawangware (CIFEFA network). I traveled to Kenya in late September/October to connect different initiatives with the CIFEFA schools: the Wajukuu Art Project in Lunga Lunga, the Kounkuey Design Initiative in Kibera and the FabLab GEARBOX in Nairobi.
Our vision is to establish an educational exchange program between designers, German pupils (grade 11) and the initiatives in Nairobi, which transfers both polytechnical know-how as well as tools to run self sustained food production. This work is part of my PhD research and will be developed throughout the next years. Together with the participants we came up with a name for our endeavor: INUKA SASA (rise now).
Supernova Institute – nominated as 1 of top 50 social innovators to watch 2017
We are very happy and proud! Thanks a lot for that honour! Find out more about the nomination here.
Supernova Institute – Empowering Healthy, Sustainable Communities through Design
We are happy and proud to have finally launched a first website for our quite ambitious project, that is supposed to bring together initiatives, people and projects to develop formats and methods for empowerment through making and design. If this resonates with you and you think you should be part of our institute, please get in touch!
REGENERATE ! – Fluid Community Food Systems. Interdisciplinary Project with Wajukuu Arts Project, Kenya and the Department of Architecture, UdK, Berlin
„Cities have a crucial role to play as catalysts of the system change we need. They can embody a new story about development and progress in which the health of biodiversity, foodsheds and watersheds are key indicators of success. A city is most healthy as a meeting place for change agents, outliers, and shadow networks. The healthy city is about participation, not spectacle. Connecting is itself a form of innovation.“ John Thackara
By acknowledging the city as a living system where things grow organically, offering a new human centered fluidity, we will approach its territories as a fertile ground for community regeneration and a healthy (fair, resilient, circular, sustainable) local food system, while understanding ourselves as agents of change by designing and producing genuine urban abundance.
This living city is already emerging with new kinds of infrastructures: food coops, collective urban gardening and farming, craft breweries etc. We will kick off the semester with a Berlin wide field research, exploring and identifying key elements for local food systems in a community context (production, transformation, distribution, consumption). We will visit and interview grass roots initiatives, start-ups, farmers, community gardens, local producers etc., cook and eat together, explore the different set-ups of community and share it all in a collective map, which will be the starting point for the semester project.
Inspired by emerging disciplines like permaculture, transition and regenerative design, the goal of this project is to experience a socially engaged design practice and to establish a systemic understanding of the topic by investigating different scenarios: we will work with an allotment garden and analyze its specific structures and rules and how these shape its community; we will explore the potential of the „house of statistics“ at Alexanderplatz, a building and space whose purpose still needs to be defined and we will address our thinking towards the very special constraints of the slums in Nairobi and its consequences for community purposes.
The systemic approach will allow us to think at different scales (Berlin/Nairobi) and help us to decolonize knowledge (and design) and to understand, how we can share knowledge and resources in fairer, healthier way.
We will approach these scenarios with questions like:
– How to propose new food products & service systems (PPS) that regenerate local economies as well as communities?
– How to use mobile & lean structures to establish resilient and circular food systems that will not be affected by politics, real estate speculation etc.?
– How to help people to take back the city by establishing shared food production/transformation/systems?
with Virginie Gailing, Prof. Markus Bader,St. Oberholz, KDI, Barefoot Solutions, NGO Nyendo, Edgeryders’ OpenVillage
The Love School Project @ Republica!
While the exhibition of “The Love School Project” is still running, Antony and I will give a Talk at Republica in May, sharing our insights and plans for the future of the project. Looking forward to a big audience and great feedback!
Berlin Design Digest – Essay & Project
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of UNESCO naming Berlin a “City of Design”, the editors Robert Eysoldt, a strategic and creative consultant, and Raban Ruddigkeit, a designer and editor, have assembled 100 successful projects, products, and processes by 75 Berlin agencies, design labs, public initiatives, networks, and universities, which currently connect Berlin with the world in “The Berlin Design Digest”, published by Slanted.
I am very honored to not only present “The ShitShow”, one of 6 unconventional projects that were developed during the Hacking Utopia project at UdK, but also having been invited to write an essay about a topic I think to be relevant in the current design debate. The text reflects the contemporality of the ever so famous design thinking framework and demands for the design community to step up and reclaim their expertise, while adjusting the creative innovation processes to the current needs of a world in crisis, including self reflection, embodied cognition and focus on taboos – it’s about time to come clean.
The Love School Project – Exhibition at Gallery 1.1. & Auction
THE LOVE SCHOOL PROJECT
co-creation and design for transformation
VERNISSAGE Thursday · May 4, 2017 · 7pm
EXHIBITION May 5 – 10, 2017
weekend 12pm – 7pm · weekdays 5pm – 9pm
Galerie erstererster · Pappelalle 69 · 10437 Berlin
AUCTION unitedcharity.de/Specials/The-Love-School-Project
PRESENTING Louis Bindernagel · Anna Drewes
Martin Fenske · Georgia von le Fort · Julius Führer
Dario Iannone · Antony Karori · Agnes Kelm
Yannik Rohloff · Anna Ryzhova · Pauline Schlautmann
& Kids from Love School · Kawangware · Nairobi · Kenya
SUPERVISION Prof. Susanne Stauch · Anna Badur
SUPPORT Antony Karori · NGO Nyendo · German Embassy
theloveschoolproject.cre8tives.org
Reflecting Research, DGTF conference at Bauhaus Dessau
Two days of various insights into design research methods and reflections on how design should and could position itself within the context of global challenges as a discipline embracing innovation and solution oriented quest were followed by a colloquium of one of the society’s themes “design promoviert”, where PhD-students and aspirants can present their topics and questions for high quality feedback. I did so and with my still very basic state of research and ideas actually initiated a new format to invite novices with the urge to do research into the arena of the academic research community. It was great to talk about my thoughts and receive very empathic and dedicated feedback. Definitely coming around again!
The Love School Project, BA design project, UdK, Berlin
Besides the financial support of the school in Nairobi, the goal of the project is diverse: it’s an experiment in co-creation as a new and empowering way to work together internationally, it will sensitize the students to see their work as a creative service in a client relationship and it offers the kids from the Love School Center the opportunity to participate in the purchase of the the grounds and thus support their feeling of self-efficacy. For all participants this project will be an inspiring, mind expanding experience.
With a focus on craft, material understanding and form development the project is dedicated to the number Pi = 3,14… The work will be mostly in porcelain and fine metals, wood and fabric are possible as well. Besides the design process the question of value of those materials, the necessity of new products and the relation to a global social context will be reflected. There is a cooperation with the „Love School Center“ in the Slum Kangemi in Nairobi, Kenya. Through the NGO „NYENDO“ we have the artist and a coordinator Anthony Karori on-site, who will work with the children around the topic of pi and will create drawings, collages, photographs etc. together. In exchange with the students from UdK these first interpretations will be taken up and developed further aesthetically, functionally and formally. The students will be in touch with the kids on a regular basis through skype and the finished design objects will be sold in an auction at the end of the semester. The revenue serves the purchase of land on which the Love School Center stands which is in danger of being cleared out due to speculation.
Concept & Supervision: GastProf. Susanne Stauch, IPP, ID2, UdK
Partner: Irmgard Wutte/ Nyendo NGO
Financial Support: Martin Bisicky & Dominik Becker
Symposium UNDESIGN at Angewandte, Vienna
My crazy day trip to Vienna was totally worth it, not only did I meet very interesting designers and researchers at the UNDESIGN Symposium but also did I find my own ideas and thoughts about the state of design confirmed. Considering our complex contemporary world of crisis and “peak everything”, as Dr. Catharine Rossi put it, Design needs to take on new tasks. The presentations showed current directions that all question our doings in the anthropocene and suggest a reductive, redistributing, craft and repair-focused approach. The speakers agreed that design has always been a collective social project and that a critical view on things have always been inherent to design. The discussions reminded me a lot of Fritjof Capra’s writings where he describes the transition from the human centered anthropocentric perspective to the ecocentric world view, in which we understand ourselves as inseparable from our habitat and the need to protect it. It was an intense and inspiring day in Vienna, too dense to summarize it really.
Hacking Utopia Talk #2 – Design and Open Strategies, designtransfer, Berlin
Nadia El- Imam from Edgeryders and Daniel Kruse from Open State are going to give us insights and case studies on how to build our future with open, collaborative and interdisciplinary networks. Very much looking forward to that evening! Thanks again to Designtransfer, UdK for giving it a stage.
Hacking Utopia Talk #1 – Design and Politics for Tomorrow, designtransfer, Berlin
Sabine Junginger and Caroline Paulick-Thiel both did an amazing job in explaining the complexity of policy making and how designers can get involved and how design can and should grow into the realm of social transformation. They are both involved with the initiative politics for tomorrow. Looking forward to further cooperation! Thanks to Designtransfer UdK to make this evening happen.
Hacking Utopia – interdisciplinary project with GWK, Edgeryders’ research project #OpenCare and Startnext, UdK, Berlin
We had a very intense 3 day kick-off workshop in Sauen with 11 product design and 10 GWK students diving into the topic of #OpenCare and how this relates to hacking, people on the move, mental resilience, food cultures and their own lives. The project is contributing its research and design results to the project OP3N CARE, which is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework programme. We have very ambitious goals: working interdisciplinary within the university and in collaboration with the online community Edgeryders, this project is rooted in a real world context. StartNext is another partner, offering us input and support to create high quality campaigns to crowdfund the design results. Those will be shown at designtransfer, UdK in July 2016 and in a final exhibition of the research project in Milan and London in 2017. Another great opportunity for the students is the chance to apply for a fellowship to get further support on their ideas, e.g. by CERN. To find out about the project, visit the OP3N Care Community for deep content and interest in the research or the Hacking Utopia website for a general overview of our project work
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Politics for Tomorrow – Workshop Facilitation
Until September 15 you can still sign up for participation, it’s an innovative conference running October 15/16 at Ex-Rotaprint in Berlin: “Politics for Tomorrow” is aimed at people from politics, administration, education, municipalities, foundations and civil society organizations. We look forward to a variety of perspectives and an exciting exchange. If you wish to participate, the registration form is available via Get Involved on the website menu. The event will be held in German and English with bilingiual interpretation.
Kann Gestaltung Gesellschaft verändern? – Symposium im HKW
Sehr gespannt auf den Input im HKW am 18./19. September!
Kann Gestaltung Gesellschaft verändern? Wie können wir in die sich stets fortschreitende Modernisierung emanzipative Ideen einschreiben? Hat sich der Anspruch des Bauhauses und der klassischen Avantgarden, durch Gestaltung Gesellschaft positiv zu verändern, eingelöst? Wie können wir uns heute in neuer Weise vorstellen, Wandel und Zukunft zu gestalten? Was sind gezielte, aber doch ergebnisoffene Arbeitsformen? Welche Rolle spielt Co-Produktion? Wie kann man sein eigenes Dasein gestalten? Welche Rolle kommt dem Gestalter zu? Oder hätte heute eher die Abwesenheit von Gestaltung ein befreiendes Moment?
Transparency Grenade Edition – first piece went to France
Julian Oliver’s Transparency Grenade is now available as an edition. The production of the whole piece is now in my hands: I improved the prototype in its functionality and remodeled the body. Now it really works the way it’s supposed to! I am very proud to be involved in this amazing project!
Self Efficacy Through Opposition – Prof. Dr. Harald Welzer at UdK
After the recommendation by Prof. Dieter Raffler back last summer to read the book “think yourself – instructions to oppositions” by Harald Welzer I was grateful to have finally found a public figure who speaks the truth about the failure of our system, the need for each single person to start and get our hands dirty and especially to become active opposers of obvious manipulation that only serves the profit of the few while destroying our environment and resources. And so of course, I had to go and see him in person in the old library at UdK. Welzer is a very smart and eloquent social scientist who knows how to lead (and win) a discussion. However, the victory went to one student who pointed out that while we all sit here and talk about sustainability, why do we need to have all the light bulbs turned on in the room, this said, he turned half of the light off and earned a big applause. I highly recommend to read this book and spread the word. My students in Dessau were very inspired as well.
>> Prof. Dr. Welzer at Futurzwei
SHARiNG the CiTY – Social Community Building, Neukölln Berlin
As I was going to move to Schillerkiez in Neukölln, which is a hot spot of gentrification right next to the Tempelhof air field I very soon realized the intense atmosphere in the neighborhood. Being inspired by the meetings with the EdgeRyder’s community I decided to start a local initiative to find out what the neighborhood needs and wants. The first events we did were some meetings with people from a community building background where the major problem already became obvious. Nobody from the neighborhood turned up although I had spend several hours to walk around cafés, markets, the church, supermarket – you name it – to spread the word and invite people to come. As a local action we then spread the poster campaign by Litekultur around the neighborhood hoping to get in touch with curious people. Dead loss. I did apply for funding via Projekt Neue Nachbarschaft with the idea to make a book which presents the people and their initiatives especially through one of the things that connects us all: food. So it was supposed to become a Schillerkiez cooking book with personal stories and background information of the neighbors and their effort to support the neighborhood. Unfortunately the project wasn’t selected for funding and I really hope to find other ways to support the approach of giving something back to the Kiez.
Local Action Heroes – Interview for the Council of Europe
Transparency Grenade at Transmediale – Construction and Design for Critical Engineer Julian Oliver
I am very proud to announce my participation in this overwhelming project by Julian Oliver. Thanks to some former colleagues from the Transmediale team who helped at our CYO 2011 conference, I got in touch with him and we developed a luxurious, hand crafted version of a grenade that is a provocative statement to all the secret meetings and agreements happening especially on an international level.
Kritische Masse – von Profis und Amateuren im Design – Publication at form+zweck
With deep gratitude to Walter Scheiffele, who continuously pushed to project and supported us all we finally made it to edit our texts and get the book finished. Don’t miss to read what we think about professionals and amateurs in design and how the design world is shifting due to the evolving open and participatory approaches and the amazing possibilities the new technologies can offer.
Texts by Florian A. Schmidt, Peter Lasch, Susanne Stauch, Friedrich Kautz, Fritz Gobbesso
Illustration and Layout by Andreas Töpfer