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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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.

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?

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!

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