Tue 6 May 2025
Breakfast Colloquium: On extraction and resilience – Wood
The colloquium is a public discussion format organized by the guests of the LL program and students to promote interdisciplinary exchange at the HfG Karlsruhe. Together we will highlight findings from our regional excursions and explore the fields of bioart/-design, new materialism, posthumanism and more-than-human narratives. Visitors are welcome both in person and online.
9am - 10am, Living Library (ground floor). Watch the livestream at https://bbb.hfg-karlsruhe.de/b/jaa-7wj-rca-b9r
Tue 6 May 2025
Maps Café #1
In this mini-workshop for HfG staff and students, we expand the large Living Library map to include your personal stories and local knowledge of Karlsruhe. Come join us for 5 minutes or sit down for a nice free eco-coffee, everything is welcome!
1pm - 2pm, Living Library (ground floor)
Tue 13 May 2025
Talk & Tour
Tour & Talk is an open format for the all HfG members and the public during which the space of the Living Library and the associated material archive are presented. Visitors will be introduced to the material shelving system, which was also developed with the support of HfG students during the semester training programs. There will be a question and answer session at the end.
11am - 12:30pm, Living Library (ground floor)
Tue 3 Jun 2025
Breakfast Colloquium: On displacement and adaptation – Invasive Plants
The colloquium is a public discussion format organized by the guests of the LL program and students to promote interdisciplinary exchange at the HfG Karlsruhe. Together we will highlight findings from our regional excursions and explore the fields of bioart/-design, new materialism, posthumanism and more-than-human narratives. Visitors are welcome both in person and online.
9am - 10am, Living Library (ground floor). Watch the livestream at https://bbb.hfg-karlsruhe.de/b/jaa-7wj-rca-b9r
Tue 3 Jun 2025
Maps Café #2
In this mini-workshop for HfG staff and students, we expand the large Living Library map to include your personal stories and local knowledge of Karlsruhe. Come join us for 5 minutes or sit down for a nice free eco-coffee, everything is welcome!
1pm - 2pm, Living Library (ground floor)
Tue 1 Jul 2025
Breakfast Colloquium: On tradition and transition – Hemp
The colloquium is a public discussion format organized by the guests of the LL program and students to promote interdisciplinary exchange at the HfG Karlsruhe. Together we will highlight findings from our regional excursions and explore the fields of bioart/-design, new materialism, posthumanism and more-than-human narratives. Visitors are welcome both in person and online.
9am - 10am, Living Library (ground floor). Watch the livestream at https://bbb.hfg-karlsruhe.de/b/jaa-7wj-rca-b9r
Tue 1 Jul 2025
Maps Café #3
In this mini-workshop for HfG staff and students, we expand the large Living Library map to include your personal stories and local knowledge of Karlsruhe. Come join us for 5 minutes or sit down for a nice free eco-coffee, everything is welcome!
1pm - 2pm, Living Library (ground floor)
Mon 2 Dec 2024 and Tue 3 Dec 2024
Weaving Bioregional Wool Networks with Nina Havermans and Carolin Schelkle
A field trip and workshop dedicated to understanding local wool production and eco-centric material exploration led by guests Nina Havermans and Carolin Schelkle.
Nina Havermans is a designer who graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2012. She specialised in biomaterials for sustainable design, art and architectural applications.
Carolin Schelkle is a Designer and Material Researcher from Lake Constance, Germany, holding a Bachelor of Arts in Product- and Communication Design from the Free University of Bolzano, Italy and a Master of Product Design from écal (Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne), Switzerland.
Day 1 (Mon 2 Dec, 09:00 ~ 16:00)
On the first day we plan to visit a wool processing factory, specialising in wool felt, to learn about their processes, and hopefully acquire wool offcuts or waste. We also plan a visit to two wool farms nearby—a large-scale operation and a smaller family-run farm—to see firsthand how wool is handled, and to assess the availability of any byproducts or wool-waste.
Colloquium (Mon 2 Dec, 19:00 ~ 21:00)
The colloquium is an open discussion format hosted by the participating makers and students aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in the HfG Karlsruhe. Together, we explore the realms of bio art and design, new materialism, post-humanism, more-than-human narratives, sustainability, and life cycles. Visitors are welcome to join both in-person and online.
Watch the livestream at https://bbb.hfg-karlsruhe.de/b/jaa-7wj-rca-b9r
Day 2 (Tue 3 Dec, 09:00 ~ 16:00)
During the workshop, we'll dive into techniques of dry and wet felting and experiment with biocomposite recipes, guided by Carolin Schelkle and Nina Havermans. Students will have the opportunity to explore these techniques and the combination of them, creating material samples. Expect a hands-on workshop, all about wool and ways of working with it.
Mon 13 Jan 2025 and Tue 14 Jan 2025
On metabolisms and circulation: food waste with Verena Brom and Loana Flores
During the field trip and workshop on food waste, in collaboration with guest lecturers Verena Brom and Loana Flores, we will be investigating local food waste streams and exploring their potential for creating new materials and plant-based pigments,printing and dying solutions.
Day 1 (Mon 13 Jan, 09:00 ~ 16:00)
During the field trip, we will visit a local vinegar producer and food distributor in Karlsruhe.
( ! ) Meeting place: Living Library.
Colloquium (Mon 13 Jan, 19:00 ~ 21:00)
The colloquium is an open discussion format hosted by the participating makers and students aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in the HfG Karlsruhe. Together, we explore the realms of bio art and design, new materialism, post-humanism, more-than-human narratives, sustainability, and life cycles. Visitors are welcome to join both in-person and online.
Watch the livestream at https://bbb.hfg-karlsruhe.de/b/jaa-7wj-rca-b9r
Day 2 (Tue 14 Jan, 09:00 ~ 16:00)
Verena and Loana will guide participants through the art of extracting pigments from food waste and plant matter. Students will discover how to create their own dyes & plant-based printing pastes, suitable for silk screen printing on paper, textiles, or bioplastics.
Mon 3 Feb 2025 and Tue 4 Feb 2025
On remediation and interfacing: Mycelium with Nina Flaitz and Liene Kazaka
This workshop explores mycelium as both a natural living network and a material collaborator. We will investigate local fungi and their underground networks—examining their role as organic connectors for communication and for creating new materials.
Nina Flaitz is a graphic designer and material researcher based between Stuttgart and Lausanne. She earned her diploma in Visual Communication from the Stuttgart State Academy of Fine Arts in 2022. Nina Flaitz is the founder of Mycelium Resources, a research platform dedicated to exploring the potential of mycelium-based materials and their practical applications. The platform aims to promote innovation and facilitate collaboration among experts in mycelium research and development.
Liene Kazaka is a designer and researcher exploring material-based storytelling through sustainability across disciplines. She focuses on living systems to develop fabrication methods that reflect human-nature relationships. After working as a woven textile designer for the luxury market in Scotland, she pursued an MA in Material Futures at Central Saint Martins to investigate alternative materials and approaches. Her practice now centres on interdisciplinary experimental research, particularly involving fungi.
Day 1 (Mon 3 Feb, 10:00 ~ 16:00)
On our field trip, we visit a mushroom herbarium and go on a mushroom excursion in Rappenwört together with the makers.
( ! ) Meeting place: Fettweisstraße 22, Karlsruhe-Mühlburg.
Colloquium (Mon 3 Feb, 19:00 ~ 21:00)
The colloquium is an open discussion format hosted by the participating makers and students aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in the HfG Karlsruhe. Together, we explore the realms of bio art and design, new materialism, post-humanism, more-than-human narratives, sustainability, and life cycles. Visitors are welcome to join both in-person and online.
Watch the livestream at https://bbb.hfg-karlsruhe.de/b/jaa-7wj-rca-b9r
Day 2 (Tue 4 Feb, 10:00 ~ 16:00)
Through hands-on exploration, we’ll learn how mycelium functions as a natural adhesive, binding organic matter, and reflect on its practical and creative applications. In material experimentation we will visualize mycelial networks though frameworks, exploring their interactions with other materials.
Past
Mon 4 Nov 2024 and Tue 5 Nov 2024
Composting as transforming, speculating, and writing with Markus Bier, Vik Bayer, and Michael Reindel
Join us for this first two-day Living Library workshop and colloquium hosted by guests Markus Bier, Michael Reindel and Vik Bayer. Together, we explore composting from different angles: not only as a technique for transforming organic matter, but also as an artistic method. Embedded in practices of speculation and writing together, we will make biochar, sharpen our microscopic gaze on organisms that are constantly moving around and within us, and build a compost heap to invite these microorganisms to enhance what we call waste.
Markus Bier likes the transformative power of fire. He is passionate about biomass, soil and the role of microorganisms in all digestion and transformation processes. Since 2012, Markus has been producing and utilising biochar from residual biomass in gardens, crops and food waste. After founding the German office of the international NGO Solidaridad Network in 2017, he is now responsible for coffee as Corporate Partnerships Manager.
Michael Reindel and Vik Bayer are members of Compost Collective (Vienna). Within his sculptural practice Michael Reindel interlaces local and global circumstances of places, in order to correlate them with infrastructural processes, which form our present. Vik Bayer is an artist and filmmaker who mainly works on and with agriculture as a form of care-taking that entails the possibility of radically changing our hegemonic extractivist reality.
Day 1 (Mon 4 Nov, 10:00 ~ 17:00)
On this first workshop day we will work both at the Living Library and in the field. We will start at the HfG in the morning and travel to the Freien Aktiven Schule in Neureut in the afternoon. Next to that, we will install microorganism traps at different places around the academy to study the milieus of different organisms.
Colloquium (Mon 4 Nov, 19:00 ~ 21:00)
The colloquium is an open discussion format hosted by the participating makers and students aimed at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in the HfG Karlsruhe. Together, we explore the realms of bio art and design, new materialism, post-humanism, more-than-human narratives, sustainability, and life cycles. Visitors are welcome to join both in-person and online.
Day 2 (Tue 5 Nov, 10:00 ~ 17:30)
The second workshop day will again be spent both in the academy and in the field. Using the knowledge we gathered on the first day, this second day is an invitation to reflect on temporalities, to practice relationality and to gradually unlearn anthropocentrism through more-than-human collaboration. We continue the workshop with a visit to the Urbane Gärten Karlsruhe in Daxlanden and finish back at the HfG around 17.30.