DESIGN INVESTIGATIONS (ID2): BODIES IN CRISIS

The Design Investigations (ID2) Department is a five year diploma course in design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Although rooted in a long history of product and industrial design, our department is committed to making the role of the designer relevant to the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century. Design is no longer just about nice products. From artificial intelligence to climate change and political unrest, our department educates young people to directly engage with these changes. And therefore, in extension to current industrial design skills, we train our students in advanced digital technologies, various communication and story-telling skills, academic research methodology and, most importantly, deep and critical thinking. 

For the Winter Semester 2020 in the Design Investigations Department, I will be leading the Bodies in Crisis studio brief.  Through design - we invite students to imagine, experiment, and present a series of garments that nurture the body through this crisis, regenerating our individual and collective hope. That catalyse movement, act as a bridge between us and others, that enable us to move our bodies in new, and unexpected ways, that enhance and empower the body. 

The theme ‘Bodies in Crisis’ is about how we can imagine hopeful and radical ways in which we can navigate a crisis. It is a call for positive thinking and generating hope through the design of interfaces and extensions of the body. 

As always,  our rigorous studio based education model enables students too use critical thinking, investigative research, material prototyping and conceptual speculation to design objects, experiences, stories and systems. We encourage experimental, innovative work that challenges that status quo to discover new ways of thinking and making. 

The final exam will be in the form of a presentation of the project work done by the students. The students will be graded based on their entire semester's performance including attendance, enthusiasm in learning, pushing themselves to explore and experiment, as well as the final presentation.