DESIGN INVESTIGATIONS (ID2): SALVAGING A GOOD TIME

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 2022 in the Design Investigations Department, I will be leading the SALVAGING A GOOD TIME studio brief. 

In the upcoming winter semester commencing October 2022, we invite our students to design for leisure and relaxation. But there is one condition to fulfil! Whatever our design ideas and proposals, they must be made (crafted) from salvaged materials – created from the waste of the Anthropocene. And, we would like you to situate these salvaged leisure objects/proposals in an alternative world, where humans have acknowledged the damage we caused to the environment and now thrive amidst the damage, living in harmonic interdependence with our planetary species. Where we flourish with the detritus of a bygone time. With objects and oddities of the past, reimagining their original context, use and meaning. The full brief will be shared in September. 

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.