Material Culture I
Anna Nagele
Design, Theory and History of Design
2025W, scientific seminar (SEW), 4.0 ECTS, 2.0 semester hours, course number S05874
Description
Material Realities of the Immaterial: Design, Technology, and Global Inequities
As design increasingly engages with digital and immaterial practices, this seminar interrogates the very real material, environmental, and social costs that underpin technological innovation. While AI tools, cloud infrastructures, and digital systems are mainly developed in the Global North, their foundations rely on the extraction of raw materials, energy, and labour, often from the Global South. In this seminar we explore how terms like “the Cloud” and “Big Data” obscure these extractive dynamics, and how design—often complicit in such systems—can become more accountable.
Drawing on design and anthropological research, we examine how dominant design paradigms often come at the expense of local knowledge and justice. Through critical reflection and interdisciplinary dialogue, students are asked to consider how design practices can shift from perpetuating neo-colonial systems to enabling more equitable, locally rooted digital spheres.
Comments
Seminar language: English
Key Words
digital technology, artificial intelligence, materials, immaterial, inequity, big data, cloud, design anthropology, design justice, environment, design
Dates
09 October 2025, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
23 October 2025, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
06 November 2025, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
20 November 2025, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
04 December 2025, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
18 December 2025, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
08 January 2026, 10:00–12:30 Seminar Room 31
Course Enrolment
From 01 September 2025, 09:00 to 08 October 2025, 09:00
Via online registration
Curriculum Allocation
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: IT: Bachelorseminar Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.85
Art Education: subject kkp (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Seminar aus dem Bereich Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 067/003.25
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject tex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 071/003.80
Art Education: subject dae (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 072/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: IT: Bachelorseminar Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.85
Art Education: subject dex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Seminar aus dem Bereich Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 074/003.25
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
TransArts - Transdisciplinary Arts (Bachelor): Theoretical foundations: Theoretical foundations 180/003.01
Expanded Museum Studies (Master): Electives: Design History and Theory 537/080.24
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie und Geschichte : Kulturwissenschaften 566/208.15
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie, Geschichte: Kulturwissenschaften 567/208.15
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 2: Design History and Theory 568/006.15
Design: Specialisation in Communication Design (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Theory and History of Design 577/203.08
Industrial Design (2. Section): Design in Context: Theory and Design History 580/202.11
Design: Specialisation in Fashion Design (2. Section): Fashion in Context: Theory and History of Design 584/208.01
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Media Theory,Art&Knowledge Transfer,Th. of Architecture,Th. and Hist. of Design 605/202.02
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Free Electives out of Scientific and Research Practice 605/202.80
Co-registration: possible
Attending individual courses: possible