The project Terrestrial Cosmologies is an experimental cooperation between art students from Turkey, Germany, and Austria integrating the fields of art education, experimental and eco-social design, site-specific poetry, and artistic research, the interdisciplinary program. It aims to explore decolonial pedagogical methodologies and artistic/design approaches within the context of a practice-based research within rural infrastructures at the Tigris region in Southeast Turkey.

Terrestrial Cosmologies takes the form of a one-week on-site workshop. During our stay in the town of Batman and the Raman region, student/teachers teams will visit, research and approach urban and rural infrastructures as a collective effort to understand daily life and the ecologies of the rural landscapes. Through a series of workshops we will focus on Tigris phenomenologies, spatial interventions, and learning about Ezidi, Kurdish, and Suryani culture, especially the history of their lands, their nomadic and settled lifestyles, and the migration histories between Germany, Austria, and the Tigris region.

We seek to unravel learning habits within western institutions and epistemologies (with regards to white innocence and extractivist attitudes), and shift our focus toward decolonial practices of knowledge sharing: learning from the land, rivers, and the mountains, the communities. 

KKP students will engage with site-specific artistic research and art-pedagogical practices that are sensitive to differences within teaching and learning processes. In this context, the students will document their working processes and learn to consider the socio-political conditions in which their artistic/educational processes take place.

Erasmus+ Blended Intensiv Program (BIP) is a collaboration with the classes from the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK) - Prof. Dr. Jesko Fezer, Experimental Design Class, and the Fine Arts Academy, Batman University Turkey - Prof. Pelin Tan, and the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Art and Communication Practices (Prof. Annette Krauss, Prof. Sofia Bempeza). 

Erasmus+Program Stipends are available to support travel expenses, accommodation, and per diems.
Make sure you are available to travel between April 19-26th 2026 and that you can attend all online classes listed below. 

Please note that the number of participants from Angewandte is limited to 8 students. 

To apply, please send a short application/motivation letter (max 300 words) in English including your points of interest concerning ecology, rural infrastructures, extractivism, and decolonial art pedagogies. 

Send your motivation letter per Email - „Subject: BIP Application“ by February 15th, 2026 to Sofia Bempeza + Annette Krauss under dirtypink@uni-ak.ac.at  

 

DATES

• 10th March, LV on site at Angewandte, 1o.00-14.00, KKP Group Angewandte, Mixed Media 2 (Raum 305, VZA7)

• 11th March, LV on zoom, 14.30 - 18.00, Meeting of all groups + teachers 

               and input by Prof. Pelin Tan 

• 1st April, 15.00 - 17.30 CET on zoom and on-site (DKT 02) ; Meeting of all groups + teachers (during the Easter break), everybody online

• 14th April, 11.00-13.00 CET, on site at Angewandte, Excursion preparation meeting - KKP Group Angewandte, Mixed Media 1 (Raum 305, VZA7)

• 19-26th April, On-Site Excursion in Batman region: Angewandte Group and HFBK group and Batman group 

• 5th May, 11.00-13.00, Reflection and post-production, KKP Group, on-site at Angewandte, Mixed Media 1 (Raum 305)

• 15th June, 13.00-17.00, Participation at KKP FORUM, FLUX2, VZA7 Angewandte

 

Subscribe in both courses on BASE

course number S05953, 4.0 ECTS, 4 semester hours (SB)

course number S05954, 4.0 ECTS, 4 emester hours (AK)

active participation, site-specific project and post-production, presentation in the FORUM 

2 additional ECTS for the seminar through project work on site