Design Campus Summer School 2023: Register now for the School of Phyto-Centred Design

09 March 2023

Start Anmeldung Design Campus 1

This year’s summer school, to be held in Pillnitz from 20 July to 25 August 2023, is open for enrolment as of now. In close connection with the special exhibition “Plant Fever. Towards a Phyto-centred Design” (29.4–31.10.2023) and the Kunstgewerbemuseum collection, the Franco-Italian duo Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts (d-o-t-s) will this year be curating the six-week international summer school programme as Heads of School. Entitled the “School of Phyto-Centred Design”, this will invite participants to take inspiration from the plant life at Pillnitz Palace and Park in a series of nine-day workshops.

The effects of climate change we are already feeling today, and the alarming scenarios expected for the future, make it imperative for us to break with traditional design principles tied to growth and the exploitation of limited raw materials. As part of a multidisciplinary, transcultural landscape of discourse and research, the summer school calls into question the deep-rooted Western concept of a dichotomy between humankind and nature and invites participants to enter into critical, utopian thinking together.

Designers, theoreticians, performance artists, curators and philosophers will be heading weekly workshops, visits to the collections, and lectures. This year’s tutors will include Fernando Laposse, Emma Bruschi, Passepartout Duo, Simone Kenyon and ERBA (Suzanne Bernhardt and Philipp Kolmann). The nomadic lifestyles of the Heads of School enable them to remain in Pillnitz throughout the summer school, providing insights into how they carry out research and hold exhibitions.

The Design Campus Summer School, introduced by the Kunstgewerbemuseum, is a forward-looking interdisciplinary think tank developed by curators to address current issues relating to social change, digitalisation, the climate crisis and other challenges. The goal is to enter into a dialogue – with experts, with the public and with the team at the museum itself – to scrutinise and rethink the modern role of museums of the decorative arts, and to reveal and amplify design’s powerful impact on society, science and industry.

d-o-t-s (Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts, Heads of School) is a nomadic curatorial practice currently concentrating on rural parts of Europe and a non-human-centric perspective on design. The work carried out by d-o-t-s is characterised by a participatory, interdisciplinary approach applied to writing, exhibition-making, hands-on workshops and design commissions. The studio’s latest and current projects include “Plant Fever” (2020–2024), ”Greenhouse Stories” (2021–2023) and “Stork Fiction” (2022–2023).

 

Further information on the project and those involved, on the details of the workshop programme and on how to enrol can be found at www.designcampus.org.

Enrolment ends on 15 June 2023. Anyone can take part who has an inquisitive mind and a burning desire to change the world with design. An early bird ticket will be available until 15 April 2023 for fast decision-makers. Special emphasis will be placed on diversity and inclusion. The working language will be English.

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