On April 9, 2022, international top creatives will finally speak, inspire and irritate again at Schlachthof Wiesbaden.
SPEAKERS
MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW SHORTLY.
Noma Bar
Graphic designer, illustrator, artist
Noma Bar became known worldwide for his clever and humorous depictions of cultural and political icons such as Albert Einstein, Shakespeare, Nelson Mandela and George W. Bush. His pictorial elements often merge into one another – irony and deeper meaning often only become apparent after further consideration.
Hundreds of illustrations by the Israeli-born artist have been published in major publications such as Time Out London, BBC, Random House, The Observer, The Economist and Wallpaper – but his portfolio also includes campaigns for Google, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz and Apple.
Bar himself sees his works simply as a tool of visual communication: “maximum communication with minimal elements”. His awards include the Gold Clio for his 3D animation at the New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Yellow Pencil from D&AD for his exhibition “Cut It Out” at the London Design Festival.
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Rosa
Sociologist and political scientist
Hartmut Rosa is Professor of General and Theoretical Sociology at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Director of the Max Weber College at the University of Erfurt and Editor of the international journal “Time & Society”.
The history of acceleration in the modern age is one of Hartmut Rosa’s major themes: the time gained through technological advancement has led to a shortage of time – and not a gain. The myriad possibilities mean that people can no longer exhaust the chances given to them in the course of their lifetime. The “growth rate exceeds the rate of acceleration”. Therefore, what individuals have just experienced is no longer up-to-date, and they have no chance of dying “saturated with life” – as Goethe’s Faust also experienced. (“Social Acceleration. The Change of Temporal Structures”)
Rosa was awarded the Thuringian Research Prize for Fundamental Research, the Tractatus Essay Prize for Philosophical Essay Studies and the Erich Fromm Prize.
Photo credits: Anne Guenther/FSU (portrait); Helena and Laurent Martin (couple in the forest)
Christina Varvia – Forensic Architecture
Architect and researcher
Christina Varvia is Deputy Director of Forensic Architecture – a London-based collective of artists and researchers dedicated to exposing human rights violations. Forensic Architecture develops new technological-forensic methods and architectural evidence techniques.
Examples of her work include the analytical video documentation of the Hamas bombing of the Gaza city of Rafah in 2014, and the 3D reconstruction of a Syrian prison in collaboration with Amnesty International.
Varvia is a member of the Technology Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court and studied architecture at the University of Westminster and the AA School of Architecture in London, where she also currently teaches.
Photo credits: Simone Rowat (Portrait)
Ditte Lysgaard Vind
Designer
Ditte Lysgaard Vind is a designer and renowned circular economy expert. She works towards creating a world in which production and consumption do not have any negative impact on our climate and health. A world where waste is uniquely a resource.
She is co-author of the book “A changemaker’s guide to the future” and managing partner of The Circular Way, a strategic consultancy of the Lendager Group, which pursues the vision that economic growth and environmental sustainability are prerequisites – and not conflicting objectives. “Circular economy is about creating the world of tomorrow with the waste of today.”
Furthermore, Ditte is a member of the Executive Board of The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation and The Danish Design Council. Her main area of focus is to future-proof businesses and buildings by accelerating the transition to circularity.
Reet Aus
Fashion designer
Reet Aus is a PhD-qualified fashion designer and an environmental activist. As a pioneer in the field of industrial upcycling for fashion, she has developed a certification to pass on her expertise to brands and factories and has founded her own collections. Her goal is to reduce the environmental footprint of the fashion industry and to show that fundamental changes are possible.
During her scientific work, the Estonian discovered that there is only one way to help reduce the environmental footprint of the fashion industry – from within. Drawing on her understanding of the entire production chain, she has succeeded in bringing transparency to the field of production-related textile waste – one of the biggest problems, which has largely remained unnoticed to date.
Thousands of factories in the Third World produce not only clothing for large companies, but also many tonnes of toxic waste, which has a considerable impact on the environment. Therefore, the products from ” Reet Aus Collection” are made only from fabric leftovers. As a result, design becomes the solution to avoiding waste.
Photo credits: Mark Raidpere (photo in the middle)
Cedric Kiefer
Artist and designer
Cedric Kiefer is co-founder and Creative Director of onformative. A Berlin-based studio for digital art and design. Cedric’s fascination with science, technology and art is what drives the development of new projects at onformative which focus on topics related to science, nature and current events.
His results and interpretations range from interactive media installations, generative design and dynamic visuals to data-driven narratives. Together with his team, he is constantly looking for creative new forms of expression. Working with the Frankfurt-based avant-garde Forsythe Dance Company, he jointly established the experimental project Pathfinder. It involves dancers reacting to stimuli calculated by a computer.
onformative is continually progressing and pushing back the boundaries of its own creativity. This is without doubt one of the reasons why they are among the pioneers of generative design. Parallel to his work in the studio, Cedric Kiefer teaches generative design in workshops and at colleges and regularly gives talks about digital art and design at international universities, conferences and festivals.
Nikita Diakur
Filmmaker and animation artist
Nikita Diakur studied animation at the Royal College of Art in London. He now lives and works as an independent director and producer in Mainz. The trademark of his films is an animation method based on computer simulation and randomness, allowing for spontaneity and mistakes.
The Russian-born artist has won several awards for his latest projects “Ugly” and “Fest” and participated in film festivals all over the world. With his innovative narratives, he questions formats and styles. His stories are about bizarre characters and unpredictable physics. The result is a surprise.
He regularly gives lectures and workshops, e.g. at the Playgrounds Festival or at the Berlin Academy of Arts. He was also part of the Artists-in-Residence programme at Q21 in Vienna and is a member of the European Film Academy.
Photo credits: Ramon Haindl (portrait)
Cedric Kiefer
Artist and Designer
Guided by an emotional approach, Berlin based studio onformative constantly searches for new forms of creative expression. Through an experimental practice they create meaningful digital art works to question the relationship between humans and technology. Their outcomes and interpretations take on varying forms across media through self-initiated and commissioned works that range from interactive media installations, generative design and dynamic visuals to data-driven narratives. Works by onformative have been exhibited across Europe as well as in North America, Australia and China.
As the co-founder and creative lead at onformative, Cedric develops and directs projects to define the creative vision of the studio. Cedric’s fascination with science, technology and art fuels the development of new projects at onformative. Parallel to his work at the studio, he regularly teaches and talks about digital art and design at international universities, conferences and festivals.
Marjan van Aubel
Designer
Marjan van Aubel is a solar designer and co-founder of the design collective Caventou. Her innovative work encompasses the fields of sustainability, design and technology. She focuses on using intelligent design to create a “solar democracy”. This involves integrating solar panels into windows, furniture and other objects, thus making solar technology part of our lives in an aesthetically pleasing way. Her goal is to make solar energy socially acceptable.
Marjan teaches at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. In 2017 she was voted “Designer of the Future” by Swarovski; in 2016 she received the Wallpaper Design Award and WIRED’s Innovation Award.
Prof. Eike König
Graphic designer
Eike König founded HORT in Berlin – a design office for visual communication. Its portfolio includes ARTE, Bauhaus Dessau and Nike. Eike’s work not only provides answers, but also stimulates political discourse. His special priority is to promote young people. Since 2011 he has been professor for illustration and graphic design at the Offenbach Academy of Design (HfG Offenbach).
Both at the academy and in his design office, Eike is first and foremost a mentor – not a boss or a teacher. He strives to spark creativity and courage by working in a liberal and inspiring way.
Daan Lucas
Designer
Daan Lucas is founder and managing director of Random Studio – a design studio that creates immersive experiences. These experiences involve interactive installations related to brands and products, opening up new perspectives in physical space to the viewer.
Daan has not pursued a typical career in design. He first studied law before giving it a go in the world of advertising and programming on his own. He quickly realized that there were people who were much better at advertising and programming than he was and founded Random Studio – an open office for designers and artists of all kinds.
Mathew Leung
Architect and urban designer
Mathew Leung is co-founder of “Assemble”, an interdisciplinary architecture, design and art studio specializing in the planning and implementation of workspaces. Mathew has managed projects including “The Cineroleum”, a pilot project to reuse 4000 unused UK petrol stations, and “Blockhorse Workshop”, a workshop in Waltham Forest which is open to the public. Assemble’s project “Granby Four Streets” won the Turner Prize in 2015.
In addition to his work at Assemble, Mathew lectures in cultural and educational institutions around the world and publishes his research in RIBA Journal and with JOVIS Publishers, among others. His Master’s thesis was awarded the RIBA President’s Silver Medal.
(Photo credits from left to right: Zander Olsen, Assemble, David Vintiner)
Matilde Boelhouwer
Product designer
Since her studies in insectology and product design at ArtEZ in Arnhem, Matilde Boelhouwer has worked in an interdisciplinary manner in the fields of design, art and biology. In her work, she strives to generate ideas that are not only beautiful but also have an added value. Matilde sees insects as a subject, material and source of inspiration, discovering the vital role they play in our ecosystem. Her designs aim to show new possibilities and perspectives and make society aware of the importance of the environment.
As part of her “Food for Buzz” project, Matilde developed artificial flowers in Atelier Boelhouwer that transform rain into sugar water in order to serve as a food source for insects in urban areas.
Dr. Mary Katherine Heinrich
Architect
Mary Katherine Heinrich is an interdisciplinary researcher working on self-organizing and bio-hybrid robotics. Mary Katherine works at the Institute of Computer Engineering at the University of Lübeck and is part of the “Flora Robotica” research team.
“Flora Robotica” is a Europe-wide research project made up of architects, biologists, engineers and computer scientists. Its aim is to investigate ways in which plants and robots can benefit from each other in a symbiotic relationship. By combining different disciplines, the research team wants to develop independently growing, adaptive and self-repairing plants which will autonomously produce architectural artefacts and living environments in the future. The vision of the research team is that the intelligent plants, guided by robot swarms, will enliven our cities in the long term.
