Am heutigen Abend feiert das Bio Design Lab nicht nur seinen hausinternen Umzug, sondern auch das Opening der Living Library in Lichthof 4 (EG) der HfG Karlsruhe.

Am gleichen Abend eröffnen zudem um 19.30 Uhr, ebenfalls unter Beteiligung der Living Library, die ZKM Ausstellung Fellow Travelers und die Ausstellungen der HfG Alumni Vera Gärtner und Leonie Mühlen in der Städtischen Galerie Karlsruhe (SGK)

///////

About Bio Design Lab:

The Bio Design Lab is a hybrid and evolutive environment that exists in both the digital and physical space. Conceived as a platform for connection and collaboration with local partners and using local resources, the Lab hosts the presentation, education and transmission of knowledge. As students and experts are invited to work on bio-design related projects, visitors can explore and interact with the Lab’s production and lines of inquiry.

Projects within the Lab focus on the local region, its materials and possibilities, and actively aim to reshuffle and rethink modes of production in Karlsruhe and the south of Germany. Topics under exploration include Algae, Soil, Plants, Body, and Agriculture. To interact with these themes and related materials, both within the digital and physical space, the Lab invites local experts and visitors alike.

Within the Bio Design Lab, regional resources are collected by connecting with local partners; they are then distilled through the making of a know-how glossary and a material library, aiming to develop local materials. The knowledge around these resources is disseminated through virtual workshops and multimedia presentations of outstanding projects dealing with sustainable materials. Ultimately, traces of these activities will remain in a constantly growing network, both in the digital platform and in physical displays of existing and future objects.

The Lab works as an incubator and a model for collaboration and production that is in line with the current transformation of the Karlsruhe University of the Arts and Design Karlsruhe. It was first presented to the public in the context of Critical Zones, an exhibition at ZKM | Center for Art and Media.

About Living Library:

Around four hundred students study and research in five interdisciplinary degree programs at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. The artistic exploration of materials is an important part of the project study program of the school. However, working with sustainable, non-standardized and living materials is a young field for designers and artists and requires innovative strategies and teaching formats. The Living Library (LL) is a project funded by “Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre”, which aims to promote experimental teaching and learning methods in artistic project work with non-standardized materials, focusing on sustainability. Therefore, the focus will be on regional raw materials, producers and cultural techniques, which will become a source for practice-based teaching and research.

The innovative approach consists of setting up a hybrid material archive that is conceptually orientated towards the life cycle: The analog collection goes through the circular stages of "growth", "entanglement", "decay" and "restructuring". Material samples and specimens, including additional information, are collaboratively developed for the archive in seminars, workshops and excursions, activated and documented in the digital archive. At the end of the project, the results will be published in the form of an OA publication to ensure a sustainable transfer of knowledge.