A new semester brings fresh impetus, exciting projects and important developments. The Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung is therefore delighted to welcome two new appointments for the summer semester: Prof. Valentina Karga and Prof. Dr Sami Khatib.

Prof. Valentina Karga
We welcome Prof Valentina Karga as the new Professor of Relational Design. The artist and qualified architect works at the interface between art, design, architecture and research. In her work, she combines socio-political practice with experimental approaches that scrutinise existing social and ecological frameworks. Her projects promote participation and commoning, address sustainability and often develop low-tech alternatives to existing infrastructures. Karga's works have been exhibited internationally, including at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, the transmediale Festival in Berlin and the Athens Biennale. She was a scholarship holder at the UdK Berlin and previously taught as a professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. With her interdisciplinary approach, she will enrich the HfG with new, forward-looking perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Sami Khatib
The university is also delighted to welcome Prof. Dr Sami Khatib as the new Professor of Political and Social Aesthetics. Khatib was most recently a research fellow at the German Orient Institute in Beirut and researches critical theory from the Global South. Since 2006, he has been teaching media philosophy, aesthetics and art theory at renowned universities and art academies worldwide, including the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo, Leuphana University Lüneburg, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Free University of Berlin and as a substitute professor at the HfG Karlsruhe. His research specialisms include critical theory, aesthetic theory and continental philosophy. His versatile academic orientation and international experience will be a valuable addition to the HfG's academic profile.