As ′KIT Innovation Hub - Prevention in Construction′ and official partner of the New European Bauhaus Initiative, we are convinced that a pluralistic and exciting network is the key to sustainable use. With our partner the art network ′ato′, the project presented here also feeds from this conviction. Our motivation to show the ′WERKSTATTPALAST′ in this format is on the one hand to make the partners behind it - the ′HUB” and ′ato” - visible with their respective ideas.
National
Germany
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): KIT Innovation HUB Type of organisation: University or another research institution First name of representative: Christina Last name of representative: Becker Gender: Female Nationality: Germany Function: Project Management Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Geb. 330 Town: Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen Postal code: 76344 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 176 64290207 E-mail:christina.becker@kit.edu Website:http://www.hub-bau.kit.edu/index.php
Name of the organisation(s): ato GmbH Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Hannah Last name of representative: Klein Gender: Female Nationality: Germany Function: Managing director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Torstraße 154 Town: Berlin Postal code: 10115 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 30 75439370 E-mail:mail@ato.vision Website:http://ato.vision
Science, art and hot dogs - an unusual combination, we agree, but just because it is perceived as unusual does not mean it is not right! Quite the opposite: accompanied by performances, live music and a bar, this unique fusion resulted in a ten-week ′(infra)structure festival′ in Karlsruhe‘s harbour area with 95 individual programme items. These included lectures, dialogue rounds, workshops, performances, guided tours, listening sessions, concerts, question rounds and much more.
Transformation
Participation
Communication
Science
Art
Social transformation processes require an intensive discourse between all social groups and thus the people they represent. Only in this way can individuals‘ ideas about the future and potential be introduced into processes that are capable of consensus. This has become more difficult today, as instead of discourse, the focus is increasingly on confrontation, which divides societies and hinders social change more than, for example, delayed political decisions, limited social structures or a lack of money. While between science and society a critical discourse is often only possible in a highly sensitive field of tension, over the last 20 years an artistic research practice has developed from art that is able to question and criticise science without falling into the realm of conspiracy theory or general scepticism of science. The transdisciplinary concept of the ′WERKstattPALAST′ was developed to counteract the aforementioned lack of discourse and dialogue, which sometimes leads to resignation. The topic of ′infrastructures′ as the backbone of our society was jointly selected as the starting point and core theme of the project. After all, without infrastructure, such as transport routes, schools or hospitals, our economy and society cannot develop. However, this infrastructure is under pressure at all levels, which has led to a noticeable change in the general perception of infrastructure. We pave the way and provide impetus in the field of science communication, for example by motivating and involving younger scientists. The studies of future scientists still allow for the possibility of an exchange across disciplinary boundaries, since in addition to the professional training, the family environment or the social environment also allows or even demands such interaction. The subsequent steps in an academic career, however, are characterised by a strong focus on subject-specific content.
The centrepiece of the exhibition was a 25-metre-long material library on the subject of ′(infra)structures′. The work, created in cooperation with the KIT Innovation HUB, ato, Biodesign Lab HfG Karlsruhe and the artist Verena Schmidt, provided an insight into four ′narratives′ about structures. 32 exhibited materials could be examined and questioned in terms of their content, their form and aesthetics, their recyclability or, for example, their occurrence in nature. The library contained basic element for construction work up to sustainable design objects recently developed. The programme also followed a clear structure: on Thursdays there was an impulse lecture from science and art, followed by a dialogue round and a musical contribution. On Fridays (′Freitat′), the theme was illustrated in an ′abstract′ manner by performances and live concerts. Saturday was the ′dialogue day′ with 2-3 talk rounds on different topics. Here, too, the contents discussed were very diverse. There was a multidisciplinary exchange about urban planning, materials science, entrepreneurial, artistic and socially relevant (infra)structures. Every Sunday there were 1-2 free workshops. Here, too, the ′structures′ addressed were very diverse. For example, there were workshops on digital infrastructure, circular construction, biological structures or the surrounding harbour structures. There were special offers for children to experience the topic of ′science and art′ in a child-friendly way. For example, free design with plaster and aerated concrete was complemented by explanations of its behaviour (heat release, pore structure). This made for interesting and above all ′cross-border′ conversations in the exhibition space and also gave external visitors the opportunity to contribute their own thoughts and research ideas.
Our approach was to bring people from all areas of society together through a jointly created offer of science and art, so that they could listen to each other and exchange ideas. The programme was realised by about 190 people from a wide range of disciplines. And all this with free admission. New communication formats for the transfer of scientific content were thus tested in diverse and unusual ways and made tangible not only theoretically but also practically. Opportunities for visitors to participate were part of almost all programme items. In addition to the architecture itself, the key to accessible and barrier-free knowledge transfer were numerous artistic contributions, participatory offerings and the design of catering venues. The term transformation or ′structural change′ is therefore increasingly found in all areas of the economy, politics, the art world, but also in daily interaction in kindergarten, school or at work. Infrastructure and structural change take many forms, depending on the subject area and educational background. However, each discipline has its own terminology, which sometimes differs greatly from the other ′(infra)structure understanding′. Developing a place where different understandings can be exchanged was therefore the main concern of the KIT Innovation HUB and the art initiative ato. We wanted not only to develop but also to realise an interdisciplinary and cross-thematic platform where representatives of science, art and citizens could meet. The WERKstattPALAST 2022 dealt with „(infra-)structure“ in terms of both content and practice. The direct surroundings played a decisive role. It was only through this project that the Rhine harbor was opened up for urban society, for art and for science. Through the built architecture, which also contained many harbor materials, the topic of (infra-)structure was not only addressed in terms of content, but an infrastructure was also practically "broken open" and made tangible.
The aim of the project is to involve citizens as active designers in municipal innovation projects. Through methods of participation and co-innovation, current research results of the partners will be implemented and applied in two model municipalities (large city, smaller municipality). These methods will be suitable for mobilising citizens and their intellectual potential for knowledge and technology transfer and making them productive in the concrete design of technical and process-related innovation projects in two selected municipalities. For prototypical testing, topics from the area of municipal transport and construction infrastructures are the focus of the joint project. The WERKstattPALAST project follows the goal formulated in the Federal Government's High-Tech Strategy to strengthen future competencies in the national innovation system. This also includes the involvement of citizens in research and innovation and in shaping technological and social change: "Innovation impulses should increasingly come from citizens. These concern the exploration of possibilities for active cooperation between actors from science and the population in the definition of tasks and problems within the framework of project development, the conception and implementation of projects with participatory methods, the strengthening of networking and exchange through suitable event formats, the development of overarching structures through the opening of laboratories, the development of a requirement profile for the management (Citizen Science Coordinator), the communication of the project work and the creation of clear structures and responsibilities with regard to the project organisation.
The WERKstattPALAST was prototypically implemented in 2022 as a 10 weeks festival and is temporally and spatially scalable.
A barren meadow became a venue for events, an exhibition area, a place to learn and stay. It was only through the placement of the WERKstattPALAST that around 95 individual event points could be realized in the course of the ten weeks.
In our case the "flying architecture" in the form of a scaffolding palace temporarily becomes part of the Rhine harbour infrastructure. The area became a projection surface for urban and social visions of the future - and a venue for art, music, dialogues, workshops and gatherings at the bar. More than 5000 visitors from the city and abroad visited the port and gained a new perspective on Karlsruhe's infrastructure.
Dealing with the question "who owns the harbor" lead to further discussions between politics, city administration and society and has already initiated some considerations with regard to the location. It demonstrates how to play on existing architectures as well as to transform open spaces with flying buildings into transformative places of learning. It is necessary that different parties are not only inviting each other but also meet on neutral ground to be able to act freely without influence. It symbolizes a change that we want to promote to break the typical paths of society and use science, art and culture as a "bridge" to open new paths, new connections and new ways of perceiving our environment. For ato, encounters between different disciplines on an equal footing are an elementary component of joint work. This is also very important in cooperation with companies, universities and organisations from the arts and cultural sector. Actual innovation, knowledge transfer and structural change occur where artists and creative professionals are perceived and taken seriously in their professionalisation and the specialist areas (science, art, business) work together on topics.
Our infrastructure was chosen as the topic because it is the backbone of our society and is currently undergoing a noticeable change at all levels of our society. Its poor condition is complained about everywhere, its expansion is the subject of heated debate, and social consensus is not always found. On the other hand, a failure of the ′critical′ infrastructure is seen as a ′worst case′. In short, the topic of ′infrastructure′ is highly topical, controversial and particularly relevant to society.
The public scientific discussion at the beginning of the Corona pandemic has clearly shown that scientific discourse, as it is known from conferences, is not successful. Instead of the desired transparency, it creates uncertainty and mistrust among people outside the scientific community. Therefore, we must not allow questions of the future to be answered only by individual experts, but rather encourage different actors to engage in a collective working process. In our view, the WERKstattPALAST format is a practical approach to creating this ′multidirectional access′, i.e. not just involving one target group. WERKstattPALAST symbolises a change that we want to promote in order to break the typical paths of society and use science, art and culture as a ′bridge′, an infra(structure if you will), to open up new paths, new connections and new ways of perceiving our environment. That this approach is readily accepted is shown by the more than 5,000 people who attended.
These upstream steps support the development of a better understanding for others and create a basis of trust, which is an essential prerequisite for an objective and productive discussion. In order to see oneself as an active creator of a sustainable infrastructure, it was important to address project participants, experts and visitors in a targeted manner and to design the offer in such a versatile way that it functions across disciplines and generations. The target groups were not only the citizens and guests, but also the project participants from science and art. Only if young, but also established scientists see the exchange with the various social groups as an important contribution to their own work, will not only the taxpayers‘ understanding of the value of scientific work increase, but also the quality of research work. This was achieved through WERKstattPALAST 2022. It could be clearly seen how children with parents repeatedly attended workshops or experienced performances, at the same time getting into conversation with experts, and how older visitors also began to engage with new scientific findings and foreign perspectives. On the other hand, the exchange between the scientists and artists and the guests and visitors led to self-reflection on their own work.
Our research work and findings are accessible to non-scientific target groups and get involved in social debates. The research field, which derives from the disciplines of civil engineering and architecture, has a rather dusty image (due to concrete?) despite its great importance for the transformation of our society towards more sustainability. This is true not only for politics, the economy and society, but also for the scientific world outside this field of research. However, ′civil engineering′ is not alone in the academic world; rather, becoming increasingly important for the individual disciplines in the humanities, engineering and natural sciences not only to position themselves.
In practical terms, a flying architecture was designed, built and equipped with a material library and other exhibition contributions in the Rhine harbour of Karlsruhe. A ten-week programme with various contributions from the fields of science, technology and art was set up and implemented. A brief description of the WERKstattPALAST can be found in the PDF.
- A temporary architecture that allows science and art to be experienced under the 'roof of (infra)structure'
- The material library
- The structure quartet
- The 'who‘s who' of the structures
- A 95 different programme agenda
- The exhibition
- Experts from science and art were continuously present
- A place for everyone, the local community and beyond
The long-term concept of WERKstattPALAST offers both smaller communities and large cities the opportunity to enter into a "multi-directional exchange" with their citizens and cross-disciplinary experts. Specifically, the (local) cooperation partners are building a multidisciplinary network of experts and citizens that explores new communication and mediation strategies for scientific and artistic expertise. The goal is to develop a citizen-oriented and low-threshold offering that makes complex and qualitatively demanding topics, such as the topic of "infrastructure," accessible to a broader social stratum and invites participation: Scientists and researchers, but also artists, detach themselves from their physical environment in order to be able to openly face new impulses and ideas in a joint discourse in dialogue with other groups as citizens in communities.
We pursue recognisable goals in our communication and address our target groups in an appropriate way.
The speechlessness in our society has continued to grow during the pandemic in the last two years. There are too few places and contact points where people can exchange and share newly acquired knowledge across old and/or newly created boundaries. In particular, there is an urgent need for platforms that are not owned by a single discipline or field, but places that are shared and played upon by all. Only in this way can we develop a culture of discourse and consensus adapted to social change, which is an indispensable prerequisite for a sustainable society.
Controversial discussions on fundamental issues of personal freedom have gone viral in social media. The simplification of complex technical processes beyond recognition or source-less conspiracy theories show that a classic ′one-directional′ approach quickly leads to the fact that only those groups can be won over for constructive participation who approach this format with a certain openness from the outset. To overcome these limitations, ′multidirectional′ approaches are needed that use different content and methodological formats to lead a representative number of social and scientific-technical groups into the actual substantive debate.
Our 5 main focuses, which we are challenging, are: digitalisation, globalisation, resource scarcity, mega cities, climate change.
Due to climate change and the upcoming scarcity of resources in times of urbanisation, globalisation and digitalisation, the boundary conditions for the construction industry are currently changing at a rapid pace. The pandemic has shown us under a magnifying glass how economic dependencies make themselves felt in society in a very short time, and not only through incomplete supply chains. The necessity and urgency of a functional and sustainable infrastructure is further reinforced by this. It is not only of utmost importance for economic competitiveness, but also, as just mentioned, for cultural and social development in every country in the world.
The transdisciplinary concept of the ′WERKstattPALAST′ was developed to counteract the aforementioned lack of discourse and dialogue, which sometimes leads to resignation. The topic of ′infrastructures′ as the backbone of our society was jointly selected as the starting point and core theme of the project. After all, without infrastructure, such as transport routes, schools or hospitals, our economy and society cannot develop. However, this infrastructure is under pressure at all levels, which has led to a noticeable change in the general perception of infrastructure. There are an insufficient number of places and contact points where people can exchange ideas and where newly acquired knowledge can be shared across old and/or newly created borders. More specifically, there is an urgent need for platforms that do not belong to any single department, but rather places that are shared and played on by everyone. Only in this way can we develop a culture of discourse and consensus, which is an indispensable prerequisite for a sustainable society.
It could be clearly seen how children with parents repeatedly attended workshops or experienced performances, at the same time getting into conversation with experts, and how older visitors also began to engage with new scientific findings and foreign perspectives. On the other hand, the exchange between the scientists and artists and the guests and visitors led to self-reflection on their own work. The public scientific discussion at the beginning of the Corona pandemic has clearly shown that scientific discourse, as it is known from conferences, is not successful. Instead of the desired transparency, it creates uncertainty and mistrust among people outside the scientific community. Therefore, we must not allow questions of the future to be answered only by individual experts, but rather encourage different actors to engage in a collective working process. In our view, the WERKstattPALAST format is a practical approach to creating this ′multidirectional access′, i.e. not just involving one target group. WERKstattPALAST symbolises a change that we want to promote in order to break the typical paths of society and use science, art and culture as a ′bridge′, an infra(structure if you will), to open up new paths, new connections and new ways of perceiving our environment. That this approach is readily accepted is shown by the more than 5,000 people who attended.The WERKSTATTPALAST as a demonstrator establishes an interdisciplinary network and at the same time offers a place for encounters, exchange and practical experimentation. Infrastructure, as the fundamental structure of our social and economic coexistence, is a topic that affects everyone. This circumstance through the WERKSTATTPALAST, emphasised the need and openness to discover these "touchpoints".
We want to strengthen the innovative capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises in the construction industry and help shape the infrastructure of the future.
• We promote communication between all relevant stakeholders and overcome industry-specific barriers to innovation,
• We are experts in the fields of materials science, construction chemistry and civil engineering,
• We conduct research for our partners in modern, well-equipped laboratories and provide the latest expertise through training courses and seminars,
• We use foresight to explore new markets and, as innovation managers, quickly bring jointly developed technologies, products and services into application,
• We accompany our partners through the entire innovation process, from idea generation to product development and commercialisation
