SOCIAL spaces DESIGN, DESIGN spaces SOCIAL
156SOCIAL spaces DESIGN
DESIGN spaces SOCIAL
Talk and open discussion
5 November, 6:30 p.m., sp ce | Muthesius
Moderation: Sven Christian Schuch, Artistic Director sp ce | Muthesius
Hannes Latour & Sebastian Enders – designers,alien objects
Anna Ulmer – designer,Holdon
Felix Schmuck (City Planning Office, Head of Urban Renewal and Urban Design)
The term social design encompasses a wide range of projects, methods and political measures for the aesthetic and ethical design of social object worlds, social innovations and urban spaces. The focus is primarily on projects that address the common good, participation, democracy and sustainability and encourage active participation. The basic idea is to be a catalyst for positive social change in an urban environment characterized by social inequality and hierarchy. The boundaries between the areas of design and art are often fluid, mutually dependent and complexly embedded in a structure of current events, long-term urban planning and social and societal interests. As part of the project going public – Von öffentlichem Interesse, the industrial designers Anna Ulmer, Hannes Latour and Sebastian Enders have worked extensively on concepts for urban space. In an open discussion, we would like to take a closer look at these projects and also explain their future for a city like Kiel with Felix Schmuck, Head of the Urban Renewal and Urban Design Department in the Kiel City Planning Office.
Anna Ulmer – Holdon
Urban area
A small, round table on a lamppost, a striking hook on a traffic sign, a low table on a bicycle stand – designer Anna Ulmer has developed versatile objects that can be flexibly mounted on the city's ubiquitous tubular steel posts.
The subtle interventions in the Holdon series point to potential transformations of monofunctional remnants of the car-friendly city. As part of going public – Of public interest, the modules will be deployed throughout the city, appearing and disappearing again, functionally tested and playfully utilized. The project explores the creative potential of the smallest design interventions in urban space and sees the city not just as infrastructure, but as a social network of interactions.
Hannes Latour & Sebastian Enders – alien objects
Kiel Castle area (a draft)
The two industrial designers have created an alien object for the corner of Dänische Straße / Jensendamm as a feeder road for the castle complex, which is currently in transition, and the new residential area in the castle quarter, with the aim of rethinking the location. How can the street layout and the use of the entire area be rethought in a communal and citizen-oriented way in these restructuring processes? How can an increase in the quality of life be implemented in the process and space be created for developments beyond the car-friendly city?
Our cities are designed for cars. Other forms of (urban) mobility suffer as a result. New mobility ideas are needed to ensure a better quality of life. Many cities in Europe are making great efforts to change their urban landscapes. In Germany, attempts to implement alternative scenarios are not well thought out, are met with rejection by citizens, and ultimately fail. By placing interventions in the urban context, Sebastian Enders & Hannes Latour want to create an irritation that inspires ideas that are necessary for a sustainable transformation.
The aim of the project is to give cities a tool with which they can initiate change. "alien objects" serves as a starting point, a point of recognition and a spark for change. Placed in the urban environment, the intervention gives all those involved (planning offices, city administration and especially citizens) time and space to reinvent the urban space. These objects serve as orientation points for a larger process. Through careful planning, collaboration and artistic expression, the concept aims to bring about urban transformation and help radically change the way we think about urban mobility.
To create a safe environment in which transformative processes can take place, a simple blockade is not enough. Instead, we need to introduce an element that is both unexpected and alien to the urban environment. This unconventional obstacle physically blocks the road and provides the necessary space for transformative action. It represents the disruption required for new ideas to emerge. The alien object becomes a tangible obstacle that challenges the status quo and creates an atmosphere in which new perspectives and innovative concepts can flourish.
