Much like the aardvark, or Alvar Aalto, Aachen is always likely to find itself at the top of any alphabetical list. But aside from such orthographic deceit, would the FH Aachen be at the top of our #campustour list.......? FH Aachen Design Department @ Boxgraben 100 Aachen FH Aachen In what is becoming a popular, almost ubiquitous, sentence in these pages, and one we suspect we will return to at a later date, the Fachhochschule Aachen was formed in 1971 from the fusion of five existing
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Although Bauhaus originally opened in Weimar, the Bauhaus most people understand as Bauhaus is Bauhaus Dessau. But can the students of the Bauhaus University Weimar reclaim "Bauhaus" for Weimar? The Bauhaus University Weimar's annual Summaery exhibition offered a chance to learn more..... Bauhaus University Weimar (Photo © Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Foto: Nathalie Mohadjer) Bauhaus University Weimar In context of architecture and design the combination of "Bauhaus" with "Weimar" is not
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Without wanting to in any way detract from the work undertaken by Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee students in the past year, a highlight of our visit to the 2017 Rundgang summer exhibition was the thunderstorm which broke while we there. Calling it biblical would be to trivialise the ferocity with which it smit the day asunder, turning in its fury the Bühringstraße in front of the school into a Bühring Straits. And the first of three storms which broke over Berlin in quick succession, almost
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Visiting the 2017 end of year Werkschau exhibition at the Peter Behrens School of Arts, Düsseldorf we were greatly reminded of the school's eponym's own time in Düsseldorf. If not for the reasons one might assume....... Peter Behrens School of Arts Düsseldorf Peter Behrens School of Arts Düsseldorf Among the many interesting and important buildings which didn't make an appearance in our Tour de l’architecture de Düsseldorf, one of the more interesting and important is arguably the former
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Whereas the Ludwig Forum Aachen's focus is contemporary art, since March 2017 the museum has giving floor space over to contemporary designers and the project LuForm. The Design Department; thereby not only increasing the scope of the museum but also offering designers from the region a new platform. LuForm @ Ludwig Forum Aachen Ludwig Forum Aachen The Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst was established in 1970 by the Aachener art historian, and more importantly, art collector, couple,
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In 2018 the Hochschule München Design Department will move a few hundred metres round the corner from its current home, a home it has occupied for over forty years, to a new purpose built facility opposite the main college building; consequently, the 2017 Jahresausstellung was one of the last chances to experience the Design Department in its original location. But was it a presentation worthy of the moment, a fitting au revoir to an old friend..........? Hochschule München Design Department
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Established in 1992 the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe was conceived from the off as a design school for coming realities, for a world we don't yet know. But is that a world of smart, autonomous apps? A world of intelligent and considered applications of evolving technology? Of the craft of yore? The 2017 Rundgang durch die Lichthöfe summer exhibition was a chance to glean some clues...... Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe Keen readers of our
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While it's certainly true that without having been introduced to the work of Akademie für Gestaltung der Handwerkskammer Münster alumni Florian Kallus and Sebastian Schneider a.k.a design studio kaschkasch, we probably wouldn't pay that much attention to the Akademie, that introduction was pre-kaschkasch: a project from Florian at DMY Berlin 2010 and one from Sebastian at IMM Cologne 2011. And yes we are blowing ever so gently on our own trumpet. If at the same time terrifying ourselves by the
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Owing to the unique nature of Berlin's history and geopolitical relevance, the (hi)stories of all the city's cultural institutions are invariably complex. And the number of such institutions greater than in most comparable metropoli*. Few other cities can boast, for example, two public zoos, three public operas or four public universities. And while three of Berlin's universities offer individual courses in subjects such as architecture, theatre studies or music, there is only one which offers
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Summer traditionally sees a fall off in the number of new exhibitions opening, the 2017 drought is however especially hard, so much so that we can only find four recommendations. Either the global museum community assume we're all at the beach, and thus not interested, or expect the world to end in September and so don't see the point in new exhibitions. It is a little unclear. However, not only are we interested, but it takes a little more than the threat of an imminent apocalypse to keep us
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The Hochschule Wismar is an institution we have wanted to visit for a long time; and no, not just because it means a trip to the Baltic Coast and the historic Hanseatic port, but much more for despite being in no respect the largest design school in Germany, it is one of the most present: from Milan to Berlin to Cologne hardly a design week passes without Wismar. And so we wanted to understand the school a little better. Which is of course one of the stated aims of our 2017 #campustour,
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As an institution London’s Royal Albert Hall teaches us that regardless how illustrious and prestigious your history may be, you can never rest on your laurels, you are only ever as relevant and interesting as your next programme, as your next soloist.. With the 2017 Graduate Show the Royal Albert Hall’s next door neighbour, the equally illustrious and prestigious, Royal College of Art unveiled its 2017 programme and 2017 soloists. But would there be a standing ovation… Royal College of
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Although older than Bauhaus Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle has arguably never achieved the same popular acclaim as its fêted near neighbour. Is however still in existence, and thus need not live on its laurels, but rather can continually develop its legacy through the efforts and ideas of its staff and students. The 2017 annual summer exhibition provided insights into the contribution made, and being made, by the current crop........ Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle: The
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Somewhat disappointingly the authorities in the southern German town of Schwäbisch Gmünd have succumbed to the current unicorn lunacy and placed one in the town's coat of arms. But could the design students at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd be relied upon to resist such short term fads? The 2017 Rundgang summer exhibition provided the answers....... Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd @ Rektor-Klaus-Straße Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd The old adage that
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The donkey, dog, cat and cockerel featured in the Brothers Grimm's retelling of the traditional folktale Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten never made to it to Bremen, never worked as musicians, and thus never enriched the cultural heritage of the Hansa port. But would any of the Hochschule für Künste Bremen's 2017 Integrated Design graduates augment the city's long history? Would any rise to the post of Bremer Stadtkreativen......? Hochschule für Künste Bremen (Photo Hochschule für Künste Bremen)
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Sited in the gentile calm of Pimlico, Chelsea College of Arts sits between the independent free-thinking of the Tate Britain, the original Tate with its collection of British and international art from 1500 until today, and the state control and surveillance of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in their unobtrusive bunker on the opposite bank of the Thames But where would the conformity/rebellion equilibrium be found amongst the current crop of Chelsea students....... Chelsea
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The 18th century forebearer of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart was established as a location "where the youth can be cultivated, likes plants in a nursery" While nurseries can produce strong and noble trees, flowers with the most exquisite blossoms and hardy perennials that keep on contributing to their environment, they are also often home to unstable experimental hybrids and provide the perfect breeding ground for parasites and disease. How well the current Akademie der
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Once upon a time there lived in Cassel two brothers by the name of Grimm. Legend has it that one day Jacob and Wilhelm, for that was their names, travelled to Marburg to become wealthy lawyers; however, instead of learning the basics of Roman law, jurisprudence and how to write huge invoices, they spent their days with the witches, kings, queens and elves of northern European folktales. The people of Cassel were angry when the heard of the brothers' activities, and a large crowd gathered to
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Few materials can have claimed to have influenced architecture and design in quite the way plywood has. And thereby remained as anonymous as plywood, easily overlooked in public and barely researched in an academic context as it is. With the exhibition Plywood: Material of the Modern World, the V&A Museum London aim to redress both. Plywood: Material of the Modern World at the V&A Museum London "For a long time I have been aware that there wasn't that much published about the history of
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Jokes about revolting students are as old as the noble art of the student protest itself. And neither has lost any of their charm. The 2017 Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig Rundgang was held against the backdrop of a student protest over new regulations concerning, amongst other aspects, how and when the school buildings and workshops could be used. But would there also be protest from our side over the way the students had used the buildings and workshops........? Hochschule
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One of our standard claims is that whereas Dutch designers, generally, work conceptually, Belgian designers, generally, realise much more practical projects. With the exhibition Occupation:Designer MAD Brussels present a small snippet of contemporary Brussels creativity, yet a presentation broad enough to convincingly contradict our position. And serve as a warning of the inherent dangers of sweeping generalisations. Occupation:Designer, MAD Brussels Mode and Design, MAD, Brussels
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As part of their 50th anniversary celebrations Design School Kolding are staging the exhibition Beyond Icons - New perspectives on design, a showcase of 50 objects which presents a very personal interpretation of good design and thereby challenges popular conventions. Beyond Icons - New perspectives on design at Koldinghus, Kolding Just as defining "good art", "good literature" or "good beer" is an impossibility, so to is "good design" undefinable. In a general sense. There is design that is
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The Cass is situated in London's Whitechapel, not far from the East London Mosque and in an area long a centre of London's Muslim community. The day we visited the Cass Summer Show it was Eid al-Fitr, a festival of family, feasts and finery. The narrow streets of Whitechapel awash with smartly attired, good humoured locals, or possibly just smartly attired locals high on sugar, for Eid al-Fitr is also a festival of sweetness at the end of Ramadan. Cakes and sweets as far as the eye could see.
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“What are you going to do this summer, Amory?”, Tom D’Invilliers asks of Amory Blaine in F Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise. “Don’t ask me", comes the somewhat languid reply, "same old things, I suppose. A month or two in Lake Geneva — I’m counting on you to be there in July, you know — then there'll be Minneapolis, and that means hundreds of summer hops, parlor-snaking, getting bored....." Sorry Amory, but you'll have to survive the magnificence of Lake Geneva on your own, would have
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