FUNKEN Academy for artistic research
In the FUNKEN Academy, artists, technological institutes and research facilities come together to experiment in the field between arts and technology.
LABOR 2025
For one week in March 2021, Klub Solitaer e. V. invited students and post-graduates to LABOR 2025 in Chemnitz, to participate in one of three workshops followed by an exhibition of the results.
The workshops were developed by artists in collaboration with the Fraunhofer IWU, Fraunhofer ENAS and the Saxon Textile Research Institute STFI. They link technologies, machines and processes of the institutes with artistic concepts and processes and want to explore possible interfaces as well as aesthetic-practical implementations.
EXHIBITION
In the final exhibition @Ars Electronic Center Linz the results of the artistic workshops are jointly presented for the first time.
Via Deep Space Live, spectators of the Online-Opening on April the 22nd at 6pm receive an insight in the production process as well as being able to witness the project organizer's debate on the potentials of scientific-artistic cooperations.
Workshop 1
Labor der Sinne
15.03. till 19.03.2021
In this workshop, we want to create artistic supplementary objects, so called “sensual objects”, which trigger new perceptions in combination with machines and technologies. We embark on a search for answers for our present society, to develop a peaceful and positive merging of machines and humans.
The workshop wants to create a “carousel of the senses”, a sensual machine in times of mechanical constructions, which offers its viewer an interactive experience. The workshop participants design sense objects made of smart materials, which they can connect with AR technology and which will be connect with the carousel.
Workshop instructor:
Christiane Wittig, postgradual MA Art, Design & Media SINT LUCA School of Arts, until 2014 assistant professor in the postgrad program Transmedia, LUCA
School of Arts (BE)
Cooperation partner:
Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU
Workshop 2
Faserland
08.03. till 12.03.2021
We want to explore the hidden potentials of nonwoven fabrics in this workshop, while experimenting with production and process technologies and re-thinking fiber compositions
and -cycles. How can the materiality and haptics of a textile be changed? Which composites and surface treatments facilitate new applications and sustainables material cycles? How
can the value of nonwoven fabrics be changed to enable longer durability and usage, while being aesthically and economically convincing?
Workshop instructors:
Hanna Wiesener, product design, foun-
der of Trikoton, Research Associate Cluster of Excellence „Matters of Activity“ Weissensee School Art and Design Berlin
Magdalena Kohler, fashion design, founder of Trikoton, academic assistant fashion design and experimental knitting, University of the Arts Berlin
Cooperation partner:
Workshop 3
Offline Gallery
08.03. till 12.03.2021
In this workshop, we stress the notion of laboratory protocols and find a connection to the so-called artistic
recipes: processes linked to a set of different steps and practices that one is only able to master over time, leading to the discovery of new complexities that render themselves visible only through the mastering of that process.
The materials and experiences collected over the process of
the workshop will be gathered to synthetically generate a new
territory where scientists, artists, technicians, students, ENAS
employees, etc. can gather and reflect through a joint aesthetic
experience the nuances of their work, and eventually find new
unexpected links to other practices commonly considered as
diametrically opposed to their own.
Workshop instructor:
MA Interactive Media Art, Kunstuniversität Linz | assistant pro-
fessor MA Interface Cultures, Kunstuniversität Linz
regular instructor at Sci|Art Lab+Studio
Cooperation partner:
