Artistic Direction // dieDAS 2020 – Design Academy Saaleck – Debut Fellowship Programme + Online Summit dieDAS 2020 (DE)

Welcome to dieDAS – Design Academy Saaleck!

dieDAS is a newly founded International Academy, created to provide designers, architects and creative minds with generous opportunities and resonant conditions for the generation of groundbreaking creative visions and inclusive development.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT dieDAS HERE.

We are glad to announce that Maurizio Montalti – founder and director at Officina Corpuscoli and Mogu – has been appointed as dieDAS Artistic Director 2020.

After months of intense preparation, screening of applications and overall programme developments, dieDAS is finally excited to be welcoming the first round of selected fellows: Talin Hazbar, Svenja Keune, Sasson Rafailov, Basse Stittgen.

dieDAS’s debut fellowship program will kick off on September 10th, 2020, until September 20th, 2020 and it will revolve around the following topical framework:

FARMING MATERIALS’ ECOLOGIES: FROM UNCOMFORTABLE PASTS TO RESPONSIBLE FUTURES.
Planting the seeds for a locally inclusive ecosystem, integrating production of regenerative materials and processes in design and architecture.

Under the close direction and coaching of the dieDAS Team — led by Artistic Director Maurizio Montalti – as well as a roster of prestigious international contributors, the selected fellows will work as a collective to explore and critically analyse the local context and dieDAS’s potential role within it. From regional traditions to crafts, industrial activities, and beyond, they will study the academy’s environment to then position their site-specific research within a frame that takes into account both relevant local and important global dynamics.

Espousing a critical, systemic approach to design, the 2020 Fellowship Program aims to lay the groundwork for future dieDAS talents — both literally and metaphorically — by producing a unified vision to “seed the ground” for the creation of a multicultural ecology dedicated to on-site material production. Nurtured over time, this approach will allow future generations of dieDAS fellows to harvest and harness responsible raw products (e.g. fibres, glues/adhesives, pigments, etc.) and regenerative processes for the production of natural materials to be used in design, craft, and architecture.

By radically subverting the origin of the raw materials currently implemented within both industrial (e.g. exploitative extractions) and transformative design processes (e.g. fibres from monocultures in agro-industry), the 2020 framework will promote and accelerate the transition towards climate neutrality, allowing participants to both critically and practically reflect on inclusivity, poly-culturality, equality, and globality, as well as on the democratisation of the design and architectural practices, looking at them as fundamental drivers for societal change within contemporary global challenges.

Led by design-research and rooted in a combination of hands-on experimentation and thoughtful discussions, the dieDAS 2020 intensive program will result in the genesis of an ever-growing design platform, which dieDAS will continue building upon in years to come.

Finally, the outcomes of the 2020 Fellowship will be presented and discussed with the extended dieDAS network as part of a participatory online summit, taking place from September 18 – 20, 2020 and involving a wide range of prestigious guests.

More information about dieDAS 2020 Online Summit, including the full agenda as well as the wonderful array of contributing guests can be found here.

MAKE SURE TO REGISTER HERE!

We very much look forward to it all and to having you joining us as part of this exciting new adventure.