Society & Sustainability

Focus Area Society & Sustainability | Contemporary Art and Cultural Production

About

How do we tackle the major challenges of our time – such as social inequality, the democracy and climate crisis, artificial intelligence? They require sustainable transformations, complex thinking and action as well as cooperation between different social groups and scientific disciplines. Against this backdrop, we at the focus area Society & Sustainability | Contemporary Art and Cultural Production work in artistic-scientific teams together with actors from civil society to develop transdisciplinary and open spaces for education, communication and experience. In doing so, we start from an understanding of art and cultural production as a critical and socially negotiable process. We pursue the goal of change in the sense of comprehensive cultural sustainability on a social, ecological and economic level. The anchor points in terms of content are socially committed art and cultural work, cultural participation and mediation, democracy, diversity and planetary justice, which are essential for a socio-ecological transformation.

More about our research

In order to gain new cooperation partners and to strengthen the exchange between interested parties and existing projects at the two universities, we hold networking meetings at regular intervals.
Overview of the previous networking meetings

Next date: 16 May 2025, 12:00: Swap, share and give

Guiding Principles

OUR RESEARCH CONCERNS

Our guiding questions & concerns

How can artistic, cultural and research practices foster social change and cultural sustainability for a more just, livable future?
How to create open and inclusive spaces with communities in rural and urban contexts?

Focus

cultural sustainability & socio-ecological transformation: sustainability as a social practice, and as a principle of action encompassing all areas of life and society
democracy & justice: participatory arts and cultural production as part of a plural society
co-creative processes: developing ideas and creating knowledge together by combining theory and practice
everyday realities & diversity: multi-perspective, inclusive and low-barrier approaches oriented towards people’s lived realities

Forms of working

creating open spaces: developing and designing spaces for communication, education and action
transdisciplinary: collaborative action of various social groups including a variety of disciplines and artforms, research, cultural work, and cultural production
participatory: researchers, lecturers and artists develop ideas together with the civil society
artistic approaches: social engagement, scrutinizing knowledge, and emerging practices – with formats such as storytelling, comics, creative writing, DIY practices, games and performances
international & solidarity: embracing global perspectives of arts and research

More about our guiding principles