Cities are our natural world, created by us and yet, in their constantly shifting complexity, almost beyond our grasp. Urbanization processes do not end at the city boundaries. Almost infinite networks, alienated communication, hasty consumption and conflicts of social marginalization or economic injustice determine our urban survival. Cities form contested spaces, whose present refers back to the past, whose power structures can be identified and also changed. It is important to predict the need for change well in advance but also to be able to react to acute crises great and small with fresh solutions.
Innovations are driven on a bottom-up basis. Not infrequently they arise at the margins of society, where established structures encounter influences from without, traditional responses no longer work, or safeguards apply to some but not to others.
The projects developed in the studio situation of our Social Design program show that societal innovation–meaning extraordinary results and unexpected approaches–becomes possible where different forms of knowledge and methods interact, where artistic acumen combines with creativity from the so-called hard sciences, where design, theory, architecture and the fine arts not only pool their strategies but also enter into confrontations and alliances that can be both risky and productive.
Innovative methods construct new meanings, strengthen responsibility and thus create the preconditions for identification with one’s own actions. Students who choose the Master’s in Social Design – Arts as Urban Innovation signal their determination to play a critical and active part in influencing society and a refusal to discount the future!
Curriculum
The master programme Social Design Arts as Urban Innovation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna is oriented towards graduates from diverse fields of study, thereby stipulating work in transdisciplinary teams as the central teaching and learning approach in the programme. On the basis of professional competences acquired in their respective previous studies, students become acquainted with transcending disciplinary codes and thinking and working in greater interrelationships. Art in synergy with project-related scientific methods and knowledge is seen as a tool for urban innovation.
Duration and Scope:
4 semesters / 120 ECTS
Graduation: "Master of Arts" (MA)
People
Project
Meine Favoriten Deine Favoriten
Project
Kinderuni
Project
AZW Care & Repair
Project
Un.documented
Dayhun Kim
Designer, Vienna
Studied Design at Seoul National University of Science and Technology and Social Design at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna. She worked as an assistant grafic/web designer and is currently working as a freelance illustrator. Dahyun has a big passion for voluntary services. She therefore also pursues design which is focused on helping the people and the world.
- Title / Function
- Student
- Field of Expertise
- Communication & Industrial Design
- Telephone number
- +43677 62091330
- violetkim0729@gmail.com
- Links
- vviolog.tumblr.com
Marie-Christin Rissinger
Artist, Vienna
Marie-Christin Rissinger born 1986 in Waldbröl (D). She studied Psychology (BA, 2012) at the University of Vienn aand Social Design – Arts as Urban Innovation (MA, 2014) at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In her work, she is using theatrical frameworks as a laboratory to explore alternative social relations and performative strategies as a tool of communication.
- Title / Function
- Alumni
- Field of Expertise
- Performance
- Telephone number
- 0043 650 43 156 29
- marie.christin.rissinger@gmail.com
- Links
- www.marie-christin-rissinger.com
Ulduz Ahmadzadeh
Artist, Vienna/Teheran
Ulduz grew up as a dancer in Teheran/Iran, a country prohibiting dance. She pursued her illegal dance career anhow whilst facing repression and arrest. She was involved in several dance and theater ensembles and studied direction at the Arts University Soureh in Teheran. She lives in Vienna since 2008 and works as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. She sees it as her duty to uphold the precious cultural heritage of persian dance through her work.
- Title / Function
- Alumni
- Field of Expertise
- Dance, Performance
- ulduz.ahmadzadeh@gmail.com
Jana Alaraj
Architect, Vienna
Jana Alaraj is a Palestinian Architect from Bethlehem, currently studying Social Design in Vienna. She is looking to raise awareness, expose assumptions, provoke actions and to spark critical debates in different societal circumstances through designing alternative scenarios. After graduation in architecture, she worked as a teacher and research assistant at Birzeit University and later at the British Museum as a program facilitator for the ITP (International Training Program).
- Title / Function
- Student
- Field of Expertise
- Designing alternative scenarios
- Links
- araj.jana@gmail.com
Mu Bo
Industrial Designer, Wuhan
Graduated from Art and Design Master Program at the Ceramic Institute of Jingdezhen in 2010. He keeps working on research of clay and glaze, and the production of sustainable material and forms. In the field of Social Design, he focuses on problems brought by the rapid urbanization of China, especially on the extinction of rural culture and how to inherit and develop the rural culture in the process of community construction.
- Title / Function
- Alumni
- Field of Expertise
- Ceramic Industrial Design
- Telephone number
- +86 18108616647
- artmubo@126.com
- Links
- www.wit.edu.cn
Sarah Borinato
Graphic designer, Vienna
I am a 27 years old Sicilian designer and singer based in Vienna but I like to define myself a ‘multi tasking person’. Why? Because I am always looking forward to something new to learn.
And most important, I have fun!
What I like to do the most is combine and integrate my two big passions, music and design. I like to work with different people and for the people and I love good food!