Class 2022 
The School 
of the Untold

See the full Inaugeration Lecture by Simone Farresin / Formafantasma here

CLASS 2022
THE SCHOOL OF THE UNTOLD
17/7/ – 27/8/2022

Formafantasma

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the production of goods has rapidly accelerated, resulting in a linear cycle of ‘extraction production-waste’. Still today, this sequential operation assumes an infinite supply of resources. The extraction and primary processing of metals alongside other minerals is responsible for around 26% of global carbon emissions.

Today, designers, architects and artists can be critical agents in the global system, but their skill set and perspective must expand rapidly beyond self-referential processes. As the finite resources of our planet become ever scarcer, we face an urgent need to revisit our knowledge of material supplies and production. Formafantasma invites participants to be part of ‘The School of the Untold’, a collaborative 6-weeks program based in the Design Campus at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Dresden, Germany. The program will be radically rooted in an expansive understanding of realities that shape today’s world. We aim to dissect these complex entanglements through materiality. With this in mind, we will dig into the rich collection of the museum to explore the untold stories behind the historic legacy of the exhibited artefacts.

To question materiality is to question museology itself. Within the program, we want to revisit the material-based framework currently structuring the museum’s collection. Each week, a series of objects will be selected by the museum conservator from the collection’s themes: Metal, wood, ceramic, plastic, miscellaneous. The program aims to recontextualize the classification of objects made solely according to physical materiality. This categorisation stems from Gottfried Semper’s 1852 concept of ‘The Ideal Museum’. Based on his critical perspective of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Semper proposed a classification of museum collections constructed around materiality. His avantgarde concept, at that time, greatly influenced the ideological and spatial decisions behind many Applied Arts museum: one of them is the current Victoria and Albert Museum in London, another is the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Dresden, where the workshop will allow the participants to re-examine Semper’s proposition. His history is intrinsically linked to that of the city of Dresden, where he started his career and has built several edifices while teaching at the local Art Academy. Together with the participants and the museum staff, we will rethink and deconstruct the way objects are showcased in museums. The program will look at Semper’s ‘integrated view of universality’ by approaching materiality through technique, craftsmanship and industries that shape our environment.

Weekly workshops, collection visits and lectures will be guided by designers and architects, but also by theoreticians, performance artists, curators, filmmakers and philosophers. The program explores material histories, cultural world-views, the relationship between tradition and local culture, critical approaches to ecology, colonialism, extractivism, the relation between human and non-human as well as the significance of objects as cultural conduits. We hope to provide participants with opportunities to build up new methodologies combining hands-on material techniques with innovative media formats, historical philosophy with urgent critical discourse, and transparent collaboration with tactical subversion.

Formafantasma believes that it is through these diverse workshops (from filming through the museum to making material samples for instance) that we can forge new links between the artefacts displayed and larger geopolitical contexts that allowed the circulation of objects. It is only by fostering a community of architects, designers, artists but also talents with a background in human and scientific studies with curiosity and ambition towards design that we can develop investigative practices and instruments to facilitate change.

Every week, a final presentation will be held within the museum in dialogue with the collection. These new links will allow the participants to bring forward the immaterial culture that is not conserved in the museum and to question the reasons behind it. The program’s conclusions will later be part of the museum’s plan to recontextualise their permanent collection.

Design Campus Summer School AT A GLANCE

PROGRAM DURATION
The Summer School comprises of 1-week long workshops, guest lectures, guided tours and other fun activities for the duration of 6-weeks. Check out the program here.


ELIGIBILITY

• Have a demonstrably interest in changing the world through design
• Have a good level of English
• Be 18 years or over

• Be curious, restless, dreamer of better places, creative, fearless, social, collaborative, interested, engaged, inquisitive, designer, architect, artist, scientist, curator, journalist, engineer, developer, photographer, filmmaker, skilled students, recent graduates or young-professionals, open-minded people: welcome!

YOU DO NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO HAVE...

• a degree in graphic or product design. Students and graduates from all disciplines are welcome!
• experience with Image-editing or Video-editing programs. We welcome a variety of skillsets!

Successful applicants will be contacted directly by E-Mail to proceed with enrollment and tuition payment.

Costs

The participation fee includes: 1 Workshop, full-time-catering, accommodation and framework programme. 

• 390 € — Early Bird Application (until 15.6.2022)
• 585 € — Regular Fee (15.6. – 10.7.2022)

Additionally you can apply for financial support 

Accomodation

The fee covers the cost of accommodation for six nights: In the first three weeks of the Summer School we are Glamping in Pillnitz-Dresden (17.07 — 06.08.2022) and for the last three weeks you stay in a modern standard single-room in Dresden-Pillnitz (07.08 — 27.08.2022)

Arrival

By car:
Address: Schloss Pillnitz, August-Böckstiegel-Straße 2, 01326 Dresden.
There are two public (paid) parking facilities at Pillnitz Palace. The dormitory and the premises of the Design Campus in Pillnitz Palace are both within walking distance from the parking facilities.

By train/airplane:
We recommend arriving at the Design Campus by train via Dresden-Neustadt station or Dresden main station. The Design Campus in Pillnitz Palace can be reached from Dresden city centre at any time by public transport (bus stop “Pillnitzer Platz”).
The closest airports to the Design Campus are Dresden Airport (45 min), Leipzig Airport (1,5 h), Prague Airport (2 h) or Berlin Airport (2,5 h). From all airports there are connections to Dresden by public transport (train, bus).

Check-in & Workshops

Check-in is possible on Sunday afternoon from 3 pm to 9 pm. On Sunday evening there will be a small welcome event for all participants.
The workshops will begin on Monday morning, after a guided tour of the grounds of Pillnitz Palace and Park and the Green Forum.
After the tutors' introductions to their topics, the workshops begins. The schedule for the week is determined by the tutors, together with their participants.
During free periods, the extensive area around Pillnitz Palace and Park in Pillnitz is perfect for jogging and hiking in the vineyards or along the river Elbe. Day trips to the baroque city of Dresden or to the national park Saxon Switzerland are possible.
During the week there are a number of evening social events and on Friday a closing party.

Departure & Check-out

All courses end on Saturday, after breakfast. Check-out from the dormitory is 1 pm and departure is organized by the individual.