International Design Week 2026: Post-Human Resources

The International Design Week 2026 marks the 5th edition of the annual event at the Institute of Design & Communication at FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences Graz. Following previous editions exploring speculative futures, transformation and interdisciplinary exchange, this year’s program invited participants to engage with the theme of Post-Human Resources.

The week brought together international guests – students and lecturers from across our global partner network – in Graz. In 10 workshops participants explored how design can respond to a world in which labor, intelligence, care and agency are no longer understood as exclusively human domains.

The theme Post-Human Resources examined what “resources” might mean beyond extraction, efficiency and productivity. Projects investigated relationships between bodies, algorithms, ecosystems, materials and machines, asking how design can foster new forms of coexistence grounded in interdependence rather than exploitation. From AI-assisted practices and speculative economies to ecological thinking and multispecies perspectives, the week opened a space for critical reflection and experimentation across disciplines and media.
As in previous editions, our International Design Week functioned as a temporary laboratory for exchange, collaborationand collective
imagination.

The resulting works and conversations challenge established boundaries between nature and technology, human and non-human, tool and collaborator — proposing exploratory ways of designing within interconnected systems of matter, meaning and shared responsibility across cultures and disciplines.

The week brought together international guests – students and lecturers from across our global partner network – in Graz. In 10 workshops participants explored how design can respond to a world in which labor, intelligence, care and agency are no longer understood as exclusively human domains.

The theme Post-Human Resources examined what “resources” might mean beyond extraction, efficiency and productivity. Projects investigated relationships between bodies, algorithms, ecosystems, materials and machines, asking how design can foster new forms of coexistence grounded in interdependence rather than exploitation. From AI-assisted practices and speculative economies to ecological thinking and multispecies perspectives, the week opened a space for critical reflection and experimentation across disciplines and media.
As in previous editions, our International Design Week functioned as a temporary laboratory for exchange, collaborationand collective
imagination.

The resulting works and conversations challenge established boundaries between nature and technology, human and non-human, tool and collaborator — proposing exploratory ways of designing within interconnected systems of matter, meaning and shared responsibility across cultures and disciplines.

The Booklet: https://issuu.com/fhjoanneum/docs/idw2026_booklet

In an age when “human resources” is no longer just about people,
bodies and labor, the 2026 edition of International Design Week at
FH JOANNEUM invited you into the realm of Post-Human Resources: where design, ethics, technology and ecology remix the very idea of what “resource” means.

What happens when algorithms become coworkers, nature becomes partner, and care is shared across human, non-human systems and more-than-human-systems? Through workshops, cross-media collaborations and international guests, the week investigated post-human practices, speculative economies and ethical infrastructures. Together, we explored how design could move beyond extraction toward models of coexistence, care and flourishing in multispecies worlds.

Special Thanks to our international Guests: Marijke De Vuyst, Katarzyna Figat, Kajetan Zakrzewski, Maaike Hamelynck, Hanan Kaminski, Melani Lleonart García, Álvaro Sanchis Gandia, Emilio Lonardo, Ana Matic´, Miloš Nikolic´, Carla Molins-Pitarch, Niklas Rönnberg and Nitzan Waisberg.