What role does design play in the new reality? The results are showcased in this exhibition through critical works by Austrian design universities.
The ADNA exhibition brings together research projects and works by students from Austrian design universities and explores questions like: How does design shape our future reality? And how can education promote innovative and sustainable solutions? The works on display operate at the interface of technological progress and design practice – they do not merely react to societal changes, but actively help shape and question them.
Design as an Impulse for New Perspectives
The exhibition features a broad range of critical works. Projects from the following universities will be presented:
- Department Creative Technologies, FH Salzburg
- Department Design and Green Engineering, FH Salzburg
- Department of Design, FHV
- Department of Media and Digital Technologies, FH St. Pölten
- Degree Program in Design, Craft & Material Culture, NEW DESIGN UNIVERSITY
- Institute of Design and Communication, FH JOANNEUM Graz
The following projects were displayed:
Circular Materials – Raw Material or Waste?
This project explores the great potential of natural resources and biogenic research strategies for their development.
Pollucean
This serious game takes place in a world where environmental pollution is omnipresent.
Project Arschkarte
The photo project “Arschkarte” makes climate change tangible as an urgent issue.
Podcast LebensGroß GmbH: Caring Parents – Life Stories
This podcast focuses on the lives of parents who care for their children.
Soundscapes of Compassion
An audio guide to Caritas Graz facilities created for the 100th anniversary of Caritas Styria.
Beyond Earth’s Limits
Data storytelling on environmental and sustainability communication using Earth Overshoot Day as an example (Bachelor’s thesis).
Iconic Inequality
Designers as agents of change (Bachelor’s thesis).
Deaf Children, Hearing Parents
Visual design of sign language in an interactive children’s book titled “Emma, Grasping the World with Signs” (Bachelor’s thesis).
Insights into Interdisciplinary Collaboration Projects: Flow State
The goal of “Flow State” is to make the complex connections and dynamics of the European energy supply system understandable and sensory.
Joy Beyond Growth – A Posthumanist Banquet
Exhibition as part of the symposium.
International Collaboration Project
Audiovisual live show.
Manual & Artificial Intelligence
How can currently available AI tools support designers in the development of new products?
Lucid Dreams Retrospective (2023–2025)
Short documentary, 5–10 min. loop.
Sphagnum Dances
An ongoing art-based research project dealing with the agency of plant life.
Sensing Biomes
In this experimental setup, we explore design’s capacity to deepen our sense of interconnectedness and care for the living world.
Bias Barometer
A digital intervention to visualize gender bias in media (Bachelor’s thesis).
Exhibition Design:
Birgit Bachler and Sigrid Bürstmayr from the Institute of Design and Communication; Katharina Betz and Anna Brodmann, Master’s Exhibition Design
