Mona Mahall Appointed Professor of Presentation Methodology in Design

»I am greatly looking forward to this opportunity, including those that extend beyond the boundaries of architecture with university members from the fields of art, design and media studies«, says Mona Mahall. Her academic career has been characterised by an interdisciplinary approach ever since her studies in architecture, art and media theory at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG).

Since then, Mona Mahall has been cultivating research-based practice through which she reflects on and produces architecture in various media and formats, including temporary spaces, models, installations, scenographies, (video) texts, concepts and publications. Her projects tend towards negotiating architectural history in order to reframe the past, present or future (re)production of space and the associated power relations, as well as seeking alternatives ways of organising our lives, schools, and online and offline activities.

Mona Mahall is also responsible for teaching the foundations of architecture for the Bachelor of Architecture programme in Weimar. She will be teaching first-semester students the first core module in Presentation and Design. »I want to establish an understanding of processes and methods with my students at the very beginning of their studies. In my opinion, representation doesn’t mean so much depicting as it means creating a formal language and attitude that expresses itself in a broad range of media, in drawings, models, videos, sound or text. The focus is on aesthetic practices that allow us to share something with others, but also with ourselves, and to put it forth for discussion. Criticism, also of our own positions, is an important element of the design process for me«. Mona Mahall intends to put a special focus on teaching in English. »Teaching in English is advantageous when it comes to inclusive exchanges; it breaks down hierarchies because English is usually a foreign language for everyone —whether the students are from Germany or abroad— which, in my opinion, always benefits the idea of collectivity«. 

In addition to teaching, Mona Mahall can imagine providing inspiration for interdisciplinary projects and research. She brings with her to Weimar a special research project she is directing at the University of Stuttgart that deals with architecture and adaptation, as well as design concepts for adaptive spaces.

About Mona Mahall

Mona Mahall exhibits and publishes internationally in a collective with Asli Serbest, Professor of »Temporäre Räume« at the University of the Arts Bremen. Her resume includes, among others, the Biennale di Venezia, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Istanbul Design Biennale, Centro Tedesco Venezia, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Art Center Los Angeles, West Den Haag: New Museum of Contemporary Art, Storefront for Art and Architecture New York, Sinop Biennale, Vancouver Art Gallery, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, HKW Berlin, New Museum New York; in E-Flux journal, Volume Magazine, Perspecta, The Gradient: Walker Art Center, AArchitecture, and Deutschlandfunk.

In 2019, Mona Mahall was the Curatorial Director of the Sinop Biennial 7 in Turkey. She is also the publisher of Junk Jet, an independent magazine about art, architecture and media. She is also currently transforming a ship in Istanbul into a moving feminist archive. (https://monaasli.net)

Mona Mahall’s Previous Academic Posts: Professor of Architecture and Art at the HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU) (2017 to 2022), Guest Professor for Architecture at Cornell University (2016 and 2017), Adjunct Professor for »Grundlagen der Gestaltung und experimentelles Entwerfen« at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (2012 to 2015), Academic Staff Member at the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture at the University of Stuttgart (2005 to 2017). In 2009, Mona Mahall completed her Ph.D. on the speculative character of modern architecture at the University of Stuttgart.