The working group TUN (Textiles and Sustainability) intends to reactivate the focus on textiles at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar due to the great interest shown by students, lecturers and those outside the university. The formative textile history of the Weimar location and the associated importance of the Bauhaus women should be included with this initiative and with a view to future teaching and
research-related developments are promoted. The textile is representative of the interdisciplinary orientation of the university and offers a lot of space for the development of sustainable
and innovative design solutions.

The need has been met for several years by a student initiative and is to be systematically anchored and expanded in research and teaching. This requires two actions:

1. Establishment and anchoring of professorial teaching with a focus on "Textiles and Sustainability" at the Faculty of Art and Design
2. Substantial expansion of the existing textile workshop and embedding it in the central workshop areas

The aim is therefore to create a spatial nucleus for textiles and sustainability in the sense of a "Textile Lab" in the next few years. The focus is on bringing together relevant topics and work areas and the associated joint development and communication of textile concepts, tools and methods with a special emphasis on sustainable and material approaches.

As an integral part of the spatial nucleus, an experimental room offers students and researchers the opportunity to work with new/unconventional materials, constructions and
Experimenting with open-ended processes and addressing material-technological issues in order to develop future and new perspectives in textile design.

Through unbiased collecting and observation, an experimental confrontation with material, environment and everyday phenomena can take place. In cooperation with the economic and cultural environment, design processes should be questioned and socially relevant topics should be taken into account conceptually. In order to develop new perspectives in textile design, the teaching of a sustainable design language and specialist knowledge of textile techniques and the use of responsible production methods form an important basis.

At the same time, the area of ​​sustainable design is to be significantly strengthened and further cooperation projects with institutions, companies and research facilities (regional/national/international) are to be initiated. The same applies to the transfer of knowledge and technology in corresponding areas of application and practice.

Participating persons:

Katrin Steiger (artistic assistant at the faculty of art and design, artist and founder of the textile workshop initiative), Nadine Göpfert (textile designer and lecturer at the Faculty of Art and Design on several occasions), Anne Marx (textile artist, former student leader of the textile workshop, lecturer at the Faculty of Art and Design)

Contact:

Katrin Steiger, M.F.A.
Artistic assistant at the Chair of Art and Social Space
Phone: +49 36 43 / 58 38 74
katrin.steiger[at]uni-weimar.de