03 Alchemistics

Lecturers_ Prof. Axel Kufus, Anja Lapatsch, Annika Unger                                                                                          Cooperation_ Gewerbemuseum Winterthur                                                 
Higher BA and MA students_ Valentin Bufler, Julius Führer, Sarah Harbarth,
Paulina Heinz, Gaya Salman, Tim Schröder, Angela (Yangyan) Sun, Daniel Tratter, Esmée Willemsen

Photos_ Daniel Tratter, Esmée Willemsen, Sarah Harbarth, Valentin Bufler, Paulina Heinz

Within this project the group of students explored  the transdisciplinary practices and logics of alchemical research in terms of its visions and potentials, possibilities and relevance. They experimented with natural and synthetic substances, developed fictional materials, revealed entirely new potentials in everyday, often overlooked materials, questioned the building blocks of the digital revolution, explored the relationships between human and non-human life, and rummaged through archives to reactivate long-forgotten recipes. They asked questions about sustainability and social contexts. They
became alchemists of our time. They designed materials, redesigned them, reformed them or put them in a completely new context. In order to address the pressing questions of material discourse with connectable visions and to relevant starting points, the content of the design project was divided into three condensed tasks; I. Phase Transform (the super normals), II. Phase Future Mining and III. Phase In-Form.