Ber­lin Sum­mer Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts: Situa­tio­nist City Game

During the work­shop, the stu­dents will play in and with the city, inspi­red by the playful stra­te­gies of the dada­is­ts and situa­tio­nists. The aim is to deve­lop a sen­se for urban situa­tions and to (re)discover the city as an urban rea­dy­ma­de with count­less cir­cum­s­tances to play with.

We want to crea­te a uni­ver­sal tra­vel gui­de, which can be used any­ti­me to explo­re, appro­pria­te, and enjoy the urban spec­ta­cle. It will lead peo­p­le into situa­tions and games and encou­ra­ge play­ing, city hack­ing, détour­ne­ments, and déri­ves. The work­shop wants to fos­ter the par­ti­ci­pan­ts to see fami­li­ar things dif­fer­ent­ly and from new perspectives.

The cour­se deve­lo­ps the con­cept of such a tra­vel gui­de, brings it to pro­duct matu­ri­ty, and designs a crowd­fun­ding cam­paign to finan­ce the publi­ca­ti­on. The work is sup­po­sed to be crea­ted in a noma­dic (situa­tio­nist and dada­i­s­tic) man­ner while strol­ling around and play­ing in the streets of Ber­lin. The tutors want to pro­du­ce ad hoc and in situ while using the oppor­tu­ni­ties the city offers. In this way, par­ti­ci­pan­ts get to know inno­va­ti­ve deve­lo­p­ment, rapid pro­to­ty­p­ing, and on-site pro­duc­tion as well as beco­ming fami­li­ar with alter­na­ti­ve ways of fun­ding and dis­tri­bu­ti­on methods.

Dr. Turit Frö­be is an archi­tec­tu­ral his­to­ri­an and urba­nist. For many years, she taught as an assistant professor/​visiting pro­fes­sor at the Ber­lin Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts. Today, she works as a non-fic­tion aut­hor. In 2014, she foun­ded DIE STADT­DEN­KE­REI, which offers uncon­ven­tio­nal playful com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on pro­jects to cities and muni­ci­pa­li­ties, aimed at impro­ving and upgrading cities by chan­ging the per­cep­ti­on of its citizens.

Dipl.-Ing. Kars­ten Micha­el Droh­sel is an urba­nist, artist, and game deve­lo­per, who has been working at various uni­ver­si­ties for many years. He has recent­ly star­ted to teach at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vien­na and Vien­na Art School. He is the foun­der of Stu­dio IN/​stabil (Ber­lin) and mikromakro.systems (Vien­na), which are both design stu­di­os for social and cul­tu­ral urban deve­lo­p­ment. He works for natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal pro­jects for neigh­bor­hood-acti­va­ti­on and ‑deve­lo­p­ment.