diedas walk + talk 2023
Centered around the theme ‘Monumental Affairs-Living with Contested Spaces,’ annual program dieDAS walk + talk 2023 embarks on a new journey in Saaleck, Saxony-Anhalt. Together with a group of speakers (Ravi Naidoo, Meriem Chabani, Prof. Matthias Quent, Bryan Lee Jr, and Germane Barnes) and international fellows, the summit invites people from all around the world to participate into an exploration of monuments, their historical significance, and their connection to pressing global issues like equitable inclusivity, decolonization, and transformative activism.
For the first time, people can see the live broadcast of walk + talk ‘Monumental Affairs – Living with contested space,’ – here.
the 2023 dieDas walk + talk summit takes place between 1-3 September, 2023 | © Saalecker Werkstätten
all images courtesy of dieDAS
dieDAS – Design Akademie Saaleck (funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation) is a young and international cultural institution based in Saaleck, Saxony-Anhalt. The academy’s program promotes transformative and collaborative design creation within a supportive environment that welcomes brainstorming, confrontation, and soul searching. The launch of dieDAS followed a close cooperation between the company’s founding director Arne Cornelius Wasmuth, the patron and collector Egidio Marzona, and lawyer Andreas Silbersack.
At the end of each summer, dieDAS hosts an annual walk + talk weekend, offering transdisciplinary symposia in and around the Saaleck campus. During these events, guests from Germany and abroad are invited to connect and exchange views on relevant questions in the fields of design, crafts, art, and architecture—as well as global community building—all while considering urgent contemporary cultural and social issues.
the academy invites esteemed guests to join the program’s fellows in Saaleck to collectively reflect on ‘Monumental Affairs-Living with Contested Spaces’ | © Dorte Mandrup Architects
Exploring ‘Monumental Affairs_Living with Contested Spaces’
From September 1-3, 2023, the dieDAS walk + talk summit welcomes esteemed guests to join the program’s fellows in Saaleck to collectively reflect on the theme, ‘Monumental Affairs-Living with Contested Spaces.’ Moderated by curator and writer Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, and under the guidance of dieDAS’ new artistic director Germane Barnes, the program features workshops, guided tours, and conversations with visionary contributors. The goal is to delve into the complex history of monuments and their entwinement with urgent global challenges surrounding social interconnection, equitable inclusivity, decolonization, transformative activism, tactical urbanism, and regenerative design solutions.
the program seeks to unravel significant questions surrounding the creation of monuments and their societal implications.
the social responsibility of architecture
The summit seeks to unravel significant questions surrounding the creation of monuments and their societal implications. Who holds the authority to designate sites as monuments, and how can we harness the public arena to deconstruct problematic narratives and the legacy of unjust pasts? Using methods of tactical urbanism, people are invited from all over the world to explore and spark conversations about race, ethnicity, immigration, displacement, and nationalism behind architecture, while confronting the contaminated past of historic sites. By addressing these issues directly, dieDAS aims to cultivate an environment of rigor, reflection, and imagination.
people are invited from all over the world to explore and spark conversations about equitable inclusivity, decolonization, and transformative activism behind architecture
The 2023 dieDAS walk + talk invites people globally, to embark on a journey to explore architecture as a vehicle for alternative histories. An esteemed array of keynote speakers gives the ‘walkers’ an in-depth perspective of the social responsibility in architecture and the built environment.
Highlighted participants include: Ravi Naidoo – Founder of Interactive Africa and Design Indaba (Cape Town); Meriem Chabani – Architect, Urban Planner, Lecturer, and Founding Partner at New South (Paris), Bryan Lee Jr. – Architect, Design Justice Advocate, and Founder-Director of Colloqate Design (New Orleans); Prof. Dr. Matthias Quent – Professor of Sociology at Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal, Director of Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft, and Researcher on Right-Wing Extremism (Berlin); Marie-Louise Høstbo – Creative Director at Fritz Hansen, Architect MAAA; and Karl Monies – Artist & Designer and Creative Director at Monies A/S.
dieDAS aims to cultivate an environment of rigor, reflection, and imagination | © Dorte Mandrup Architects
