Even if digital communication effortlessly connects continents, it cannot replace personal exchange. Especially when a research team from Germany and Bangladesh is supposed to grow together in order to search for solutions together. The second episode of the research diary »SCIP Plastics« is about the first joint meeting in Bangladesh. Project employees from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), the Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology (CUET) and the Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET) met. Research assistant Senta Berner reports on her impressions.

Who among us doesn’t long for a dip in cool, refreshing water on a hot summer’s day? In places where there is no ocean or lake close by, outdoor pools are the place to go. However, you often hear it said that the heating costs are too high, or that it is simply uneconomical to continue operating such pools. Arguments like this were also made in the town of Rippershausen, which is situated among the lush green highlands of the Thuringian Forest and the Rhön Mountains. A local association calling itself »Schwimmbadfreunde« (friends of the swimming pool) took responsibility for the municipal outdoor pool in 2011 and went looking for new ideas. Students from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar developed several relevant proposals. The first part of a covered wooden walkway, also known as a colonnade, has been in place for several weeks. This change will allow the pool to serve as a year-round meeting place.

Under the title »Virtual Tinkering«, students from a total of six universities worldwide present the results of the »Public Arts Garage« project. Working together in teams, they realised artistic projects in virtual exchange exploring different approaches to work with and in public spaces. Now a selection of artistic interventions and performances will be presented in a poster exhibition in the university library of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

Research is an abstract concept. But how does it actually happen? What do researchers experience on the way to new knowledge? What challenges do they have to overcome? With diaries, researchers at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar provide us an insight into their projects – so that others can participate in challenging times and the joy of success.

Caroline Ektander, born in Sweden in 1982, has been living in Berlin and working as a curator and architect for over ten years. Her work deals with the complex conditions of environmentally hazardous substances, poisons and toxins. She is currently working on her doctorate at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in the Faculty of Art and Design, focussing on the restoration of contaminated sites in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. In addition to this, she will be artistically exploring the contaminated ground water at the chemical site through support from the university’s Kreativfonds. Science editor Stephanie Waske asked Ektander about the context of this unusual research field.

From 15 September to 15 December 2022, the Radio Art Residency will be held by composer, producer, musician and sound designer Warrick Swinney. With his project "The ghostly disappearance of my country's future: a sonic hauntology", the South African-born composer focuses on re-approaching his existence as a recorded being through personal archives.

What are the best ways to heat, cool and ventilate buildings in the future This is the question that nearly 150 experts from science and the industry will be addressing at the 9th BauSIM Conference, which will be hosted for the first time by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar from 20 to 22 September 2022.

Seit dem letzten Krieg auf dem Territorium des ehemaligen Jugoslawiens sind kaum zwei Jahrzehnte vergangen. Heute ist der ehemals multiethnische Staat in Nationalstaaten zerfallen und neue Grenzen wurden errichtet. Mit seiner Forschungsreise vom 1. bis 9. September 2022 nach Nordmazedonien, Kosovo und Bosnien-Herzegowina richtet das Graduiertenkolleg sein Augenmerk auf Objekte und Orte, die als umstrittenes Erbe gelten.

Masks used as protection against the coronavirus have produced millions of tonnes of plastic waste. What if this waste could be recycled, even those masks contaminated by the virus? Two Bauhaus-Universität Weimar students could not stop asking themselves this question. Using a 3D printer, they showed what would be possible and created a toothbrush using recycled mask material. Their work is currently on display at the Marta Herford Museum or Art, Architecture, Design.

Thuringia’s largest contemporary art festival, Kunstfest Weimar, has begun and invites guests to experience art, film, music, theatre, drama and dance events and much more until 10 September 2022. Cooperative projects from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar are also part of the event.

Researchers at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar have been testing and analysing ways to improve the energy use in existing buildings and urban areas for years. We spoke to engineer Mara Geske, head of the »Energie« working group at the Building Physics Department, and asked her how we as individuals can reduce our energy use while at the same time improving our well-being.

The Building Physics Department has determined that unheated living spaces cool down to 7 or 8°C during an average German winter. Although a gas shortage in Germany is extremely unlikely to occur, proper heating and ventilation in the winter help to save energy and ensure a comfortable indoor climate.

With a total of six works from various artistic degree programmes at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, students and teaching staff will be presenting themselves at the renowned »Ars Electronica« media art festival in Linz from 7 to 11 September 2022. The installations, concerts and experiments were created in the »Media Art and Design« and »Media Architecture« degree programmes.

Vier Jahre lang haben Nachwuchswissenschaftler*innen an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar und an drei weiteren europäischen Hochschulen im Marie-Curie-Forschungsprojekt »urbanHIST – History of European Urbanism in the 20th Century« zur Geschichte einer europäischen Planung im 20. Jahrhundert geforscht. Ihre Forschungserkenntnisse zu Entwicklungen und zur Geschichte der europäischen Stadtplanung im 20. Jahrhundert vereint nun die englischsprachige Neuerscheinung »European Planning History in the 20th Century. A Continent of Urban Planning« im Print- und im Open-Access-Format.

Dem inter- und transdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt »Drei Zimmer, Küche, Diele, Bad. Eine Wohnung mit Optionen« widmet sich eine Neuerscheinung im Jovis Verlag. Das Projekt formuliert, verhandelt und erforscht Fragen an das Wohnen in der Zukunft anhand der Transformation einer leerstehenden Wohnung in einem denkmalgeschützten Gebäudeensemble aus den 1920er Jahren in Weimar.

Im Rahmen des interdisziplinären Bauhaus.Moduls »Ping.Pong.Pocket« haben Studierende im Sommersemester 2022 zwei recycelte Tischtennisplatten entworfen und gebaut, die zukünftig von Studierenden und Mitarbeitenden der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar genutzt werden können. Am Freitag, 12. August 2022, ab 16 Uhr, werden die Ping-Pong-Platten zunächst im Hof der Coudraystraße 11 und anschließend im Hof der Marienstraße 13 bei einem Turnier, Getränken und Musik feierlich eingeweiht. Interessierte sind herzlich auf ein »Match« eingeladen.

Martin Siegler, who is a research associate within the Professorship for Media Philosophy at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, has been awarded second prize in the humanities and cultural studies section of the 2022 German Study Prize for his dissertation on the subject of media articulations of human existence in emergency and catastrophe situations. Conferred by the Körber Foundation, this award honours outstanding work of particular social significance.

From this autumn, Prof. Dr. Andrea Dreyer (Professor of Art Education, Faculty of Art and Design) and Prof. Dr. Bernd Fröhlich (Professor of Virtual Reality Systems, Faculty of Media) will receive funding from the »Innovationen in der digitalen Hochschullehre« joint fellowship programme of the donors’ association (Stifterverband) of the German initiative to promote education, science and innovation (Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V.) and the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society. The state of Thuringia is supporting teaching concepts with up to €50,000 to encourage innovations in digital university teaching.

The Webis group involving Prof. Dr. Benno Stein (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar), Prof. Dr. Martin Potthast (Leipzig University) and Prof. Matthias Hagen (University of Halle) will cooperate with eleven other leading European research centres to develop an open web search infrastructure for Europe as part of the »OpenWebSearch.EU« project. The project aims to contribute to Europe’s digital sovereignty and to foster an open, human-centred search engine market. It is being funded with €8.5 million through »Horizon Europe«, which is the European Commission’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

In the winter semester 2021/22, students from the Faculty of Art & Design embarked on an in-depth exploration of complaints and the processes these trigger that are often contrary to the intention of the actual complaint within the module entitled »Complaint!ivism?«. The outcome is almost 200 individual entries that address this highly topical social issue from an art-theoretical and artistic perspective in a wide variety of formats.