Projektmodul / Project Module
Light – Open Photonics Makerspace
Instructor: Prof. Martin Hesselmeier
Credits: 18 ECTS, 16 SWS
Capacity: max. 14 students
Language: english, deutsch
Date: Plenum: Tuesdays, 09:30-12:45; Consultations by appointment
Location: Online/Marienstraße 7b,104
First Meeting: 21.10.2025, 09:15
(More information regarding the first meeting will be sent to accepted participants by email.)
BISON Course
Open Photonics Makerspace
"Light is the first condition of all visibility."
This project module is dedicated to the topic of light as an artistic and creative material. Light is omnipresent: it makes things visible, yet it is transparent itself. It lends spaces tranquillity, creates spatial presence, and makes spaces disappear. It is both representation and a means of representation – a fascinating material for artists and designers.
Digital technologies enable us to think of light in dynamic, responsive, and interactive ways, challenging us to develop new forms and modes of interaction.
A cooperation and joint exhibition with the Lichtwerkstatt Jena at the Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, is planned. The makerspace works at the interface of knowledge and technology transfer between research, industry, and the regional maker community.
Together with this community of students, scientists, and hobbyists, ideas are to be exchanged, experimented with, developed, and prototyped in a hackathon format. The aim is to develop the potential of the interdisciplinary perspectives of art, design, technology, and research on the topic of light and create new approaches.
Background & Participation
The Open Photonics Makerspace project module ties in with the “Enacted photons – exploring light as an artistic medium” module offered in the winter semester 2024/25, creating a new and further development of the work.
- Open to all interested participants, even without prior technical knowledge.
- Prerequisite: Completion of one accompanying Fachmodul:
- Physical Computing (Brian Larson Clark)
- Re/Generative Art + Design (Lotta Stöver)
Funding
The cooperation between Bauhaus University Weimar and Friedrich Schiller University Jena is funded by the Bauhaus University Weimar’s Creative Fund: “Open Photonics – Light at the Intersection of Art and Science.”
Registration
- Registration via the BISON portal
- Additionally, send a short letter of motivation (interest in the course, choice of Fachmodul, knowledge level, background) to:
- martin.hesselmeier@uni-weimar.de
Certificate of Achievement
- Regular attendance and participation
- Participation in excursions, interim, and final presentations
- Participation in the jointly organised exhibition at the end of the semester
- Presentation of the work/project in the final presentation of the Interface Design professorship
Project documentation is required during the lecture-free period until the end of the semester as:
- Work file
- Film in MP4 format
Syllabus (subject to change)
09:30-12:45h, Marienstraße 7 B - Seminarroom 104
| 1 | 21.10.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | Welcome
Introduction |
| 2 | 28.10.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | Light I - Pioneers of light |
| 3 | 04.11.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | Workshop, Ioannis |
| 4 | 11.11.2025 | 09.30-13.45 | Light II - From pigment to light / Light and movement
Plenum 1 |
| 5 | 18.11.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | free work (no official class) |
| 6 | 29.11.2025 + 30.11.2025 | tba | Workshop, Hackerton, Lichtwerkstatt Uni Jena |
| 7 | 02.12.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | Projectwork |
| 8 | 09.12.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | Midterm Presentations |
| 9 | 16.12.2025 | 09.30-12.45 | Projectwork |
| 10 | 06.01.2026 | 09.30-12.45 | tba Artist Talk |
| 11 | 13.01.2026 | 09.30-12.45 | Projectwork |
| 12 | 20.01.2026 | 09.30-12.45 | tba Artist Talk |
| 13 | 27.01.2026 | 09.30-12.45 | Final Presentation |
| 14 | 03.02.2026 | 09.30-12.45 | Projectwork
prepare exhibition |
| 15 | 06.-08.02.2026 | Winterwerkschau |
Platforms and Tools
This Wiki
BigBlueButton
Mattermost Please CLICK HERE to get an introduction to mattermost
Figma
Literature
- tba