After being awarded a six-week scholarship, the artists live in the Atelierhaus Ludwig-Engel-Weg 1 (LEW1) on Darmstadt’s famous Rosenhöhe. Residing in the ‘studio house’ at the artists’ colony is linked to the collaboration with one of these Darmstadt research institutes and aims to reflect on research artistically and aesthetically.
- European Space Agency (ESA/ESOC)
- Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research GSI
- Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence (hessen.AI)
Background to artistic research
Over the past five decades, artistic research has increasingly established itself as a relevant method. With artistic-research practice, complex topics and questions are reflected not only in terms of content, but also aesthetically. Through its public communication, the resulting work of art succeeds in acquiring knowledge for society as a whole. Particularly in interdisciplinary cooperation, the artistic view of scientific processes and questions is greatly enriching – and not just because artistic perspectives often allow for a ‘different’ understanding of scientific work. The increasing digitalisation of science and research and the resulting comprehensive availability and communicability of many processes and data that were not available on such a large scale in pre-digital times means a further important boost for artistic–scientific research collaborations.
The scholarships: details and application
The scholarship holders have their own studio at Rosenhöhe and – depending on the possibility of the cooperating institute – a workspace at one of the research institutions. Remuneration plus production and travel expenses are paid for the duration of the six-week stay. The projects carried out during the AiSR period are made available to the public through presentations, exhibitions, workshops and publications. Applications can be submitted online from 15 February to 31 March 2022. An important aim of the AiSR programme is to enable synergies and make them visible by bringing together the city’s extensive scientific and technical potential with the equally extensive and relevant cultural and artistic tradition.
Application and more: www.picdrop.com/kultur-digitalstadt/AiSR_PM_22
Email: residence@kultur-digitalstadt.de
Whether technically, linguistically, artistically or just for fun, continuing education makes sense in many ways – and awakens undiscovered potential. Hardly anyone knows this better than the educators at the Volkshochschule Darmstadt (vhs), who deal with lifelong learning in adulthood. Together with Smart City Darmstadt, the vhs (adult education centre) is now publishing the Digital Education Pathfinder Darmstadt. ‘This new portal is an ever-expanding offer for professional and vocational, voluntary and recreational education in Darmstadt, which we hope will be actively used,’ explains Darmstadt’s Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch about the new online education offer. ‘It’s motivating to look something up in this educational guide and see what you can learn in Darmstadt, a city of science and culture.’ explains Darmstadt’s Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch about the new online education offer. ‘It’s motivating to look something up in this educational guide and see what you can learn in Darmstadt, a city of science and culture.’
vhs Director Dr Monika Krutsch explains: ‘In the Science City Darmstadt, with its many cultural institutions, museums and clubs, so much expertise also lies dormant outside of the typical educational institutions. Unfortunately, far too few people realise that.’ This is precisely why vhs has developed the Digital Education Pathfinder together with Smart City Darmstadt. vhs Director Dr Monika Krutsch explains: ‘In the Science City Darmstadt, with its many cultural institutions, museums and clubs, so much expertise also lies dormant outside of the typical educational institutions. Unfortunately, far too few people realise that.’ This is precisely why vhs has developed the Digital Education Pathfinder together with Smart City Darmstadt. The platform is the right place to go (online) for anyone who wants to catch up on school-leaving qualifications, or anyone who is looking for skills for work, (vocational) training or studies, or who wants to learn a language or do something completely different. Maybe a mosaic class or a memory-training course? The portal should also be the first stop for anyone who wants to learn how to acquire the skills to become a volunteer in a hospital (a ‘Green Lady’) or to become qualified as a telephone counsellor. From now on, Darmstadt’s Digital Education Pathfinder will present the wide range of educational opportunities in Darmstadt in an easily accessible way.
The online platform was developed with the support of h_da researchers Dr Pia Sue Helferich and Dr Werner Storck from the departments of administration and online communication, who thought about the prerequisites, expectations and intentions of an educational pathfinder. In summary, education for work and leisure time is an attractive mix for an educational portal. What’s more, the offerings should be categorised according to city districts so that users can navigate the site quickly and easily. And so 45 educational providers from Darmstadt are already taking part in the launch of the platform. ‘Online portals such as the Education Pathfinder would be inconceivable without digitalisation. If you were to print a kind of telephone book with all the courses, seminars and educational opportunities in Darmstadt, it would be immensely cumbersome and more difficult to update than an online tool. That’s why, as a digital city, we are naturally keen to create lasting clarity and transparency about our offerings in Darmstadt with projects such as the Digital Education Pathfinder,’ says Simone Schlosser, managing director of Smart City Darmstadt.
Users can expect a clear and straightforward structure at www.bildungswegweiser.darmstadt.de in which they can find educational offerings using the slide function. Providers of educational opportunities are encouraged (effective immediately and for the future) to use the Education Pathfinder to advertise their offerings and to fill in the database so that the people of Darmstadt can benefit as much as possible from their city of science and culture. The portal is being developed with the financial support of the state of Hesse. Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development, Prof. Kristina Sinemus, explains: ‘Lifelong digital learning is the prerequisite for a good life in the digital future. But we are already expected to have digital skills. That is why I am extremely pleased about the fact that a pathfinder is now available to the Darmstadt area, helping people to navigate through the jungle of offers out there and presenting the regional opportunities for strengthening digital skills. This complements the state-wide overview that we offer on the “wie-digital-bin-ich.de” website very well. Adult education centres are important players in lifelong learning, including with regard to digital education. The Pathfinder will make it even easier for Darmstadt residents to take action and improve their own skills.’
Further information/links:
- bildungswegweiser.darmstadt.de
- https://vhsonline.darmstadt.de/
- digitalstadt-darmstadt.de/projekte/digitaler-bildungswegweiser-darmstadt/
It is omnipresent and yet sometimes goes completely unnoticed. Or it hasn’t even come to mind yet: digitalisation. Science City Darmstadt has been home to it for some time now, as Darmstadt is the flagship digital city model of ‘Smart City made in Germany[1]’. But even in one of the most digitally savvy cities in Hesse, there are people who have had few or no touch points with digitalisation at all. That is about to change. The creators of Smart City Laboratory Darmstadt, the latest project of Smart City Darmstadt, have set out – on electric cargo bike – to report to the local people on digitalisation in a very personal way and with a keen sense of the target group. The first presentation took place yesterday at the Darmstädter Werkstätten und Wohneinrichtungen (EDW), an institution for people with disabilities. Darmstadt’s Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch and Social Affairs Director Barbara Akdeniz welcome the commitment of Smart City Darmstadt and thank the stakeholders of the Smart City Laboratory.
‘The Darmstadt Smart City Laboratory has the task of making the difficult topic of digitalisation come to life. For this reason, the Smart City, as the initiator of the City Laboratory, has already offered many online events in the past year, which are now also entering the analogue world with the mobile version of the City Laboratory. We do not want to and must not leave digitalisation in the digital space,’ explains Lord Mayor and Head of Digital Affairs Jochen Partsch. Barbara Akdeniz adds: ‘It is important for us to involve all the people of Darmstadt in this issue. After all, digitalisation must not be difficult or incomprehensible, as it is currently the biggest transformation of our society, and for us that means embracing the digital world for everyone.’
And that’s exactly what the EDW residents did – along with their carers and other EDW employees who listened to the Mobile City Laboratory team’s presentations. They were amazed when the project group playfully showed how digital assistants can be used in the everyday lives of people with disabilities and what help apps on smartphones and tablets can provide. The fact that the WWW search not only works by entering a question into an internet browser, but that Alexa, Siri and Co are also able to answer the questions, fascinated the EDW audience in particular. Simone Schlosser, managing director of Smart City Darmstadt: ‘The Smart City Laboratory is a real collaboration project in which many different players from Darmstadt’s institutions participate and volunteer. They, like us, are keen to communicate digitalisation in a low-threshold and comprehensible way – to all people. After many weeks and months of exclusively digital communication, we now finally have an analogue instrument again to position our topic with the Mobile City Laboratory and are delighted that EDW wants to book our offer again.’
The Smart City Laboratory is financially supported by the state of Hesse. Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development Prof. Kristina Sinemus: : ‘As a state government, our residents are central to us when it comes to digitalisation. The benefits of digitalisation must be clearly visible and bring added value. We have to and want to involve everyone in this, from schoolchildren and professionals to senior citizens. The City Laboratory is a great example of digital participation in practice. This digital participation and the involvement of residents is also something I care about very much!’
[1] https://www.smart-city-dialog.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BMI-Bericht-Modellprojekte-2020.pdf
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