Informal University in Foundation
Informelle Universität in Gründung, 19.07.2004 15:27
The Informal University in Foundation [IU] is an initiative from students of the Technical University Berlin and has emerged f8rom the student protests during the wintersemester 2003/2004. We try to stimulate critical discussions about societal structures in general and from an architectural point of view; we are working on ideas concerning our working and social environment now and in the future.
Our contribution to the student protests was the action called “Aktive Verslummung – Berlin wird Weltstadt” (“active slumming – berlin becomes cosmopolitan”). Starting from the forecourt of the TU-Berlin at the Ernst-Reuter Platz, trash huts were built in order to serve as an informal protest university. In the follow up huts were spread at neuralgic spots of the city intending to provoke debates by causing irritation .
slumming
The motivation was to make people think about the societal status quo by appropriating public space, rather than to wail out of the still privileged position as a student. Since it ´s beeing suggested that there is only one possible way of creating society, a societal debate concerning future developments, about dreams, desires and hopes of the people, is being foiled. Whereby interests rooted beneath this argumentation are being hidden.
In the face of this development we are searching for possibilities how we could work, research and live in a framework that is neither contributing to untenable interests nor leading to self-destructive conditions. Our institution is an environment in which critique of architecture, societal critique or demanding design are not generating interest or resonance. In that conservative setting, aiming at a so-called "practically orientated" economised, one-dimensional interpretation of architecture, we demand space for a self-determined mode of work, a mode that leaves space for reflection and meaningful behaviour. We are driven by a need for acting beyond "Sachzwänge" [...]. We want to formulate our visions and dreams, find new scope for acting and rediscover proven opportunities.
We are working more or less regularly in meetings in which we discuss issues of society and design with the help of short prepared texts. Currently we are busy defining more precisely the themes and issues we want to work about as the Informal University. In future we plan to go public with events like lectures, workshops, screenings or exhibitions. Collected knowledge and experiences will be made accesible in publications and on our website.
Slowly this site is becoming cosmo, more and more resouirces will be added in English, and maybe even in other languages. We are currently based in Berlin but we are not afraid of international cooperation with similar minds. To find the information in English easier, we have given the English part of this website this brownish colour. Hopefully we will be able soon to translate more of our resources into English.
Homepage:: http://www.schickytapes.biz/jackie-inhalt/main.html
