Textiles - Free, Applied and Experimental Artistic Design

We are confronted with textile materials and structures in a variety of ways - in everyday culture, in fashions and styles, in design, technology, art and architecture. The department of Textiles - Free, Applied and Experimental Art and Design focuses on the development, communication and role of textiles in society.

In artistic projects, textiles are investigated as a medium of self-expression and cultural localisation, and thematised as a dynamic, widely distributed element within our material culture and as a potential networking model. Textiles are employed in diverse work formats as an artistic and technical-functional design element. The interconnection of theory and practice in the programme unveils multilayered experiential and cognitive dimensions - a requirement for the investigation and deconstruction of the constituent principles and contingencies of textiles in their aesthetic manifestations. The differentiated anticipation of future areas of practice and their organisation are also subjects in our exploration of textiles.

The aim of the department is to orientate students toward a reflective artistic or design practice and to develop a differentiated capacity for critical thought and mediation with regard to future art or design-based, art-pedagogical, or mediation activities. Graduates are active in art teaching on a secondary and post-secondary level, in design and media sectors, or in art and costume departments for theatre and film. For many years, the department has been developing a series of transcultural projects with international partners. Students and graduates of the Angewandte have recently accomplished research work and projects in Morocco, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, China, and together with Makarere University in Kampala, Uganda. A current FWF research project deals with Hallstatt textiles and their inspiration for contemporary applications, and a new collaboration with Joshibi University in Tokyo has recently commenced.