supervision.: Prof. Giulia Mazzorin, Prof. Andrea Curtoni 

students: Alexander Huber-Nowak, Bastian Lehner, Hanna Kitter, Johanna Pratzner, Kaya Lackner, Lilli Forster, Livia Schmitsberger, Mobina Alinezhad, Rahel Paulig, Rebecca Strasser-Kirchweger, Su Guryay

description:

Of(f) Course Linz

A year of navigating through intended paths and unexpected detours.

This collective presentation traces where we were supposed to go and where we ended up. Each project holds a tension between planned direction and personal deviation, between structure and improvisation.

program details:
. LEERGUT – Making space visible – Bastian Lehner, Rahel Paulig, Rebecca Strasser-Kirchweger, Livia Schmitsberger
Looking away from vacancy mapping and towards diverse uses of space.
The Leergut project highlights spatial policy initiatives in Linz and promotes dialogue on urban space utilisation. In video miniatures and interviews on DORFTV, various projects share their perspectives and strategies for appropriating space. The Alleycat offers the opportunity to get to know these initiatives and engage in a non-invasive discourse with and about the city.
Linz and vacant space with a difference.

LEERGUT – ALLEYCAT
Bicycle scavenger hunt through Linz
Start: Innenhof, Hauptplatz 6, Linz
27 June 2025, 5:30–8:30 p.m.
(bring your own bike, helmet, lights and a pen)

LEERGUT – CHECKPOINT
Department of space&designstrategies – 1st floor – Hauptplatz 6, Linz

. Fitting In – Su Guryay
The disappearance of wilderness from everyday life has transformed the relationship between humans and other living beings. The installation evokes a moment within the captivity process of wild animals. It is based on research into sites in Linz—such as the zoo, the taxidermy museum, and the botanical garden which share a common structure; they regulate, contain, and display life.
Fitting In aims to reveal how the growing distance between humans and nature is systematically controlled—often unnoticed

. OBSERVING PATTERNS: Leftovers – Hanna Kitter
How to talk about undefined spaces? Literacy empowers and emancipates, but loose terms make conversations aimless. A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander laid out a common system of communication along with a series of patterns, while not attempting to define a universal or fixed language. As the author suggested, it is now used as a framework for analysing a spatial motif and proposing a definition based on observation and research. The investigation focuses on the underside of the bridge, tackling it as an example of “leftover” space. Observing patterns is an attempt to practise recognition of similar spatial characteristics, a basis for comparison and identification of recurrent “problems” and potential “solutions”, but most importantly a tool for understanding and discussing the urban environment in a more holistic way. 

. WUNDERKOFFER – the sense of [be]longing – Lilli Forster
Collecting – things and memories – as a way of coping with the transition from one home to another. While building belonging and habitat, I carry my (female) ancestors‘ stories, knowledge and skills from the past to the present to the future. From old Sudetenland to Germany to Austria.

. ARCHIVE – Connecting past research with future potential – Mobina Alinezhad
How can existing knowledge be made accessible and beneficial for future students?           This project explores the Bachelor and master’s theses stored within the department and investigates which of them relate to Linz in terms of context, theme, or implementation. The aim is to identify, collect, and curate these works to create a digital platform that provides an overview of relevant theses.
The platform not only archives the work of former students but also acts as a source of inspiration, connection, and knowledge sharing. Future students can explore ideas, build on past research, and contribute to a growing, accessible network of design-based inquiry connected to Linz.

. Donnas Dream: Part II – Alexander Huber-Nowak

This project is conceived as a speculative-magical instrument that intertwines cartographic, biological, and symbolic layers. The metal plate – a relic of an industrial past – becomes a projection surface for a mycelium-like network. Traces of the Anthropocene and Capitalocene converge into a sigil that aims to activate the hidden, symbiotic forces envisioned by Haraway’s Chtulucene: a space for non-anthropocentric futures where desire, fungus, and city form new alliances.

. Quisquilien – things, to which, no value or meaning is attached – Kaya Lackner

This project questions our relationship towards everyday things. How we care about them, and what changes when we loose them. By walking a public route in Linz for a period of time, searching for lost objects, your perception of the space is changing. The perspective of the things presents a different look on ordinary spaces. Objects show data, remind you of what was, bringing something personal into the public. 

. Layers of Linz – Johanna Pratzner
This installation brings together a collection of historical maps of the city, a hand-built model revealing Linz’s unique topography, and a layered map displaying thematic elements such as green spaces, streets, and waterways. Together, these elements provide a representation of the city that evolves based on historical context, environmental changes, and how people interact with their surroundings. ”Layers of Linz” invites viewers to explore the city’s changes and development, as well as its geographical profile.

.HOLD TOGETHER – Gabriele Carnio

Sometimes we need an excuse to pause and look back at what we’ve done; see who was with us, the strategies we used, how we embraced the space. Sometimes we need to analyse our practices and collect trace of meetings, courses and parties that shaped our accademic year. Sometimes we need a green ring binder to remind us what we are. It’s all inside here — the messy notes, the unfinished thoughts, the bits that made sense only later. Not everything is clear, but something is still becoming. Open it, and see what else might grow.

.Submerging Environments

Supervision: Christina Gruber, students: Anna Proissl, Leonardo Cattaneo, Bastian Lehner, Lilli Forster, Su Guryay, Gabriel Carnio, Anastasia Kraus, Neha Chandel, Daria Agapova, Charlotte Vetter

In this course we want to approach our environments in different ways. Based on current efforts in artistic research (e.g.: concepts around kinship, reciprocity, care, commons) and in the sciences (e.g.: Citizen Science), which assume that our habitats can only be protected if we re-establish a relationship with them. The principle of kinship and mutual connection will serve as a working basis for us to explore and renegotiate our research location. The research field is the different habitats in and around Linz