hack a process
manipulating materials – modifying technologies

THEY ARE THE EGGMEN
the fifth way of painting traditional Sorbian eggs

by Alexander Rex

The painting of eggs is traditionally done by the Sorbs in four different techniques. The process, which lasts several hours, is primarily about painting itself and only secondarily about the finished egg. Due to my origins I have been involved with the technique and have adapted its logic to create another slower, more graceful and reduced variant.

BEYOND PLEASURE
test set for gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis

by Dani Nikitenko

Bacterial sexual transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhoea are increasingly diagnosed. Since there are hardly any symptoms, these diseases are often diagnosed only due to irreversible late effects. Diagnosed in time, they are well treatable. Beyond Pleasure is a concept of a test kit for anonymous and independent testing of chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea.

UNION CHAIR
a statement for the European Union

by Hauke Odendahl

The UNION chair is a symbol for the EU and it‘s values and asks for a design that embodies an attitude. It is time for a clear commitment to the community and to solidarity. 28 equal parts, 28 member states. Construct your own UNION chair and manifest your point of view through this everyday object. The moment is now where we should act and ask:
In which Europe do we want to live?

PRESSURE-MADE
reinterpretation of industrial manufacturing methods to rethink fast moving products

by Johannes Voelchert

I am questioning manufacturing procedures in terms of materiality and processes, taking a realistic lifecycle of a product into account. I have adapted a pneumatic hot spray system to my needs to decontextualize the industrial melt-blown technique. This enables me to manually manufacture tailor-made 100% TPE-U footwear, directly on the customers feet. At the end of its life span worn footwear is washed, melted down and a new shoe is ready to be created.

HOW TO USE A PEN
alternative writing tools

by Josua Roters

A pen should do one thing in particular:
write. In addition, it should also feel good in the hand, look great and last a long time. I decided to avoid such expectations and to change the focus. I created a curious pen collection that causes visual and haptic surprises and focuses on the fun of analog writing.
From this collection further ideas developed, such as the Ikea zigzag pencil and two high-quality metal pens.

SENSUAL TOOLS
objects for attentive perception

by Julia Rademacker

Sensual tools is a series of sense-based objects that, through the deliberate use of colors, shapes, materials and structures, enhance our awareness and positively improve our well-being. The objects based on Euthyme Therapy, a sensory-focused therapy that aims to build positive experience, mindfulness, and reactivation of pleasurable prior experience.

SOLID CURRENTS
materialized code of nature

by Leopold Zaumseil

For as long as can be remembered, humanity is frightened but also fascinated by the destructive forces and beauty of lightning. With SOLID CURRENTS I am visualizing this incomparable and marvelous power and specifically use it as the generative source of my artistic work. I am transferring the energy in cooperation with nature by locking the sudden discharge patterns into a materialized solid state – Fusing nature’s handwriting with human made geometries.

ROACHABILITY
there is always someone who can get to it

by Luis Undritz

This concept shows how we can sustainably and cost-effectively decontaminate polluted soils with cockroaches and recover substances in the process. Microbes and plants can decompose or store such dangerous substances. They are distributed extensively within an area by cockroaches in order to have an effect there.

VALUABLES
learning from interaction

by Maria Tagliabue

This project has the aim to make people more aware about the topic of environmental pollution linked to cigarette butts, since I believe that the main reason why they keep on be thrown on the ground is that people don’t know what this really means for nature. Why are cigarette butts considered disgusting only when we think them in contact with our own body? This is the question that viewers should ask themselves.

disPLAY
experience a museum in a whole new way by gamifying it

by Matilde Félix

This project’s idea is to change the way a person experiences a museum, in this case the Lisbon National Coach Museum. The 'hack' of the museum is not part of the museum's curation – it is an extension of the museum experience from outside.
The creation of this virtual reality game disPLAY, where the visitor must find characters all over the museum, makes the experience of visiting it more fun. It also invites them to go back to the museum to find the rest of the characters.

ICH SEH' DAS ANDERS
focus on their abilities, not their flaws

by Yang Ni

We are used to using the latest technology to solve the problems in blind people’s lives. The comprehensive but expensive auxiliary products are not affordable for everyone. Is there a different starting point of design thinking?
We reversed our roles - the blind became designers and »hackers« and show the »hacked« objects in their lives. Maybe we should think about whether we focus only on what the other person can’t do and forget what they can do.

Above: the technical solutions
Below: the hacked objects