BurgLabs

The BurgLabs are platforms for interdisciplinary research at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. In three laboratories, we leverage research and design to examine material technology questions in order to design futures. Through SustainLab, BioLab, and XLab, we are targeting the fields of sustainability, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Each lab gets to the bottom of a specific material: molecules, atoms, and bits. And together, we operate at the interface between design and science.

The focus of our work is the relationship between the natural environment and the environment shaped by humans. We regard ourselves as critical makers, creative catalysts, and material explorers. As critical actors, we develop formats to encounter current and future research topics and questions that arise in design and art in a contemporary manner. Across labs, the complex contexts in which material and technology find their places become visible. Our work aims to untangle the complexity, acquire knowledge, design with greater precision and accessibility, and propose transformative interventions.

Our outward impulse features exchange and participation. As catalysts, we aspire to make an important contribution to development in our region. We also open our doors in order to develop new research questions together and provide material technology development support to students and alumni spin-offs.

• BioLab
  platform for living matter
   
• SustainLab
  platform for critical matter
   
• XLab
  platform for digital matter