The Future of Design – Designing the Future

Registration Fees

• THWS members (staff & students) and external students: free of charge
• One-day pass for November 5, 2026 (external participants): 25,— €
• One-day ticket for November 6, 2026 (external participants): 25,— €

In addition, THWS members and external participants will have the option to book a meal package as an add-on. This package includes a hot lunch, small snacks, fruit, and mineral water. Please note that due to necessary planning lead time, the meal package can only be booked until October 19, 2026 (8:00 a.m.).

Couchsurfing: External students have the option to stay with our students in their private homes. Please send your request with the keyword “Couchsurfing” to: johanna.diehl@thws.de

• Daily meals: 12,— €

Registration is on a per-day basis. Those who wish to participate on both days should register twice. We recommend checking in advance, especially for the limited-capacity daily sessions, as enrollment in these takes place during the registration process:

• Discussion Sessions (Panel II, Nov. 5, 2026)
• Workshops (Panel III, Nov. 6, 2026)

To register and pay, please use the online form for Day 1 (November 5, 26) ↗

To register and pay, please use the online form for Day 2 (November 6, 2026) ↗

Day Programme

9:00 am — Open Doors
9:30 am — Welcome and Opening

• Prof. Claudia Frey, Dean Faculty of Design (THWS)
• Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schweppenhäuser (THWS)
  “Visions of progress, speculators and ‘backward-looking prophets'”

To “progress” means to move away from something. The Latin word *progressus*, on the other hand, indicates moving toward something. But what is the goal of this approach? Is progress the continuation of the positive and proper tendencies of the existing state of affairs, or the averting of a (perhaps final) catastrophe? This is currently a subject of debate—in books, in the arts and culture sections of newspapers, and in the cultural and social sciences. This lecture sheds light on these questions and explores what the inner images of the productive imagination have to do with them.

10:15 — Panel I: Images of the Future – The Future of Images
13:00 — Lunch
14:00 — Panel II: Sustainability and Future Studies in Design
17:30 — Closing

What visual forms and narrative patterns characterise contemporary visions of the future? The focus is on the question of what images, by their very nature, can be in the future – and to what extent they shape the future itself. The study examines how images not only represent, but also actively structure expectations, imaginations and forms of knowledge. Images shape our present – and mould our future.

10:15 — Welcome and moderation Prof. Johanna Diehl (THWS) and Tessa von Both, MA (THWS)

10:25 — Presentations 

• Prof. Dr. Rafael Dernbach (HSBI, Bielefeld)
  “How does an image become an image of the future?”
• Malin Schulz (Director Brand & Visual DIE ZEIT, Berlin/Hamburg)
  “The New Power of Images: AI and the Transformation of Visual Reality.”
  
• Prof. Salvatore Vitale (visual artist, professor, HSLU Luzern)
  “Images of Automated Futures” (EN)

12:30 — Panel Discussion

13:00 — Lunch break with time to chat and catch up.

How are visions of the future shaped in discourses on sustainability and transformation? The focus is on goals, values and areas of conflict, as well as on the question of how these visions are translated into political, social and cultural processes.

14:00 — Welcome address by Dr Beatrice Barrois (THWS)

14:15 — Presentations

Prof. Dr Susanne Ritzmann (KHK, Kassel)
“Design in the Wasteocene – A Shift in Perspective, Transformation and Values”
Prof. Dr Eileen Mandir (HM, Munich)
“Participatory Design Futuring – exploring, imagining and negotiating conflicting futures for sustainable urban transitions” (EN)

15:45 — Following the presentations, symposium participants will have the opportunity to explore the topics in greater depth in various discussion sessions. These will be moderated by

Prof. Raffaela Aversa (University of Campania, Italy)
“The History of Design as the History of Technology Transfer” (EN)
Julian Moder (THWS)
“Second-Hand Futures”
Barbara Schmidt (THWS)
“Decolonising Sustainability”
Alternatively, this time can be used for informal discussion in the cafeteria.

16:45 — Panel discussion

17:30 — Dinner keynote

Prof. Erich Schöls (THWS), in conversation with Prof. Dr Jörg Vogel (Würzburg) and M.A. Max Seeger (Berlin)

Images for the mind—how AI will help RNA research

Prof. Jörg Vogel is the founding director of the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI). He is also a professor and director of the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB) at Würzburg University Hospital. As a globally recognised scientist in the field of RNA biology, he is regarded as a pioneer in the application and development of high-throughput sequencing methods for the analysis of infected cells, as well as of interactions between pathogenic bacteria and their hosts. His current research focuses on the development of programmable RNA antibiotics, including those designed to specifically modify the microbiome.
Vogel has published over 250 scientific papers and review articles, and is an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and other European and US academies. He has received numerous awards for his work, including Germany’s highest scientific honour (the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize) and the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and the Arts.

Visual Data Mining in RNA Research

Day Programme

8:30 am — Open Doors
9:00 — Panel III: Prototypes and other tools for thinking about the future
13:00 — Lunch
14:00 — Panel IV: Future Visions in Knowledge Transfer
16:00 — Closing

In what ways do prototypes, storytelling and graspable speculation generate knowledge? This panel will examine how designs can make assumptions visible and alternatives testable. In doing so, it methodically challenges the assumption that progress is a linear process.

9:00 — Welcome Prof. Judith Glaser (THWS) & M.A. Samira Wirtz (THWS)

9:15  — Keynote by Moritz Koch & Andrea Marsanasco, Gentle Systems (Berlin)

10:00 — Following the keynote presentation, there will be a series of workshops on the theme of ‘Thinking about the Future through Design’. These will be led byFollowing the keynote presentation, there will be a series of workshops on the theme of ‘Thinking about the Future through Design’. These will be led by

• Prof. Andreas Muxel (THA, Augsburg)
  “Positive Futures 2046: Living with Machines”
  
• Eva Katsaiti (University of West Attica, Griechenland)
  “From Wound to Word to World” (EN)
• Julian Moder (THWS)
  “Thinking, Prompting, Drawing: Generative Systems in the Design Process”
• Prof. André Rösler, Dr. Beatrice Barrois (THWS)
  “Drawing Forward – Comics as a Narrative Experiment”
• Tessa von Both (THWS)
  “VorBilder – Visual References, Shared Imagination”
• Prof. Sydney Craig, Nicholas Witten (Indiana Univerity, USA)
  “Sensory Futures: Non-Visual Prototyping as Epistemic Practice” (EN)
• Prof. Moritz Schwind (OHM, Nürnberg)
  “Algorithmic Design – Form as a Conceptual Space of Possibilities”

Alternatively, the time can be used for informal conversation in the cafeteria or to visit the exhibition.

12:15 — Panel Discussion moderated by Prof. Dr. Gesa Foken (h-da, Darmstadt)

13:00 — Lunch break with time to chat and catch up.

How do visions of the future come into play in practical contexts, such as policy advice, planning, education, technological development or cultural outreach? This study examines how visions of the future are used as a guide, what criteria underpin their plausibility, and how they shape decision-making processes.

14:00 — Welcome by Prof. Carl Frech (THWS) & M.A. Tabo Hartog (THWS)

14:15 — Perspectives for discussion by 

• Markus Turber (Intuity Media Lab, Stuttgart)
  “Exploration to Market Impact — Filling the Vacuum Instead of Measuring It”
• Magdalena Soetebeer (FU Berlin)
  “Shaping the Future: Walking the Tightrope Between Strategy and Reflection”
• Prof. Dr. habil. Claudia Muth (Hochschule Hof, Angewandte Designwissenschaften)
  “Seeing the World Anew? A Transformation in Loops”

15:00 — Panel discussion involving the audience, inspired by the ‘fishbowl’ method.

16:00 — Concluding remarks
Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Ulrich

16:30 Uhr — Farewell by the Organising Committee

• Prof. Raffaela Aversa
  University of Campania (IT), Materials Research and Bioengineering
• Prof. Sydney Craig
  Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University (USA), Narratives and Artistic Practice
• Prof. Dr. Rafael Dernbach
  Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Media Theory
• Prof. Dr. Gesa Foken
  Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (DE), Art and Design Education and Research
• Eva Katsaiti
  University of West Attica (GR), Department of Photography and Audiovisual Arts
• Moritz Koch
  Gentle Systems (DE), Design Engineering
• Prof. Dr. Eileen Mandir
  Munich University of Applied Sciences (DE), Systemic Design in the Context of Social Change and Transformative Processes
• Andrea Marsanasco
  Gentle Systems (DE), Design Engineering
• Prof. Dr. habil. Claudia Muth
  Hof University of Applied Sciences (DE), Applied Design Sciences
• Prof. Andreas Muxel
  Augsburg Technical University of Applied Sciences (DE), Physical Human-Machine Interfaces
• Prof. Dr. Susanne Ritzmann
  Kassel University of the Arts (DE), Sustainable Product Design and Development
• Malin Schulz
  Berlin/Hamburg (DE), Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Visual Director at DIE ZEIT
• Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schweppenhäuser
  Würzburg-Schweinfurt Technical University of Applied Sciences (DE), Design, Communication and Media Theory
• Prof. Moritz Schwind
  Nuremberg Technical University of Applied Sciences OHM (DE), Computational Design
• Max Seeger
  Berlin (DE), Design and Research
• Magdalena Soetebeer
  Schaltzeit GmbH (DE), futurology
• Markus Turber
  Intuity Media Lab (DE), Innovation Development
• Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Ulrich
  Würzburg-Schweinfurt Technical University of Applied Sciences (DE), Design, Typography
• Prof. Salvatore Vitale 
  Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (CH), Photography, Modernist systems influenced by technology
• Prof. Dr. Jörg Vogel
  Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (DE), Data interfaces for RNA-based infection research
• Tessa von Both
  Würzburg (DE), Political and feminist theories in communication design
• Nicholas Witten
  Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University (USA), Fine Art and Foundations of Artistic Training

• Dr. Beatrice Barrois
• Prof. Johanna Diehl
• Prof. Carl Frech
• Prof. Judith Glaser
• Julian Moder
• Prof. Erich Schöls
• Samira Wirtz