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MAKE SHIFT

MAKE SHIFT
Ineke Hans & Mathias Hahn & Barbara Kotte & Fons Hickmann
Target audience: Master's in Visual Communication & Product Design
External guests are welcome to attend the lectures!

About
MAKE SHIFT is a pilot program within the INTER – Teaching Architecture initiative (Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education) designed to foster exchange between disciplines and creative spaces.
Combining a lecture series with a guest colloquium, the format invites international designers and researchers to offer insights into current discourses beyond the curriculum. Students and faculty discuss perspectives, reflect on master’s theses, and collaboratively develop new forms of cooperation and networking in interdisciplinary teaching.

MAKE SHIFT serves both as a working title and a concept aimed at strengthening the exchange between students and faculty in the Master’s programs in Product Design and Visual Communication.
Our project is based on an initial outreach, an expression of interest, and a shared vision regarding learning processes and methodologies in design. We aim to create a format that serves as a starting point for getting to know one another and exchanging ideas, for being open to different perspectives, and, not least, for networking. In doing so, we want to shed not only the blinders of disciplinary boundaries but also our own institutional biases.

  • What’s happening outside Berlin and beyond the UdK?
  • What topics are currently the subject of heated debate?
  • What trends from international practice and research are currently sparking interest among students and faculty in both programs?
  • How can these topics be linked or integrated into artistic and academic approaches within the master’s theses?

To take a first step in a somewhat pragmatic (makeshift) manner during the pilot phase of INTER, Version 1.0 of MAKE SHIFT is designed as a combination of a lecture series and guest colloquia. During the current academic year, we offer six events over the summer semester, featuring presentations by international guest speakers. These speakers represent a wide range of perspectives and approaches within the field of design and are to be selected equally by students and faculty members. These lectures will be followed by joint discussion sessions. In this way, we open up insights into topics that are not necessarily covered by the curriculum and facilitate dialogue. During these discussion sessions, future formats for collaboration will also be discussed and developed.
Students can thus discuss and reflect on their master’s theses with external voices, while simultaneously contributing their ideas for future teaching formats. Both degree programs/institutes are each responsible for 3 guests.
The aim of this format is to engage in in-depth discussions over the course of the summer semester in order to explore future possibilities for collaboration and exchange.

Time & Dates
01.06.2026, 16 h: Sara Kaaman
08.06.2026, 16 h: Anton Rahlwes and Nina Sieverding (The thing magazine)
15.06.2026, 16 h: Malte Martin
22.06.2026, 16 h: Jon Marshall & Hugh Miller (Pentagram)

Credits
In accordance with the regulations for master's degree programs