Prof. Dr. Michelle Christensen
Design as Critical Inquiry
Seminar, English, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS, 8 places
Mondays, 10-12 h, weekly, starting 20.10.2025
Straße des 17. Juni 118, Room 207
Attention: Für Design-Studierende nicht als Studium Generale anrechenbar!

Registration: Please register by the 10.10.2025 to m.christensen_ @udk-berlin.de

How can design- and artistic research methods be applied to critically question power relations and inequalities embedded and embodied in culture? In times of multispecies politics, cyborg existence, and discussions such as hydrofeminism and queer ecologies – how can critical theories incite novel questions and inspire possible pathways that respond to current crises? In which ways can we position ourselves and our research practice as designers and artists, challenging existing narratives, and formulating micro-resistance to macro concerns?
From performing to transforming, this class will explore the potential of design as a method for critical inquiry. Through a series of methodological experiments, from autoethnographic interventions to critical design transformations, we will apply concepts from critical theories to practice-based investigations, bringing together theory and practice in an interdisciplinary setting.
This class is developed with a focus on master’s students and other postgraduates that are in the process of planning their final projects. The aim of the class is to equip students, based on their interest, to better position themselves and their methodological approach by the end of the semester. Therefore, students are encouraged to bring their current topics of interest.

Performance requirements: regular, active participation.

Michelle Christensen is a visiting professor for Open Science/Critical Culture at the Technische Universität Berlin and the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF), as well as co-heading the research group Design, Diversity and New Commons at the Berlin University of the Arts / Weizenbaum Institute. She wrote her Ph.D. in the field of Design Research, prior to which she studied political sociology (B.A.), conflict studies (M.A.), gender studies (M.Sc.) and integrated design (M.A.). She has worked at the Crisis Department of Amnesty International USA, was a Humanity in Action Fellow, and a Congressional Fellow in the United States Congress in Washington DC. As a researcher she has worked for the Design Research Lab and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Berlin. She has taught courses in gender studies, conflict analysis and design methods at universities in the Netherlands and Germany, most recently as a visiting professor at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Dessau. Her work focuses on feminist/queer, decolonial and postanthropocentric approaches to design and free/open technologies.