Konrad Lohöfener

What traces do we leave behind and how can we see them with different eyes?
The term deconstruction describes the process of decay or disassembly of familiar structures that may lose their context over time. In contrast, reconstruction attempts to restore lost connections, recombining them to establish a new meaning. Where do we find places of deconstruction and reconstruction today? How do we perceive these phenomena and how can we use them as creative design methods? After a guest lecture by archaeologist Dr. Jan Miera on the topic "Narration in Archaeology," the students in the course explored the municipal scrapyard in Halle, using it as an excavation site for discarded items. They embarked on a search for artifacts which have lost their context and yet act as mirrors of the present age - hence the special attractive force they exert on us. Through freely invented stories, by taking apart and by adding, the artifacts were loaded with new contexts. A careful examination of the resulting works yields analytical, humorous, dystopian, and utopian visions of the future, as well as suggests new paradigms for how we relate to our resources.