The transdisciplinary international event »Intervening Drawing«, consisting of a conference and accompanying workshops, explores drawing as a practice of learning and recognition situated in time and space, through which not only is existing knowledge preserved and passed on, but new knowledge is created as well. The link between abstraction and visualization opens a window on drawing as an epistemic process that, through the act of capturing and rearranging observations and experiences, shares in the creation and formation of bodies of knowledge. 

The conference starts with drawings whose mediality is situated between text and image. Letters and characters appear alongside the drawn images, forging a link between the purely visual and the legible. A drawing conceived in this way functions not only as a tool for capturing a subject at a moment in time, but also as a meditation on or rehearsal of processes, movements, and actions. The drawing is revealed here as an opening up of possibilities and an interventional tool. 

This aspect of a drawing, in being more than what is visible in it, combines continuities of design and creation with those of the study involved in the act of drawing itself, showcasing drawing as part of a comprehensive context of learning and formation – development and honing of faculties of perception and representation, formation of insight and realization, development of forms and shapes, and actions in the public sphere that, in turn, provide a jumping-off point for processes of education. 

The event explores the interventional potential of drawing as an experiment rooted in praxis in social and cultural contexts. With the emergence of new forms of drawing and practices of cooperation, intermediation, and research along with interconnection, especially in the digital sphere, drawing is perfectly suited to initiating acts of resistance and collective par-ticipation. This kind of drawing practice interlaces situations and actions and can help to empower marginalized groups and develop social and ecological understanding. 

Panels
1.Drawing between text and image
2. Drawing as objection
3. Drawing as education

Language
English

Date
June 6–8, 2024

Venue
Köln International School of Design der TH Köln, Ubierring 40, 50678 Köln

Organisation
Prof. Dr. Gesa Foken (Hochschule Darmstadt) und Prof. Dr. Carolin Höfler (TH Köln)

Speakers
Canan Akoglu, Designskolen Kolding, Denmark > more
Peter Bertram, Royal Danish Academy of Copenhagen, Denmark > more
Mbaye Diop, Dakar, Senegal/Switzerland > more
Christian Driesen, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences > more
Larissa Fassler, Berlin, Germany/Canada > more
Lidia Gasperoni, TU Berlin
Karin Krauthausen, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Björn Kühn, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg > more

The conference will be preceded by a workshop on collective drawing with Lukas Hamilcaro, Marseille/Berlin.

Program will follow soon.