Symposium "Practices of Cooperation"

Proposals for the collaborative project "Digital Sovereignty for Art Academies"

At the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe in collaboration with the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe and the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart

Karlsruhe, November 4–6, 2026

Today, "cooperation" and "collaboration" are widely regarded as core values, shaping artistic and academic practice in particular. At the same time, many educational and institutional structures remain heavily focused on individual performance, competition, and clearly defined responsibilities.

This contradiction is particularly evident in the digital realm, as digital cooperation is often reduced to the use of digital tools and apps. However, particularly in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts, it also means negotiating shared processes, critically examining tools, sharing knowledge, tolerating uncertainty, and learning new forms of collaboration.

With the symposium "Practices of Cooperation", we aim to examine cooperation and collaboration at art and design academies more closely, identify challenges, and at the same time explore new forms of digital collaboration.