When Form becomes Attitude (Design Policy Conference)

The sympomsium “When Form becomes attitude” will take place at HfG Offenbach on 12 November 2026 as part of the WDC World Design Capital “Design for Democracy”. Keynotes by Silvio Lorusso, Noemi Biasseton, Tatjana Schneider + more. asks how design can take a stand — and why it matters now more than ever. The programme brings together project presentations of interventions in urban space with an international symposium. At its centre is design that does not present itself merely as a service, but as an independent position that must assert itself in the public realm.

The day opens with interventions in public space — physical and digital — as stages for democratic practice. Projects from the WDC programme will be presented that take a clear position in the urban environment: from kiosks as places of solidarity and objects of resistance to formats that make history and democracy visible in everyday life. Through dialogue between the projects and with the audience, the programme explores what such interventions can achieve and how they can shape public life.

The symposium then brings together international perspectives on a political understanding of design, creating a space for resonance around Partisan Design — design that takes a side, situated in the tension between responsibility, engagement and transformation. At its heart are questions of what a politicised design discipline might look like, what new roles designers can assume in public space, and what it means to understand design as a social and political stance.

Programme Thusday, 12 November 2026

10:00  Registration

10:30–10:50 Opening Remarks (Tom Bieling, Felix Kosok, Adrian Niessler)

10:50–12:30 Project Presentations

Imprints of History / Geschichtsabrücke: HfG Off + Marina Kampka / Studio Pari Pari
(Dialogue: History → Object)

Objects of Resistance: Mañana Bold + Maziar Rezai + Nila Rezai (Crafted Liberation) + RK Collective
(Dialogue: Protest → Solidarity)

Kiosk of Solidarity Moritz Ahlert + Felix Egle 
(Dialogue: Solidarity → Public Space) 

WDC Pavilion – Construct Lab
(Dialogue: Public Space → Digital Space) 

Working on Democracy – HfG Off + Maiken Laakmann
(Dialogue: Digital Space → Participation) 

Democracy Kiosks 

12:30–13:00 Plenum

13:00–14:30 Break

14:30–14:45 Introduction (Tom Bieling + BIRD) 

14:45–15:30 Keynote 1: 
Noemi Biasseton (“Superstorm: Design and Politics in the Age of Information”)
Introduction: Uta Brandes (BIRD / iGDN)

15:30–16:15 Keynote 2: 
Silvio Lorusso (“What Design Can’t Do”)
Introduction: Marc Pfaff (BIRD / TU Berlin)

16:15–17:00 Keynote 3: 
Tatjana Schneider (GTAS Braunschweig)
Introduction: Michelle Christensen (BIRD / UdK Berlin) 

17:00–17:15 Coffee Break

17:15–18:15 Panel: 
Silvio Lorusso, Tatjana Schneider, Noemi Biasseton, Uta Brandes, Michelle Christensen, Marc Pfaff, Tom Bieling

18:15–18:30 Closing Remarks

18:30–20:30 Evening Reception

Venue
HfG Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main
University of Art and Design
Schlossstraße 31 (Aula)
D-63065 Offenbach am Main 

Hosted by Lehrgebiet Designtheorie at HfG Offenbach, organized with BIRD – the Board of International Research in Design and WDC 2026 Rhein-Main. 

Organizing Partners: Tom Bieling (Lehrgebiet: Designtheorie) & Felix Kosok (WDC), Ulrike Gruenewald and Susanne Wieland (HfG Offenbach). 

The symposium is accompanied by the exhibition “WAS WIR TEILEN” (What we share), curated by Tom Bieling and Susanne Wieland at Haus der Stadtgeschichte, Offenbach.