Cultural Collisions | Vienna Museum of Science & Technology

This interdisciplinary and cross-institutional project gives pupils aged between 12 and 14 years the opportunity to explore the world of technology and science in an artistic way.

The internationally tested art and science education format is aimed at enabling pupils to approach the highly topical and complex issue of climate change from a scientific point of view and develop their own perspectives by taking an artistic approach. Besides participating in current social processes, the pupils will experience technical study programmes and professional fields first-hand, providing them with early inspiration for their later choice of studies.

The starting point for the participating classes is a visit to an interdisciplinary exhibition that is implemented by students, scientists and artists of the TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology) as part of a seminar. With this inspiration, the classes will develop a work of art on the topic together with their teachers. They will be supported in doing so by the mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna) and the Technisches Museum Wien (Vienna Museum of Science and Technology), which will each be hosting an art, culture and science education workshop for them. The results will be presented at the end of the semester in a public exhibition at the mumok.

The multi-year project will be supervised and continuously evaluated by the Kirchliche Pädagogische Hochschule Wien/Krems (University College of Christian Churches of Teacher Education Vienna/Krems). Furthermore, the Pädagogische Hochschule Wien (University College Teacher Education Vienna) will develop materials for teachers so that they can incorporate this methodology into their lessons.

Cultural Collisions is a collaboration project between the TU Wien, the Kirchliche Pädagogische Hochschule Wien/Krems, the Pädagogische Hochschule Wien, the mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien as well as the Technisches Museum Wien.

More about our educational concept

In the workshop of the Technisches Museum Wien, we will place a focus on an aspect that is often not associated with science, but is essential to us humans in every respect – especially in times of social change: our emotions.

In the workshops, which will take about two hours, the pupils will first be given an interactive and discursive tour of the exhibitions, where various aspects of the project’s topic will be illuminated in a manner appropriate for young people: How have technological developments contributed to climate change? What answers can innovative research and technology give to current questions? How did society deal with the challenges of paradigm changes in cultural and technological history in the past? What story(ies) do the objects tell – and how do they differ from art objects? And, most importantly: How does all that make me feel? At each station, we will take our time to become aware of our (climate) emotions and the needs they point to. We will then implement these reflections creatively, taking a step towards the personal message the pupils want to transport in their works of art at the end of the project.

This approach through emotional competence aims to invite the pupils to enter into a dialogue where they are allowed to express anything – from fear and hope to resistance and indifference – to experience room to think and deal with their own and other positions without having to take sides and create a basis for making self-empowered and responsible decisions – the foundation for broad participation and involvement in shaping a common social process.

Registration

More information and registration for further cycles is here.

Contact

Educational programme at
Technisches Museum Wien:

PARTNER

IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PILOT WORKSHOP

Our educators welcome the school class to the Technisches Museum Wien.

In a discussion panel, we talked about the connections between climate change, science, art, and understanding our emotions about it.

The students position themselves on an emotional spectrum between indifference and concern, fear and hope.

In workshop journals, the students reflect on their emotions and thoughts at each station.

In the exhibition, we discuss the relationship between prehistoric trees and the greenhouse effect.

Using architectural models, we discuss urban development, housing needs, and sustainable living spaces.

In the museum area devoted to mobility, we discuss road design, citizen participation, and activism.

Upon returning to the workshop room, creative work ensues.

Based on their personal reflections, the students create mind maps.

In their personal mind maps, all emotions are allowed to be expressed without judgment.

Presented of mind maps during the final session.

The final session provides space for dealing with different viewpoints.