As part of a course, students from the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Applied Arts are developing various challenges and solutions related to the topic of climate change for the participating high school students. The interactive exhibition encourages an experimental and playful exploration of scientific concepts, while the artistic perspective stimulates ingenuity and creativity in the context of engineering and technology.

Cultural Collisions begins after the exhibition: Students and educators explore a topic presented from both scholarly and artistic perspectives, take this knowledge with them, and continue to develop it within their respective school subjects. The participating museums support students in workshops throughout the semester as they work toward creating their own artwork.

Educational Workshop at mumok

Modern and contemporary art challenges existing rules and conventions. It often takes a transdisciplinary approach, which mumok also pursues in its educational programs with a focus on creative learning. We invite students to bring their creative projects to life and present them at the museum. Participating schools are invited to an intensive program that takes them through the entire museum building. During this program, they will experience an interactive tour of the exhibitions, a participatory lecture on the topic “What is art, and what can art do?”, brainstorming sessions in their classes about their own works, and a participatory workshop on design.

In the spirit of co-creation, the final exhibition is conceived and implemented at mumok in collaboration with a team of student curators. It is accompanied by a comprehensive supporting program of guided tours, lectures, and publications.

Together with the students, we transform mumok into a dialogic educational space that brings together complex topics, explores science and art in tandem, and collectively showcases the results they have developed together.

Educational Workshop at the Vienna Technical Museum

In this workshop at the Vienna Technical Museum, we focus on an aspect that is often not associated with science but is absolutely central to us as human beings in every respect—and especially in times of social change: our emotions.

In the workshops, which last about 2 hours, students first take part in an interactive and discussion-based tour of the exhibitions, during which various aspects of the project’s theme are explored in a way that is accessible to young people: How have technological developments contributed to climate change? What answers can innovative research and technology provide to current questions? How has society dealt with the challenges of paradigm shifts in cultural and technological history in the past? What stories do the objects tell—and how do they differ from works of art? And above all: What do all these experiences evoke in me? At each station, we take time to acknowledge our (climate-related) feelings and the needs they point to. We express these reflections creatively, thereby taking a step toward the message the students wish to convey through their artworks at the conclusion of the project.

This approach, grounded in emotional intelligence, invites the students into a dialogue where everything can be expressed—ranging from fear to hope, resistance to indifference—allowing them to experience and navigate their own and others’ perspectives, and to create a foundation for self-empowered and responsible decision-making—the basis for broad participation and active involvement in a shared social process.

Once the project begins, the participating students work together with their teachers to create a work of art based on the current project theme. There are no limits to their creativity: from paintings and sculptures to poems and dance performances—anything is possible!

The schools are supported in this process by methods and materials developed by their teachers during accompanying professional development sessions offered by the Vienna University of Teacher Education and the Vienna/Lower Austria University of Church Education.

The grand finale of Cultural Collisions is the public presentation of the artworks created in class. The mumok Museum provides the venue for this event and, together with the participating students, curates the project’s final exhibition.