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PROJECTS IN COLLABORATION

2019

2016-2017

2016-2017

2015

2015

2015

2012-2016

2014

2012-2014

2013-2014

2013

2013

2011-2012

2011

2011

2010

2010

2009-2010

2007-2010

2007-2010

2006

2005-2006

2005-2006

Joint Efforts And Cooperation

International Scientific Review Board

Dementia Arts Society

DEMENTIA
This umbrella term describes a chronic disease of the brain in which a gradual deterioration of cognitive, emotional and social skills occurs. Dementia usually arises in old age. Due to demographic developments in society, it has become a critical health topic. People with dementia suffer from cognitive impairments such as forgetfulness, short-term memory loss, and the loss of language and counting abilities, all of which lead to a need for professional care (Statistikportal. de 2018). The World Alzheimer Report 2016 (Prince et al. 2016: VW) states that 47 million people are currently living with dementia worldwide, and estimates that the number will in-crease to 131 million by 2025. Around ten million people live with dementia in Eu-rope and Austria alone. Cases of dementia are expected to double by 2050 (Sütterlin et al. 2011; Höfler et al. 2015). People with dementia also experience social stigma. Ordinary tasks such as shopping and running errands, but also traveling to unknown places, usually become exceedingly difficult for people with dementia. Memory loss is accompanied by visual and hearing impairment. This often leads to a complete withdrawal from society so as to avoid both rejection and embarrassment.

THE RESEARCH PROJECT 
DEMENTIA. ARTS. SOCIETY.
Since 2009 the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has offered funding for artistic re-search in Austria (PEEK).  “Dementia. Arts. Society.” (D.A.S.) was awarded funding in 2016 with the objective of instigating art and design strategies that could positively change both the public perception of  dementia and the individual circumstances of people with dementia as well as their caregivers. People who do not have dementia should be enabled to empathize with people living with dementia via changes to their own sensual perceptions. Concepts for art works and design products, interactive social processes, per-formative interventions and other creative tools are being developed to empower the autonomy and self-esteem of people who have been diagnosed with dementia, offering support for their greater participation in society. Wide-ranging methods and techniques are applied in workshops and research: observing, dwelling, interacting with people with dementia as well as their caregivers; expert discussions and design strategies; narrative drawing, photography, video, and interventions via specific objects in public spaces, and much more. Art and design strategies offer new perspectives on dementia at a time when social policy, therapy, care and medicine are reaching their limits. Overall, D.A.S. proposes new and innovative forms of dealing with challenges that arise with dementia.

CONCLUSION
Dementia. Arts.Society. offers various ways for art and design to positively impact people living with dementia and those who are not. People with dementia share their resources with people without dementia, and this creates empathy and awareness. Where social policies, therapies, care and medicine reach their limits, art and design strategies aim to open up new perspectives for people living with dementia in regard to their own capabilities and their situation within the social environment. Workshops allow for diverse individual experiences; these are disseminated and shared with caregivers, designers, family members and engaged people and conference attendees, including those who are “simply curious.” Finally, it is important to remember that peoples’ capabilities and needs change over time and their support strategies need to be adapt-ed accordingly. Caregivers too need time for themselves, and our society needs to realize that we all experience situations of confusion even without any illness being diagnosed: we all need empathy and re-spect in precarious situations.

EXHIBITION DEMENTIA ARTS SOCIETY

Politics of Fear Collective

Politics of Fear consists of a series of interventions in public spaces. The project is an explorative artistic research-based survey, that visualizes and negotiates current fears and concerns of people, and tries to collectively overcome them by creating interactions, links and common ground, as well as by listening as political a(rt)ction, listening as artistic research (LAR).

PoF collective approaches people of the city with actions in public to discuss and collect fears not without humor and with the help of various materials, that work as vehicles of communication. Emotions, outspoken, objectified or written down, are becoming part of an exhibition, a base for discussion and can then be negotiated, contextualized and mediated to explore different strategies of fear deconstruction to avoid their exploitation.

In a further participatory process with passersby, the project aims to create social spaces that stimulate interpersonal interactions, facilitating the deconstruction of fears through the emergence of new points of contact and through exchange.

The seminar Politics of Fear was initiated by Ruth Mateus-Berr. In succession a collective was founded.

socialdesign.ac.at/politics-of-fear/

pofcollective@uni-ak.ac.at

Personal Curator

is a technical solution for customized art and culture education for groups of students from schools, young and elderly visitors and people with special needs in museums & fluxguide (Kasra & Andre Serafi, Luise Reitstätter)
(Projectresearch)

Clean tech startups / smart energies (Seminar)

Cooperation with the University of Economy and Business Vienna, Institute for strategic management.
Wolfgang Sachsenhofer, design. PHD
Mag. Albrecht Karlusch
Dr. Nina Hampl
 

Science Center Activities in context of medicine

Science Center Netzwerk
 

Silence – Design of two meditation/learning/praying rooms

for students & Prof. Anton Falkeis
for Akademikerhilfe Studentenunterstützungsverein Vienna & Archdiocese Vienna
(Projectresearch)
 

St. Anna Children's Hospital

collaborator of University of Vienna
Institute for Scientific Computing, Theory and Practice of Subject Didactics; Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Helmut Hlavacs, Head of Research Group; Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Karin Anna Hummel and
science Dept. stem cell transplant of St. Anna Children's hospital:
Dr. Anita Lawitschka, Dr. Barbara Brunnmair; T-Systems
(Projectresearch)

Ludwig Boltzmann Institut for Human Rights

Dr. Patricia Hladschik
(Projectresearch)
 

Visuality & Mathematics:
Experiential Education of Mathematics through Visual Arts

Sciences and Playful Activities & Universities in Finnland, Hungary, Serbia and Belgium
collaborator (EU-Tempus: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/tempus/index_en.php)
(Projectresearch)
 

Art Lector is a transmedial technical solution for customized art

and culture education for groups of students from schools, young and elderly visitors and people with special needs in museums & fluxguide
(ZIT: Technology Agency of the City of Vienna).
Michaela Götsch, Fares Kayali, Kasra & Andre Serafi, Tomáš Mikeska
(Projectresearch)
 

Slowenia, Schoolnetwork

Mag.a. Maria Dörfler, Mag.a. Gerda Sengstbratl, Mag.a. Florian Mayer

 

CAUCULT

Cultural Key Personel from Aserbaidshan, Armenia, Georgia
Tatia Skhirtladze
(Project, Armenia)

Multisensual Design research for a polyphon oikos,

reception hall. For archdiocese Vienna
(Projectresearch)

Traces of Sweden in Austria

collaborator of University of Vienna: o. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sven Rossel, Head of the Department of European and Comparative Literature and Language Studies, University of Vienna, Vicepresident of the Austrian-Swedish Society; Dipl.Ing. Dr. tech. Ingela Bruner President of the Austrian-Swedish Society, Swedish Embassy.(Projectresearch)

PlayDecide

for blind and elderly people /Science & Art). EU funded
collaborator Science Center Netzwerk, (PlayDecide EU-Microfund): CEO Dr. Barbara Streicher
(Projectresearch)

Social-Design - medical communication processes

collaborator of University of Vienna
Institute for Scientific Computing, Theory and Practice of Subject Didactics; Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Helmut Hlavacs, Head of Research Group; Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Karin Anna Hummel and
science Dept. stem cell transplant of St. Anna Children's hospital:
Dr. Anita Lawitschka, Dr. Barbara Brunnmair; T-Systems
(Projectresearch)

Man wird doch wohl noch träumen dürfen

collaborator of Prof. Dr. Herbert Lachmayer / Daponte Institute / Schulschiff Bertha von Suttner
(Projectresearch)

maths goes design, design goes maths

collaborator of University of Technology (Discrete Mathematics: ao. Univ.-Prof. Dipl. Ing. Dr. techn. Reinhard Winkler), math.space / MQ: ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Rudolf Taschner, University of Vienna (Department of Education and Human Development: Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Ilse Schrittesser, Dr. Eva Sattlberger, Dr. Eveline Christof)
(Projectresearch)

Haptic and  Olfactory Design for Viennas Creative Industries

collaborator of Institute of Pharmacy/Vienna, Institute of Philosophy, Vienna, Institute of University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences/Vienna;
Granted of WWTF (Vienna Science & Technology Fonds)
(Projectresearch)

Communication Lab

Collaborator of Science Center Netzwerk, CEO Dr. Barbara Streicher
Granted of WWTF (Vienna Science & Technology Fonds)
(Projectresearch)

Kunst im Focus der Sinne

Synästhesien Dr. phil. Mag. art Ruth Mateus-Berr 26.1.2006 / ELAk, Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien

Betreuungslehrerin für FAP/UP, Universität Wien

Klangdinge: Dinge, die Klänge machen/Things that make Sounds; GoSno

collaborator of University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Comp. Edelweiser
(Projectresearch)

I-Sinne / interdisciplinary senses

& Igor Lintz-Maués, Franz Pomassl
collaborator of University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Academy of fine Arts, Vienna
(Projectresearch)

E.G., WITH INDUSTRY, TRADE AND BUSINESS LIFE:

2020 interdisciplinary Design Thinking lecture with Helga Kromp-Kolb, Herbert Formeyer, Thomas Schinko u.a. 


2020 Interdisciplinary cooperation with the Natural History Museum Vienna to design ideas for Deck 50

2019 contract with the Elisabethinen, the emerging biggest palliative center in Europe for art & design tasks. Developping ideas for the entrace in collaboration with Arch. Ding. Dieter Wall mann 


2016—2019 Invitations at Janssen Stiftung. Pharmaceutical department of Johnson & Johnson, one of the biggest suplier of health products of the world, for supervising interdisciplinary colla boration. http://www.janssen.com/austria/ 


2016 Competition 40 years oft he company MAM: https://www.mambaby.com/shop/us_int/ 


2016 Collaboration with the Museum of Applied Arts Vienna: Design Education for and with 
refugees 


2015 Invitation for an Applied Design Thinking LAB for NASA Space Apps Challenge 


2015 Collaboration with the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Institute for for Ent 
repreneurship and Innovation, strategic management to collaborate within the seminar: Clean tech start ups/ smart energies. Conference a paper about the project, which combined Applied Design Thinking strategies with Lean start-up methods and developed the AD Canvas method in an interdisciplinary context, where design is implemented at the beginning of a business canvas. 


2012—2016 The project INTERACCT (described above): INTegrating Entertainment and Reaction Assessment into Child Cancer Therapy & University of Vienna, St. Anna Children Cancer Research Center Institute, was realized in cooperation with the industry partner T-Systems. T-Systems is a German global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Frankfurt. Founded as a WASTE support, it is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. They investigated 200.000€ into the project. 


2014—2017 Cooperation with Academic Support Austria and Archdiocese Vienna as pastoral responsibility for artists since 2013 (Third party funding) 


2015 personal.curator (described above): in cooperation with FLUXGUIDE 


2013 Art Lector (described above): in cooperation with FLUXGUIDE, young creative who 
managed to start their own business throughout the project. 


2004 Cooperation with Volkshilfe: http://www.montagmoebel.

DMA 2019 Design Innovation Management, London, UK

https://designinnovationmanagement.com/design-events/ 
Role: Scientific Committee

 

DMA 2017 Research Perspectives on Creative Intersections, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, CHINA https://www.conftool.net/dma2017/index.php?page=browseAssignedPapers 
Role: Scientific Committee

 

Since 2018 Common Ground Research Networks https://cgnetworks.org/

 

2017 Teaching Artistic Research & Columbia University New York, USA
Role: Scientific Committee, Conference Organization, Book Editing

 

European Regional Conference INSEA 2016, (Art and Design Education in Times of Change) University of Applied Arts Vienna, AUSTRIA
Role: Scientific Committee, Conference Organization, Book Editing

 

DART 2014 Perspectives on Art Education, University of Applied Arts Vienna, AUSTRIA

Role: Scientific Committee, Conference Organization, Book Editing

 

Academic platform Teacher Education 2011-2017, AUSTRIA
Role: Chair, Board Member, Organization of Conferences, Book Editing

 

Olfaction and the City 2010, Vienna, AUSTRIA
Role: Scientific Committee, Conference Organization, Book Editing

 

The Skin of The City. Urban Tactile Design 2008, Vienna, AUSTRIA Role: Scientific Committee, Conference Organization, Book Editing

 

Lecture Series 2007-2011: Haptic & Olfactory Design, Vienna, AUSTRIA

Role: Scientific Committee, Conference Organization, Book Editing

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© 2025 Ruth Mateus-Berr

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