Research fields, Basel Academy of Art and Design

Our focus on (techno)ecologies and the need to think across disciplines and learn from each other involve close collaboration with the natural and technical sciences. Artistic methods can be expanded by those from the natural sciences, technical sciences, humanities, and social sciences, as well as non-academic fields—analogous to the trend toward transdisciplinarity in the arts and the need to cre-ate exploratory, process-based experimental set-ups and hands-on techniques. The methods, aes-thetics, and technologies used and appropriated are not simply adopted as neutral or new, but are criti-cally reflected upon and questioned in terms of their dispositive and ideologies as well as their aesthet-ic potential.

Communication and design are constantly evolving, driven in part by the ongoing advancement of digital technologies.

Visual communication and graphic design have an impressive history at the HGK Basel, which is explored at the IDCE from a critical perspective with regard to creative processes, teaching, and dissemination.

Aesthetics, that is, the fundamental artistic questions of sensory perception (aisthesis) on the one hand and of design/articulation and the semantics, ideologies, and knowledge conveyed by them on the other, is traditionally conceived from a modern human perspective.

Exploratory, practice-based research in design and art addresses our social world with creative, critical and diverse methods. It develops new perspectives, knowledge and opportunities for humane and ecologically responsible action, thereby contributing to social change.

The IDCE researches visual communication and digital communication environments that are of central importance for social participation, inclusion, and diversity in democratic societies.