WDC-Campus

Campus Festival

To kick off the dreams, ideas & prototypes exhibition, the WDC Campus will transform the Museum Angewandte Kunst and the Metzlerpark into a hub for connection, debate, and dialogue. Featuring music, artistic interventions, lectures, workshops, and panel discussions, the festival opens up diverse pathways into the exhibition's core themes and invites visitors to explore future questions together.

Friday, 3 July | Opening Day

dreams – the power of visions

From 14:00 | Soft Opening At the Museum Angewandte Kunst and the adjacent Metzler Park.
HFG Radio Music Collective: A relaxed live mix of jazz, beats, and funk throughout the afternoon.

15:00 | "We’ve made it" Get-together for the makers, exhibitors, and partners.

16:00 – 17:30 | The Visibility of Emerging Designers How do design awards work? What are their limitations, and why are they crucial for the visibility of emerging designers? Panel discussion featuring representatives from nine design awards: German Design Graduates (Katrin Krupka), Deutscher Designer Club (Michael Menge), Mia Seeger Foundation (Stefan Lippert), Art Directors Club (Frane Skaro), aed neuland (Olaf Barski), RIMOWA (Mahret Ifeoma Kupka), Hessen Design (Prof. Annette Bertsch), New Talent Award for Circular Design (Anette Lang), and Red Dot (Lena Wohlfahrt).

17:30 | Performance By students from the Offenbach University of Art and Design (HfG), led by Prof. Kerstin Cmelka.

17:45 | University Preview A gathering of representatives from numerous universities across Hesse: bringing together everyone from students to university presidents, and everyone in between.

OFFICIAL OPENING EVENT

18:30 | Doors Open At the WDC Hub, Foyer of the Museum Angewandte Kunst.

From 19:00 | Welcome Address by the WDC Campus Team Julia Klass · Corinna Gratzl · Jonathan Kuhlmann · Greta Roters · Joshua Moos

Welcome from the State of Hesse Timon Gremmels, Hessian State Minister for Science and Research, Arts and Culture

WDC Talk * Welcome remarks:

• Carolina Romahn, CEO of World Design Capital FrankfurtRheinMain 2026
• Dorothée Bolade, Membership Engagement Manager, World Design Organization
• Dr Ina Hartwig, City Councillor and Deputy Mayor for Culture and Science, Frankfurt am Main
• Prof. Roland Lambrette, Design FRM gGmbH, WDC Campus
• From 20:00 | Joint Inaugural Walkthrough of the Exhibition Spaces and Park Numerous project creators will be stationed by their exhibits to provide insights and answer questions.

20:30 | Prof. Dr Matthias Schmitt, Geisenheim University Sparkling Wine and Design – Form, Function, Physics?! An interactive lightning talk and sparkling wine tasting (while stocks last).

20:30 – 22:00 | Campus Summer Evening Bars open, with culinary delights provided by the Emma Metzler restaurant.
Sound performance by students from the Trossingen University of Music, led by Prof. Florian Käppler, followed by the opening of the dancefloor.

Saturday, 4 July | Networking Day
ideas – dialogue as a driver for change

10:00 | Hesse Creative Industries Report 2025 Presentation at the WDC Campus, featuring a welcome address by the WDC Campus team.

10:10 | Welcome Address by Hessen Agentur Presentation of the design and key metrics regarding the creative economy. Speeches by Kaweh Mansoori (Hessian Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport, Housing and Rural Areas and Deputy Prime Minister) alongside industry representatives.

12:30 | Curators’ Tour A guided tour of the dreams, ideas & prototypes exhibition, accompanied by a commentary from the exhibition curators.

13:50 – 19:00 | Lightning Talks & Discussions 12 short presentations (20 minutes each) by students and professors from partner universities, as well as collaborators, followed by a Q&A session. Featuring:
Interval / Break

• Ineke Hans, The Power of Design, Berlin University of the Arts
• Dorothée Bolade, WDO, Engaging and Connecting Members, WDO
• Ming Zhong presents Hunan University and reports on the ten-year-long collaboration with Pforzheim University, referencing the EU "Right to Repair" legislation.
• Marija Miloshevska Janakieska & Alexandra Ristovka, International Balkan University (IBU), focusing on departments in architecture, visual communication, and the redesign of public spaces.
• Students from Skopje (Part 2 of the presentation)
• Enes Pavlukovic, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, The Algorithm Times
• Sebastian Oschatz / Nico Munkler, MARA students, and Seung / Kookmin University
• FUTURY Start-ups à la Rhein-Main
• Nicolas König & Lewis Horkulak (820), ETH Zurich, A Fish Odyssey
• Andreas Lang & Tilman Gebauer (ttal) with Christian Gäth (Earthbound), Sola, and Earthbound
• Laurin Böhm, Design Academy Eindhoven, Flössern–in fluent
• Nina Jäcker, Offenbach University of Art and Design, Offen-Bach
• Shantel: How Does Diversity Sound Like?
• Sound performance by students of Prof. Florian Käppler (Introduction)
• Stefan Weil: How Do I, as a Designer, Get Into Music?

Parallel Events

14:00 – 17:00 | Campus Film 1.0 A selection of short films exploring the themes of dreams, ideas & prototypes (Lecture Hall, Lower Ground Floor).

18:00 – 21:00 | Campus Film 2.0 A continuation of selected short films on the festival themes (Lecture Hall, Lower Ground Floor).

20:00 – 22:30 | Evening Programme Bars open, featuring live music and DJs.

Sunday, 5 July | Perspectives Day
prototypes – turning ideas into reality

11:00 – 13:30 | Short Lectures & Performances

• Holger Kleine / Dichterturm zu Straßburg / Poetry Slam
• Valerio Sampognaro, HFBK Hamburg, Aerodomestics
• Prof. Stephanie Eberding
• Lara Marie Walter, RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, Everybodies – the body in capitalism
• Laurin Emmerich, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, numa
• Prof. Florian Käppler, Noise, Sound, Tone, Music

14:00 – 18:00 | Workshops: What can we do? What must we change?

• Workshop 1: Democratisation in Higher Education. What needs to be democratised in universities, and what shouldn't be? What should participation in university governance look like in an era of shrinking student numbers and declining budgets? How can design help navigate this?
• Workshop 2: Bridging the Gap. How can higher education institutions be seamlessly and permanently linked with innovation drivers in business and research?
• Workshop 3: Curriculum Design. What would seminar modules look like that actively embed the UN Sustainable Development Goals into the curriculum, and which guest lecturers are needed to achieve this?

18:30 | Closing Event A final retrospective of the past three days featuring photos and videos of key highlights, alongside personal and official closing statements.