Programme Head / Course Head / Mentor
Aljosa Dekleva (b. 1972) graduated at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana and Architectural Association DRL (M.Arch with distinction) in London (2002). At the AA he co-founded +RAMTV. Since 2003 he co-directs ‘dekleva gregoric architects’, an architectural pratice based in Ljubljana, pursuing the concept of research by design and design by research with the aim to challenge the obvious.
With Tina Gregoric he was curating the Slovenian national pavilion at Venice Biennale 2016. He was guest professor at École d’architecture de l’Université de Montréal, ENSAPVS in Paris and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – Faculty of Architecture.
He and Tina Gregoric held 2019’s Frank Ghery International Visiting Chairs in Architectural Design at the John H. Daniel’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.

www.dekleva-gregoric.com

Course Head / Mentor
Aline Lara Rezende is a curator, designer and journalist. Together with Thomas Geisler she curated the 26th Biennial of Design, BIO 26 – Common Knowledge held in Ljubljana from 14.11.2019 to 9.2.2020. Previously she worked with Paola Antonelli at MoMA, New York, in the pioneer department, known as MoMA R&D –a curatorial driven initiative that, among other objectives, explores the potential and responsibility of museums as public actors, with the vision of establishing cultural institutions as the R&D departments of society. She has worked for The National Art Center, Tokyo; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; the Sao Paulo Biennale; and collaborated with the Vitra Design Museum. She is the co-founder of SALOON Wien, a network for women working in the arts in Vienna. As a journalist, she writes critically on the crossroads of design and cultural shifts for various international outlets.

www.bio26.si

www.saloon-wien.at

Course Coordinator / Mentor
Jakob Travnik (b.1991) graduated in architecture from University of Applied Arts Vienna, Institute of Architecture (Mag. Arch. with distinction). Participated and exhibited at BIO25 Biennial of Design in 2017. Former Designer in Residence at Atelier Luma, Luma Arles, France. Currently PhD candidate and educator on the topic of nanotourism at TU Vienna, Research Unit for Architectural Typology and Design, Vienna, Austria.

www.gbl.tuwien.ac.at

Course Coordinator / Mentor
Amanda Sperger currently works as a student assistant at the TU Technical University in Vienna, Austria and is student of Social Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. She has several years of experience taking part in hands-on architecture workshops, setup of exhibitions and project publications.

www.gbl.tuwien.ac.at

Thomas Geisler
Austrian design curator and cultural producer Thomas Geisler curated international exhibitions for the Vienna Biennale (2015 and 2017), London Design Biennale (2016 and 2018), Vitra Design Museum, and many others. He is the director of the Museum of Decorative Arts – Dresden State Art Collections (SKD). Before that he was the director of the Werkraum Bregenzerwald – the crafts and trade initiative of the Bregenzerwald region – where he was leading exhibitions and other initiatives, overlapping innovative craftsmanship, design and architecture. He was also the curator and head of the Design Collection at the MAK Vienna. He played a pivotal role in establishing the Victor J. Papanek Foundation at the University for Applied Arts Vienna and is a co-founder of Vienna Design Week. Recently he curated the 26th Biennial of Design in Ljubjlana , Slovenia: BIO 26 ‘Common Knowledge’ together with Aline Lara Rezende.

www.kunstgewerbemuseum.skd.museum
www.bio.si
www.viennadesignweek.at

Tina Gregorič

graduated at Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana and Architectural Association DRL (M.Arch with distinction) in London (2002). At the AA she co-founded +RAMTV. In 2003 she co-founded the architectural practice ‘dekleva gregoric architects’. Since 2014 she is full-professor and Head of the Research Unit for Architectural Typology and Design, Institute of Architecture and Design, Vienna University of Technology, Austria.

www.dekleva-gregoric.com
www.gbl.tuwien.ac.at

Hanna Facchinelli
is project manager of the Social Design format „Stadtarbeit“ at VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, where is involved in finding and assisting projects that are highlighting solutions for social structure, as well as urban and coexistence challenges. She is currently finishing her Master degree in „Arts and Cultural Management“ at die angewandte, Vienna and has a European Law degree, with a specialization in „Art, Law and Policy Making“, at the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, NL and completed numerous intercultural courses at Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago de Chile.

www.viennadesignweek.at

Gabu Heindl
is an architect, urbanist and activist; her Vienna based practice GABU Heindl Architektur focuses on public space, collective housing, urban justice. She leads the Diploma Unit Master, AA | Architectural Association, London, UK (since 2019) and is Visiting Professor at Sheffield University (since 2018). Gabu holds a Postgraduate Master in Architecture and Urbanism from Princeton University (as Fulbright Scholar) and wrote her Doctor of Philosophy on radical democracy in architecture and urban planning at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She is member of numerous design advisory boards in Austria, editor of the 2019 published book „Building Critique“ and author of the recently published book „Stadtkonflikte Radikale Demokratie in Architektur und Stadtplanung“.

www.gabuheindl.at

Lilli Hollein
is the directress of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and works as a curator and journalist for architecture and design. As an author she has contributed to numerous books, catalogues and juries.

She was commisioner of Austrias participation at the 7th Architecture Biennial in Sao Paulo „feld72 – urbanism for sale“ in 2007, and president of the ‘Art in Public Space in Vienna’ (KÖR) jury from 2010–2013.

Lilli Hollein studied Psychology at the University of Vienna and Industrial Design at Vienna´s University for Applied Arts. Together with T. Beyerle und T. Geisler as the „Neigungsgruppe Design“, they initiated the conferences „D06 – Zeitzonen“ 2006 and „D07 – Die Mitte“ 2007 and founded VIENNA DESIGN WEEK in 2007.

www.viennadesignweek.at

mischer‘traxler studio
Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler and Team are a Viennese design studio with a focus on experiments, context and conceptual thinking they develop and design products, furniture, installations and more. Balancing between handcraft and technology, the studio envisions whole systems, new production methods and kinetic or interactive installations that question topics, tell stories or open up new ways of doing things. By using their outcomes as means of communication, the studio tries to show that Design can be functional, good and beautiful not just in objects but as well in the ideas they represent. Projects by mischer’traxler are regularly displayed in exhibitions on contemporary Design and Art worldwide and were already on show in Museums such as the Cooper Hewitt in New York, Design Museum Holon, Boijmans van Boiningen, Design Museum London, Triennale Milano, Mudac Lausanne and more or to be found in permanent collections of MAK Vienna, Art institute Chicago, Vitra Design Museum and British Design Council, among others.

www.mischertraxler.com

mostlikely
combines architecture, computer graphics and design. The projects vary from buildings to art installations, from videos to product designs, whereas boundaries between branches are free flowing. Among their different working methods and formats ‚the sudden workshop‘ is a tool for the collective reactivation of the city‘s unused spaces. Since 2015, it has set up installations throughout Vienna and sites all over Austria. They encourage participants to collaboratively design, build and dream – aiming for new, cooperative uses of public space. In their latest research project mostlikely explores the power and potentials of new public typologies. The so called common space typologies are an extension to existing public infrastructure, questioning our current use of space.

www.mostlikely.at

Gabriel Roland
is curator and project manager at VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. In addition to co-curating the festival’s ‘Passionswege’ format, which brings design and craft together, he is responsible for many of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK's international cooperations, including the yearly ‘Guest Country’. He has a background in textile design as well as fashion and art writing.

www.viennadesignweek.at

Petra Stolba
has been CEO of the Austrian National Tourist Office since 2006. She holds a Doctor’s Degree in Political Science and Master Degrees in Public Relations & Communication Science and in Business Administration with focus on Tourism and Small and Medium-Sized Operations. She worked as tour guide, organized a group travel section of a subsidiary of Österreichisches Verkehrsbüro, headed the Austrian Convention Bureau, was Advertising & Marketing Division Manager for an Austrian Provincial Tourist Board (NÖ Werbung), Division Manager for National Tourism Politics in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy and Labour and she headed the Tourism and Leisure Time Division of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.