saai | iaas Wüstenrot Foundation Residencies

saai | iaas Wüstenrot Foundation Residencies

The saai as worksite

The saai | Archive for Architecture and Civil Engineering is one of the most important architecture collections in Germany. In addition to preserving extensive records (including Frei Otto, Egon Eiermann, Günter Behnisch, Günter Wilhelm, Myra Wahrhaftig, Friedrich Weinbrenner, Heinrich Hübsch), research content is made accessible and published as part of exhibition and publication projects. With the newly launched research center iaas | Center for International Architectural Archival Studies, research is now located within the saai itself. As archive for architectural and engineering works with estates of regional architects of international importance, the saai is at the same time material, toolkit and field of experimentation. The iaas makes use of this unique position in the saai archive utilizing the synergies of the interdisciplinary team and the links between analog and digital processes, from two-dimensional files to three-dimensional models, the time lapses of long-term storage to the speed of AI-controlled data acquisition, and from material restoration processes to digital erosion. The location of the saai at the KIT, a University of Excellence and Helmholtz research center, allows manifold links to the philosophy of science, computer science, engineering and, last but not least, architecture and art history; proximity to Karlsruhe’s other international institutions such as the ZKM (Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe) and its central location within Europe foster further connections

The Residency is a cooperation with the Wüstenrot Foundation. The Wüstenrot Foundation is committed to preserving, researching, and sharing cultural heritage, with a focus on material and immaterial assets. By supporting museums and collections, it helps uncover and make accessible hidden treasures from archives, including under-researched works and estates, particularly from the 20th century. This ensures their preservation and integration into public and academic memory through restoration, research, exhibitions, and publications.

Residents will be expected to work on site in the saai, to present their work in progress in a workshop with students and researchers, and to write a short report on their stay accompanied by visual material (i.e. from their work with the archive). The new saai podcast “Archive Gossip” will feature the residents’ research in one episode produced during their stay.

Call: 15 January 2025
Deadline for Application: 20 February 2025
Notification of Acceptance: 7 March 2025
Acceptance/Declining of Offer: 21 March 2025
Residency: Between 16 June – 25 July 2025 (3-6 weeks)

2025 Theme: Robust Fragilities? Systems of Knowledge in the Archive
This year the call addresses scholars with projects or case studies that investigate the question of architectural archives as places that lay the foundations for systems of knowledge. Archives as sites of collection and aggregation of materials and data offer the ideal approach to analysing how systems of knowledge in architecture are constructed. Archives are sites of information processing and material shuffling, constantly testing sustainable knowledge genesis and data practices in the tension between archival cycles and informational developments. They are both material deposits and informational hubs, in which objects and data (both accumulating and eroding) require innovative methodological approaches to long-duree processes. This year, the residents are asked to interrogate the the systems of knowledge archives create and consolidate, but also how materials resist existing systems and provoke new ones. Whether through accidental knowledge systems by affinity, material logic or planned cohesion, we are interested in moments that require cross-readings or that reveal system failures, gaps, or misalignments, be it material, aesthetic or informational.

What we offer:
·  A residency that will take place between June 16 and July 25 in Karlsruhe
·  The saai archive with its (partially still unprocessed) archival materials
·  A workplace in the saai
· Length of Stay between 3 to 6 weeks (please indicate your preferred duration in the cover letter)
·  Accommodation in the Gastdozentenhaus of the KIT
·  Travel costs to and from Karlsruhe
·  A stipend of up to 1500 EUR

What you submit:
·  A letter of motivation explaining how a stay at saai would benefit your research project and your preferred dates for your time in Karlsruhe (max. 1 page)
·  An abstract of your project that demonstrates the connection to the 2025 theme (max. 500 words)
·  CV (max. 3 pages)

Send Submissions to: stella gutwein ∂does-not-exist.kit edu

Contact/Information about the program: Prof. Dr. Anna-Maria Meister anna-maria meister ∂does-not-exist.kit edu / Dr. Doris Hallama doris.hallama@kit.edu