9 days of architectural workshops in Vienna: the Vienna Architecture Summer School (VAS²) is an independent learning space for students, graduates and drop-outs in architecture or any other related discipline. Away from established hierarchies of universitary structures, we aim for exchange and negotiation of knowledges beyond dominating institutions and mainstream discourses.

What is VAS²?

The Vienna Architecture Summer School (VAS²) aims to provide an open learning space and prototypical infrastructure for exchange and negotiation of knowledges in architecture, reaching beyond dominating institutions and mainstream discourses. The second edition of the VAS² invites local and international participants to exchange with young architects and established experts all practising in and beyond Vienna.

The program is based on diverse approaches and ideas, that are to be discussed in different formats and media: design-workshops, lectures, theory-sessions, discussions, walks, explorations, site-visits, performances. We seek to develop alternative models and approaches for education and design in architecture that are equally shaped by organisers, participants and guests.

The call for participation is open to students, graduates and drop-outs in architecture and other related disciplines, willing to engage with space-related topics, peers and invited guests in a common workshop setting complemented by lectures, excursions and gatherings.

Time
2-10 September 2023

Location
Augasse 2-6, 1090 Wien @ Kulturzentrum 4lthangrund

Program
VAS² is a 9-day full-time program. Participants can apply for one of the proposed workshops. The week starts with a welcome event on September 2 and is complemented by daily lectures, a joint excursion and a public closing event on September 10.

Language
Workshops and lectures will be held in English. All other languages are welcome to be shared informally.

Fee
The Summer School fee (180€) includes a welcome dinner and specific workshop materials. Participants are expected to organise and pay for their own travel and accommodation. We know: We ask you for a lot of money and effort. But: VAS² is a self-organised summer school without a big institution in the background. We can offer you such a level of professionalism and autonomy only with your participation fee. Nevertheless, we are happy to assist you with planning your stay.

Application
Applicants are asked to send an email with a brief introduction about themselves (2-3 sentences) and the title of the workshop they would like to attend, as well as a 2nd and 3rd priority. Please send your application ︎no later than 31st of July 2023. As soon as we receive your application via email we will get back to you immediately. Please note that the number of participants is limited.

After the closing of the open call (July 31, 2023), all confirmed participants will be informed about the workshop to which they have been accepted. We would like to mention that we are not able to guarantee a slot in the workshop of first choice. Nevertheless, we will respect your named priorities as much as possible.

Saturday 2.9.

CONCRETE WONDER
A Performance by Claudia Bosse with PPS Public Performance School / theatercombinat

With CONCRETE WONDER, the artist and choreographer Claudia Bosse, together with the participants of PUBLIC PERFORMANCE SCHOOL extended, develops a performance of various formations and structures on the concrete surfaces of the former university of economics. Performative organisms emerge among the bodies involved, the architectural structure, and the pioneer plants, which find their way through the sealed ground. The performance is a walkable collective practice as an invocation of “other” spaces.

PPS is an intergenerational school initiated by theatercombinat with amateurs and artists for the continuous exploration and learning of performative practices.

The PPS, which has been in existence since autumn 2021, is led by Claudia Bosse and brings together people between the ages of 20 and 80 in a continuous constellation every two months. PPS experiments with bodies, voices, and spaces, making them resonate with choreographic tools and linguistic interventions. The PUBLIC PERFORMANCE SCHOOL extended opens annually to interested individuals with an expanded program and public performance. This is the first cooperation between PUBLIC PERFORMANCE SCHOOL and the Architecture Summer School.

Claudia Bosse. In landscapes, architectures, or urban spaces, Claudia Bosse’s site-specific works create poetic subversions between installation, choreography, theater, social rituals, and forms of assembly. In her artistic condensations, she deals with myths, forms of violence, concrete utopias, and ecological thinking.

Theatercombinat is a nomadic production organism for internationally produced independent art and theater works under the direction of the artist and choreographer Claudia Bosse. Theatercombinat collaborates both within and outside Europe on site-specific collaborations with various institutions, initiatives, and artists.