IMMERSION was an amazing and very successful Virtual Reality Show by Klasse Kartak at the Festival of the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Students created 22 VR experiences for the Oculus Quest 2. Visitors had their own experiences there and when they resurfaced and someone asked them, »What happened?« they told their story. VR projects were developed on Unity and Mozilla Hubs platforms.

»We seek the same feeling from a psychologically immersive experience that we do from a plunge in the ocean or swimming pool: the sensation of being surrounded by a completely other reality, as different as water is from air, that takes over all of our attention, our whole perceptual apparatus.«

Angewandte Building at Oskar-Kokoschka-Platz, Vienna

Angewandte Building at Vordere Zollamtsstraße, Vienna

Promotional Images for the Angewandte Festival 2022. Angewandte Building at Postsparkasse Otto Wagner, Vienna

Original Concept by Winona Hudec, Simon Hundsbichler

3D Imagery by Winona Hudec

Re-Animate Vienna is a 47min Projection Mapping Show. The Location is the Flaktower at Augarten in the 2nd district. This Tower, with a height of 42 meters, is one of six large reinforced concrete defense and protection structures in Vienna, built between 1942 and 1945 as huge air raid shelters with mounted anti-aircraft guns and fire control systems.

21 Students created digital animations in Cinema 4D and TouchDesigner to transform this monument, that reminds of the destruction and pain of war, into a radiant sign of live. Soundtrack created by the Austrian composer Lukas Koenig. Artistic supervision by Prof. Oliver Kartak, Katharina Uschan, Christian Schlager. Projection Mapping, Software Support, Artistic Support by Jakob Hütter, Jakob Figo @handmitauge.com. Projection Technology by Gerald Heribauer @4youreye-projection.design.

Projection Visuals (in order of appearance): Burcu Erbay, Winona Hudec, Zoe Guggenbichler, Julia Winkler, Matthias Schöllhorn, Osvald Rasmussen, Marlene Kager, Mirjam Lingitz, Aliya Nurgaliyeva, Dominik Einfalt, Anaïs Eriksson, Malin Hoff, Bemir Bilalic, Annija Česka, Laura Burtscher, Maria Rudakova, Verena Repar, Elizaveta Kruchinina, Sebastian Lou, Philip Kosak, Maximilian Prag.

The pandemic has shaped our lives. Media and their images bear witness to unemployment, economic crisis, illness, death tolls, triage, vaccination strategies, and public protests. We all also live with feelings of fear, uncertainty about the future ahead, and social longing. Therefore, in the summer of 2021 we realized a wallgallery in Vienna that will serve our own revitalization as well as the revitalization of our city and its people. Location: Lobkowitztunnel, linke Wienzeile, 1150 Wien

What if designers no longer want to solve problems? What if they prefer to cause trouble? If they prefer to offer new problems in response to problems? If they are pessimists or cynics? If they are out to spoil the game for others and spit in their soup?

The exhibition of Kartak’s class at the University of Applied Arts deals with the theme „The Designer as Troublemaker / Der Designer als Unruhestifter“ and shows projects in a mixture of static, interactive and audiovisual media, performances, interventions and installations.

by Mirjam Lingitz & Sebastian Lou

The Western Consumers’ Collective (WCC) has always been the driving force behind the economic growth of emerging nations. We create jobs, even for the youngest, we provide employment, even for the elderly, and we make sure everybody earns a full minimum wage.

We aim to disperse disreputable claims that the so-called »fast fashion industry« may have a negative impact on its workforce. Because those big smiles say it all, don’t you agree?

by Ludwig Pfeiffer

The classic board game has taught generations to suppress, rather than express, their anger. But there are plenty of reasons to be angry. Life is unfair!

All boards in the series violate the conformity of the determinist world of the orig- inal game. With twelve modified versions, players cannot rely (solely) on their “luck.” In the game as in real life, one person’s pain is another person’s gain. Guaranteed to frustrate players of all ages!

by Julia Winkler & Andreas Palfinger

Am I realizing my full potential? Am I good enough? Have I wasted too much time? Should I have done things differently? Am I truly the best version of myself that I can be?

OPRES is an innovative system for the human resource management of big companies and a psychological tool to increase one’s own performance. In reality, however, it was designed to make users doubt themselves in everything they do. The predictive abilities of artificial intelligence trigger human feelings, such as fear of failure, helplessness and powerlessness. OPRES puts us in a hamster wheel of performance boosting and keeps pushing us on relentlessly in the race for success.

by Ludwig Pfeiffer

The iconic blue cylinder shows a lonely bear without the familiar colorful bubbles. Inside the plastic bottle, the characteristic red ring is missing from its stem, which now resembles a chewed lolly stick that is dipped into a gooey mixture. If you blow, all you’ll get is stains. No cheerful colors, no lovely bubbles. No short, weightless moment of transient beau- ty. Pustenix is a slap in the face of all dreamers. A pessimistic product — bottled lost dreams that haven’t even had time to burst.

A film by Maria Rudakova, Maximilian Prag, Marlene Kager, Lisa-Marie Leitgeb

The documentary Better NOT portrays a designer defying all norms. NOT is what we all can call a successful creative professional: living off his work for big-name brands, whilst not losing his moral compass. His unconventional approach of “not doing design” sparks interest, but also scepticism. NOT doesn’t shy away from working with corporations. His professional skills are not used for creating PR, but for initiating internal change, that tackles the problem of overproduction and overconsumption.

by Ludwig Pfeiffer

Three authentic play mats show places where hardly anybody would like to go, even in their imagination: The Austrian border, a never-ending roundabout with no connection and a multi-lane motorway junction.

How do you play driving (or cops and robbers) when the barrier is down at the border? Will you get dizzy in the never-ending roundabout? Where can we change lanes in this complex mesh of motorways that seems simply unmanageable, even from above?

by Ludwig Pfeiffer

The rewritten new edition of the Conni series is a work of fan fiction. It uses biting humor and exaggeration to dismantle the lightheartedness with which the charac- ters in the picture book world manage their lives. All issues in the new series —Conni forgets how to swim /Conni doesn’t get a cat / Conni’s camping nightmare — end tragically.

During this one week workshop by StudioSpass, students imagined a facade for their own invented product in a speculative shopping street. The facade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building and its identity. At the same time a facade can also imply a false appearance . The workshop was a  fun ride to research and investigate the future of this format and was an exploration into diverse ways of working with spatial graphic design.

We used several design steps including the element of surprise, collaborative exercises and a lottery game to playfully get to a selection of shapes for each participant. These shapes were then turned into new products with a story and a small visual identity. Next phase was an exploration to create a big amount of different spatial output and prototypes from the visual identity elements. 

After a product pitch all participants received the keys to their property in the street and could start working on their final assignment, a facade for their products concept store. On the final day the street was officially opened and a collaborative street identity was also revealed.

London-born Tonica Hunter has been living in Vienna since 2014 and is an independent curator for discourse formats, music, and performance as well as visual arts. 

Her projects focus on artists with diverse backgrounds and usually tackle topics such as the redefinition of social space, inclusion, intersectionality, and access to art and culture. In 2022 Tonica held a 3-day workshop in our class.

Dinamo is a Swiss type design agency offering retail and bespoke typefaces, design software, research, and consultancy. In May 2021 Johannes Breyer and Elias Hanzer of Dinamo held a workshop with a focus on variable typefaces. Students used the Dinamo Font Gauntlet software to generate and animate their font designs.

Music by Scott Holmes Music, title: Stomps and Claps, https://www.scottholmesmusic.com

Florentina Holzinger, born 1986 in Vienna, is a choreographer and performer. All her works consciously play with the shifting boundaries between high culture and entertainment. She combines contemporary and classical dance with the related yet alien traditions of circus, acrobatics, Grand Guignol, body art and pornography.

In 2021 Florentina held a 3-day workshop in our class.

We are once again living in a time of intense global instability.

Social, political and economic systems are in turmoil. But the most radical change, the most fundamental transformation has taken place inside us and it generates massive insecurity. When there are no definite answers to the questions of the future we retreat into the apparent safety of the familiar. But consistence is an illusion. All temporal things, whether material or spiritual, are subject to continually changing states and form the eternal cycle of development and decline. Our exhibition traces this cyclical up and down via the states of fatigue, recovery and gain.

Catalogues describing all projects featured in the exhibition were available as handouts. Designed by Frances Stusche and Terézia Denková.

An installation about global warming and its relentless advance.

Ever since pre-industrial times global temperatures have been on the rise. Since enormous disasters don’t happen overnight, people tend to diminish the problem as something that will be taken care oftomorrow or the day after. Meanwhile the politicians whogovern our world, who make decisions that alter our lives, the ones whocan actually make a difference, are struggling to stay awake. 

They are sleeping or yawning through their press conferences and important meetings. They talk and talk and talk and talk about “finding” solutions while real action is nowhere to be seen. They are forgetting just one teeny tiny thing in their everlasting blabbering: our melting earth doesn’t sleep, doesn’t wait…

A repositioning of the pathology of depression.

The starting point of this work is the public image of antidepressants in a performance-oriented society in which weakness is a taboo. According to the World Health Organization depression will be the most common health issue in the world by 2030.

The installation repositions the image of the disease as a taboo at the other end of the spectrum of public perception: fan cult. This new extreme is not intended to serve as a solution but to encourage debate. Prozac stands for all antidepressants, as a well-known and notorious representative.

In a success-oriented society motivational and inspirational quotes have become a regular feature in our professional and private life, popping up in our newsfeed. Whether we always take them with a grain of salt or honestly feel inspired by them, they speak to a certain group of people who have the means to achieve success and well-being, but exclude groups of people whose life circumstances do not enable them to join the race for success.

An interactive allegory of our daily routine.

A crank activates several meshing cogwheels, each of which turns five times slower than the one before. The last wheel is attached to a needle that is about to prick a balloon.

Will you crank wildly to make it pop or will you think about how little of your energy reaches the end of the machine?

A life-sized board game about the consequences of careless pill consumption.

Will you be lucky and survive your consumption of pills or are you leading a healthy life, avoiding the risks that may kill you? How carelessly do we let ourselves be persuaded to take pills? How much do we know about their side effects? What is the pharmaceutical industry not telling us? Can we actually rely on being fully informed by our doctors or is it safer to trust our bodies? Which of your little ailments is so serious that it makes a doctor’s advice indispensable? Play the Game of Pills and try to finish it alive.

Sticker Dispenser in the exhibition, free to use for all visitors.

We want to be winners, the most beautiful, the most efficient, the most industrious, the most relaxed – it’s a competition of superlatives. But what happens if there is an infinite mass of the best and suddenly everybody is a winner?

An interactive utopia.

Individuals who have experienced little or no love in their development will for the most part act in an unloving and calculating manner in their later lives. They are lacking in their ability to experience emotions and in their emotional and social competence. Without an understanding of what affection feels like, their social actions are based on sober, calculating schemes and are executed without empathy, conscience or social responsibility.

These are characteristics of a dissocial and sociopathic personality. Deep Feeling lets artificial intelligence experience human affection to enable the growth of a social, feeling and loving AI.

This prototype of a computer input device is equipped with sensors that transmit human touch to the AI.

Excerpt: Chapter II (Labeling and Packaging), Article 8, 1: “Any packaging of a food product and any external packaging must carry warnings in accordance with this chapter in the official language(s) of the member state in which the product is distributed. With its entry into force the Directive 2018/40/EU will prevent consumer deception in mass-produced foods.”

To make sure this directive is implemented as quickly as possible, the European Parliament and Council now provide packaging extensions.

RIGOUR, the Research Institute for Global Oversight and Unilateral Recovery, is an independent think tank. Our mission is to help build a sustainable, just and balanced world.

Earth is experiencing severe problems caused by the effects of overpopulation. RIGOUR presents a policy to deal with this threat by means of reformed development aid on the basis of deliberate sterilization. Our policy goal is a sustainable quality of human life on a global scale for the benefit of all mankind.

Around the year 2050 the ecological situation of the world had reached a critical state. In 2061 a group of young people started a You-Tube channel and named it “I am human”. They promoted a “harmless” eco-friendly lifestyle – minimizing your impact on nature, and thereby rescuing it. Their channel attracted more than 6 million followers within the first year. But on October 21st 2063, five scandalous videos were uploaded to their channel. In each video a member of “I am human” committed suicide in front of a camera by taking an unidentified pill and speaking the same final words: “I am more than human.” Soon after that, copycat videos of young people from all over the world committing suicide spread on the internet.

Huge inflatable object depicting the logo of the show „ESSENCE 2018“, designed by Andreas Palfinger & Noah von Stietencron.

The slogan is a german wordplay and translates to „Backwards Shit – No Thank You“.

The students of the Class of Graphic Design explore situations and conditions that in today’s world are out of balance. The topics covered are climate change, health, sexuality, waste recycling, resource management and pollution, threats to democratic systems, distributive justice, migration and many more.

The show “Out Of Balance” presents various forms and interpretations of data visualizations, infographics, maps and user guides in collaboration with the design festival “Graphic Matters” in Breda, Holland.

Measurements open: 70 x 100 cm

“New Right” is the descriptive term of political right-wing and extreme right-wing movements and parties – and they are in vogue. Their goal: the authoritarian state; their path: destabilizing and transforming our democracies; their means: populism and disinformation.

Student: Andreas Palfinger

This guide provides 7 steps on how to transform a democratic system into dictatorship. The “New Right’s” guiding principles are translated into the design of this guide, implementing the dissolution of existing systems, progressive radicalization and network structures in layout, typography and imagery of each step. Reading the guide from back to front yields possible answers on how to restore democracy.

Student: Andreas Palfinger

We are able to significantly reduce emissions through our individual choices. On top of this, we need to change the system on a global level. Only if we join forces and put pressure on existing structures will we be able to live on this planet – as we know it – permanently (and at the same time meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals of 2015).

*CO2e is a measure that includes other greenhouse gases besides C02, taking into account their greenhouse gas potential.

Students: Dominik Einfalt, Noah von Stietencron

We are able to significantly reduce emissions through our individual choices. On top of this, we need to change the system on a global level. Only if we join forces and put pressure on existing structures will we be able to live on this planet – as we know it – permanently (and at the same time meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals of 2015).

*CO2e is a measure that includes other greenhouse gases besides C02, taking into account their greenhouse gas potential.

Students: Dominik Einfalt, Noah von Stietencron

With today’s technology it is possible to outsource mental tasks through apps. This form of externalization can benefit us by increasing our efficiency. But are there any consequences that could arise from our potential dependency on outsourcing? This holographic installation shows the parts and functions of our brain that are affected, both positively and negatively, by certain apps.

Students: Aliya Nurgaliyeva, Gao Di

What if the capitalistic aspect of citizenship by investment programs becomes a perk understood and used by many?

“Get Comfy” is a critical overview of the possibilities to obtain citizenships and the dynamics it creates once it’s a good of trade. Mapping the various citizenship by investment programs, this project questions how the value of citizenships is and will be perceived in the future, and encourages to rethink our global as well as personal relation to this issue.

Student: Carina Stella

What if the capitalistic aspect of citizenship by investment programs becomes a perk understood and used by many?
“Get Comfy” is a critical overview of the possibilities to obtain citizenships and the dynamics it creates once it’s a good of trade. Mapping the various citizenship by investment programs, this project questions how the value of citizenships is and will be perceived in the future, and encourages to rethink our global as well as personal relation to this issue.

Student: Carina Stella

Pornography is part of our society. It idealizes bodies, sexual behavior and sexual needs. In the end, porn leaves us with biased ideas and notions of intimacy and sexuality. In XXX Life we point out the surreality of stereotypical pornographic acts. We want to discuss how behavior and needs are influenced by what we see – an issue particularly relevant for young people who consume porn before having sex for the first time.

Students: Marion Müller, Julia Winkler

Pornography is part of our society. It idealizes bodies, sexual behavior and sexual needs. In the end, porn leaves us with biased ideas and notions of intimacy and sexuality. In XXX Life we point out the surreality of stereotypical pornographic acts. We want to discuss how behavior and needs are influenced by what we see – an issue particularly relevant for young people who consume porn before having sex for the first time.

Students: Marion Müller, Julia Winkler

In our modern society, we have come to take for granted the consumption of meat in particular. We are able to buy meat dishes on a daily basis while forgetting to think of the consequences our actions have. Our meat consumption has become so distorted and twisted that we have lost the perception of its true cost. The lightbox menu points out the excess availability by using a design style that is quite commonly recognized in our surroundings.

Students: Lisa-Marie Leitgeb, Jacopo Perico

In our modern society, we have come to take for granted the consumption of meat in particular. We are able to buy meat dishes on a daily basis while forgetting to think of the consequences our actions have. Our meat consumption has become so distorted and twisted that we have lost the perception of its true cost. The lightbox menu points out the excess availability by using a design style that is quite commonly recognized in our surroundings.

Students: Lisa-Marie Leitgeb, Jacopo Perico

from left

Student: Mandy Zaninovic

Student: Marlene Kager

Student: Annija Česka

Angewandte Festival 2022 IMMERSION – A Deep Dive Into Virtual Reality

Students: Anaïs Eriksson, Manu-Sophie Linder, Marlene Kager, Claus Wares

Angewandte Festival 2020

Students: Pauline Jocher, Maximilian Prag, Maris Nisu, Marlene Kager

Lecture Conny Runner, from left:

Student: Michael Niedermair

Student: Dominik Einfalt

Student: Di Gao

from left:

Student: Marianne Stålhös

Students: Sarah Borinato, Marianne Stålhös, Carina Stella, Photo by Mario Illic

Students: Andreas Palfinger, Noah von Stietencron

THE ESSENCE 2017

Students: Sara Borinato, Marion Müller, Marianne Stålhös

The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is Austria’s largest curated design festival. Since 2007, it has played host to around 200 events with 40,000 visitors. The focus of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is on the diverse creative output that makes up the qualities of the local design scene: product, furniture and industrial design, architecture, graphic and social design, as well as experimental and digital approaches. The festival works specifically to network local potential internationally, which is also reflected in the program.

Corporate Design by Mirjam Lingitz, Danbi Sung, Linda Reitmer

Corporate Design by Mirjam Lingitz, Danbi Sung, Linda Reitmer

Corporate Design by Bemir Bilalic, Sophie Schätzer, Jeroen Wijne

Corporate Design by Winona Hudec, Jonas Nath

Corporate Design by Anaïs Eriksson, Lisa Leitgeb

Corporate Design by Matthias Schöllhorn, Claus Wares

The management of the oncology ward of the General Hospital Vienna asked Klasse Kartak to create interior designs for their patients‘ rooms. Many cancer patients visit the ward every day to receive their treatments. In order to provide positive emotional support for these people in their emotionally stressed state, the students developed a large number of designs, that are currently awaiting realisation.

Student: Philip Kosak

Student: Philip Kosak

Student: Matthias Schöllhorn

Student: Matthias Schöllhorn

Student: Anais Eriksson

The visual storytelling around the festival features AI mascots called the AI-nimals. They were created using an image-generating Artificial Intelligence model, showing how hyperdigital interpretation of nature affects our own perception.

Print and Motion Design by Marlene Kager, Maris Nisu, Maximilian Prag and Pauline Jocher.

Double spread of the Festival magazine. The fonts used are by young type designers such as Leonhard Laupichler, Sophie Brikengard, Charlotte Rohde, Leah Maldonado, Janik Sandbothe, Laura Csocsan, OH No Type, Moritz Esch and David Einwaller.

Online promotional clips. Sound by Christopher Frieß.

The MuseumsQuartier, or MQ for short, is an area in Vienna’s 7th district near the city centre. The offer ranges from visual and performing arts, architecture, music, fashion, theatre, dance, literature and children’s culture to new media. At the time of its completion it was the eighth largest cultural area in the world. Prominent components are the Mumok, the Leopold Museum and the Kunsthalle Wien.

Klasse Kartak developed proposals for an updated, more contemporary Corporate Design for MQ Vienna.

Design by Joohyun Lee, Marlene Karger

MQ Magazine by Joohyun Lee, Marlene Karger

MQ promotional posters by Joohyun Lee, Marlene Karger

Using a custom MQ App users can project their drawings on the museum walls. Design by Joohyun Lee, Marlene Karger

Promotional mobile phone cases by Frances Stusche, Lukas Thüringer

Promotional Poster by Frances Stusche, Lukas Thüringer

Promotional Posters by Sebastian Lou, Verena Repar

Logo Designs by Ejla Miletić, Maria Rudakova

Magazine Designs by Ejla Miletić, Maria Rudakova

The Popfest Wien is a festival for innovative pop music by Austrian musicians and bands that has been held annually in Vienna since 2010. In July 2019 the Popfest celebrated its 10th anniversary. On this occasion Klasse Kartak was invited to develop a new branding and promotional language.

Design by Axel Berggraf, Joohyun Lee, Ejla Miletić

Design by Axel Berggraf, Joohyun Lee, Ejla Miletić

Design by Hilal Avci, Pauline Jocher

Design by Maris Nisu, Christina Schachinger

Design by Sarah Borinato, Monika Ernst, Marie-Theres Kölblinger

Design by Dominik Einfalt, Julia Bichler, Michael Niedermair

The task @Klasse Kartak was to redesign a title sequence of an existing movie or TV series. Sarah Borinato and Dominik Einfalt chose „Whiplash“.

The task @Klasse Kartak was to redesign a title sequence of an existing movie or TV series. Andreas Palfinger and Julia Winkler chose „American Horror Story“.

The task @Klasse Kartak was to redesign a title sequence of an existing movie or TV series. Di Gao and Noah von Stietencron chose „Le Scaphandre Et Le Papillion“.

The task @Klasse Kartak was to redesign a title sequence of an existing movie or TV series. Christina Schachinger and Aya Shalkarkyzy chose „Legally Blonde“.