Publications

In December 2015, the manifesto “Towards Cultures of Aliveness. Politics and Poetics in a Postdualistic Age. An Anthropocene Manifesto” was published in Solutions journal. This was the first English language appearance of the piece, authored by biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber and cultural researcher Hildegard Kurt, and published in German some months prior by thinkOya. Biologist and physicist Stuart Kauffman, a member of the peer review panel, noted that “This is a brilliant, evocative and profoundly needed short essay. […] We quite desperately need new vision [...] and this piece is a must publication.”

Lebendigkeit sei! Für eine Politik des Lebens (Towards Cultures of Aliveness. Politics and Poetics in a Postdualistic Age) is the title of an anthropocene manifesto, written by biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber and cultural researcher Hildegard Kurt, and published by thinkOya. The manifesto was first presented on May 19, 2015 in Berlin.

The English version has since been published in Solutions journal.

fair-handeln! is a handbook for everyday life activists, published in May 2014, and edited by cultural activist Jaana Pruess in cooperation with the und.Institut, Morgengruen communication and the Heinrich Boell Foundation. fair-handeln, in English meaning both `fair trading´ and `fair acting´, brings together ideas and tips for practicing sustainability in daily life. Alongside guides and recipes, projects representing the 'sharing, repairing and transforming' economies are introduced; describing ways of doing-it-yourself instead of buying; of borrowing instead of owning. In addition, this handbook contains essays from various authors and an index of contacts. The aim of fair-handeln is to convey knowledge of ways to live beyond consumerism and to encourage individual talents and capacities to unfold in all spheres of work and life. The production of this handbook was made possible via crowdfunding.

"Die rote Blume is a book of texts and conversations between Shelley Sacks and Hildegard Kurt dealing with the theory, evolution and practice of social sculpture, and its relationship to engaged arts practice, activism, sustainability and the phenomenology of transformation." (Shelley Sacks)

Published by Think Oya in November 2013, Die rote Blume. Ästhetische Praxis in Zeiten des Wandels (The Red Flower: Aesthetic Practices in Times of Change) raises key questions concerning the path to a more sustainable world. What is needed to become free, active individuals and work collaboratively on the "Great Turning" (Joanna Macy) from an industrially-oriented society to a democratic, ecologically viable world? And: how do we learn? What understandings of ourselves as human beings do we need in order to achieve the necessary transformations?  

Essay by biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber, member of the und.Institut team, published in 2013.
"Our mono-cultural worldview is literally preventing us from understanding the deeper causes of our multiple crises. Andreas Weber gives us a glimpse of the different scientific paradigm now coming into focus. He calls it `Enlivenment´ which he sees as an upgrade of the devicient categories of Enlightenment thought - a way to move beyond our modern metaphysics of dead matter and acknowledge the deeply creative processes embodied in all living organisms. The framework of Enlivenment that Weber outlines is a promising beginning for all those who stand ready to search for real solutions to the challenges of our future." (publisher)

In 2010, cultural researcher Hildegard Kurt, co-founder of the und.Institut, published the monograph Wachsen! (Growing! On the Spiritual in Sustainability). Her new monograph Leicht auftreten (Stepping Lightly. On the Way Towards Another World), published by Verlag fuer Akademische Schriften (VAS), was released in October 2011. In the form of a diary, this book explores space(s) for change, both personal and political, taking the year following the disaster of the failed Copenhagen climate conference as a time frame. Central questions are: what are the preconditions, obstacles and perspectives to be taken into account on the way towards a sustainable lifestyle? Where are the resources for transforming mindsets and behaviours that perhaps lie dormant, waiting to be tapped into? Stepping Lightly invites one to boldly and actively explore other ways of being in the world.

Under this title Hildegard Kurt, director of the Berlin office of the und.Institut, has carried out a research project to investigate the following questions: in what sense is art a form of knowledge? How does an anthropologically expanded concept of art relate to a necessary rethinking of our concept of science? How can we embrace the dimension of the spiritual in a concept of culture that perceives both human beings and nature as being in a state of continual evolution?
The subtitle refers to Wassily Kandinsky´s 1912 book On the Spiritual in Art.

In 2007 the book Komi. A Growing Sculpture 1997-2006 came out, edited by artist George Steinmann and the und.Institut. In three languages (English, German, Russian) and with numerous four-colour photographs and video stills, the publication documents the "Centre for Sustainable Forestry" - a growing sculpture initiated by Steinmann in the Russian Komi Republic, This multimedia, transdisciplinary art project also explores the artist's research on the local Taiga forest, and was developed in cooperation with local forestry experts over the course of almost ten years. The book was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (DEZA) and published by Stämpfli Verlag, Bern.

This beautifully illustrated publication offers the basis for a change of perspective: conceiving an artistic means of addressing the problems currently facing our environment. With over 100 works by international artists and 22 explanatory texts from the fields of landscape architecture, science, philosophy and politics, this book explores the many aspects of ecological aesthetics.
 

Presenting more than 30 positions and works from international artists, this exhibition lent a new impulse to the ongoing discourse on the relationship between humankind and nature. As well as documenting the works exhibited by Ana Mendieta, Joseph Beuys, Robert Smithson, the Harrisons, Olaf Nicolai, Mark Dion, Louis Weinberger, Alba D'Urbano and many more, the catalogue contains background reading from the fields of art, landscape architecture and philosophy.