The field of study Experimental Spatial Concepts is an open laboratory for researchers and border crossers of free and applied disciplines.

The focus is on exploring the possibilities of one's own creative/artistic space, discovering specific, personal potentials and developing an authentic, independent work. Spaces of all dimensions are explored, social, communicative as well as virtual systems, within as well as outside of white-cube scenarios.

In addition to individual creative positions, network-oriented, collaborative strategies are also promoted. Work is done in classical as well as new media, with a further focus on situational projects and interventions in public space. The students work in both applied and independent contexts, but preferably in fields beyond the categories.

Tagged as #hijacked, students in the department of Experimental Spatial Concepts under Prof. Heiner Blum at HfG Offenbach will showcase their current works in the top of the list contemporary art museums, taking part in numerous exhibitions worldwide.

The Guggenheim New York, the Tate Modern London, the Palais de Tokyo Paris or the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be hijacked on Instagram in the first half of July, to symbolically open up and introduce their spaces to the next generation.

The action is based on an initiative by Jakob Francisco Otter and takes place in the context of the HfG interventions for the end of the summer semester 2020.

Participants

Alena Nebenführ, Alessandro Belliero, Anne Klausmann, Annika Grabold, Barbara Wonner, Barnabas Vollmar, Brigita Noreikaité, Celia Zehetgruber, Christian Leicher, Christina Theodoridou, Clara Sipf, Dominika Bednarsky, Fabio Kempf, Faina Yunusova, Hannah Köhler, Hannah von Eiff, Ilayda Dagli, Inez Vadaz, Isabell Benz, Isabell Hofmann, Isabell Ratzinger, Jakob Otter, Jan Merkel, Jan Trinkaus, Jennifer Bannert, Johann Rambow, Johanna Schuckart, Jonas Koroschetz, Joschua Arnaut , Juewen Zhang, Julian Heuser, Kerstin Weiser, Kevin Egerer, Lars Schwabe, Lena Bils, Lena Stewens, Lenard Lüdemann, Leon Scheiblich, Leonard Stephan, Luis Sulzmann, Malik Arbab, Marie Grosz, Michael Schmidtmann, Michelle Harder, Michelle Korte, Mona Thomas, Moritz Urban, Nicholas Stewens, Nikolas Etzel, Nola Fischer, Oleg Komarov, Oskar Bähr, Pia Seifüßl, Robert Pillenstein, Ron Wohler, Ruth Neubert, Saya Schulzen, Setareh Alipour, Simon Martin,Sonja Herrmann, Sonja Prochorow, Suska Schäffler, Svetlana Mijic, Tee Ly, Tillmann Zizka, Timon Sioulvegas, Un-Zu Ha-Nul Lee, Verdiana Albano, Viktor Krautwig, Zani Arkadina, Zoë Hopf, Zoë Marie-Lena Gillies

Felix Bröcker

Visual staging strategies in art and kitchen

Betreuende: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Christian Janecke

Jonas Englert 

​Manifestations of the historical now 
Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Juliane Rebentisch

Thomas Dierkes 

Aesthetic affirmation as a critical strategy in the artistic representation of National Socialism 

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Juliane Rebentisch

Michaela Filla-Raquin

bilderSTURM. Art and revolt at the Goethe University Frankfurt in the 1960s.

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Christian Janecke

Lola Läufer

The mechanical flaw. Disturbances in contemporary image techniques

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Christian Christian Janecke

Craig Leonard

On Dissonance

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Juliane Rebentisch

Tania Ost

Long-term projects in portrait photography

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Christian Janecke, Prof. Klaus Hesse 

Patrick Raddatz

Living For The Night

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Marc Ries

Nina Wood

The graphic side of contemporary literature

Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Juliane Rebentisch

Carsten Wolff 

Willy Fleckhaus. The first archive for the first German art director ​
Tutors: Prof. Heiner Blum, Prof. Dr. Marc Ries

Further information

Amin Weber

www.amination.net
motionbank.org

Anne Imhof

www.instagram.com/anne_imhof
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Imhof

Bernd Euler

berndeuler.com

Christiane Feser

christianefeser.de

Claus Richter

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_Richter_(Künstler)
www.artblogcologne.com/tag/claus-richter/

Daniel Herrmann

soundcloud.com/flug-8
www.electronicbeats.net/robert-johnson-flug-8/

Florian Jenett

www.florianjenett.de
motionbank.org

Florian Markl

florianmarkl.com/de/

Friederike Walter

www.friederikewalter.de

Hannah Habermann

www.habermann-design.de

Isabelle Fein

www.isabellefein.de

Jakob Sturm

jakobsturm.com
basis-frankfurt.de
radar-frankfurt.de

Jan Lotter

www.monopol-magazin.de/fliegende-kuenstlerzimmer

Jessica Schäfer

jessicaschaefer.de

Jörg Obenauer

www.joergobenauer.de

Jonas Englert

www.jonasenglert.de

Julie Gaston

www.les-gastons.com

Katja Eckert

www.katjaeckert.de

Laura Kuch

www.laurakuch.com

Lena Ditlmann

www.lenaditlmann.com

Leonhard Kahlcke

www.leonardkahlcke.com

Loimi Brautmann (ist Teil von)

www.urbanmediaproject.de

Manuel Rossner

www.manuelrossner.de/work/malibu/

Marc Krause 

marckrause.com

Martin Wenzel

www.martinwenzel.net

Max Brück

www.instagram.com/maxbrueck

Mitch Betancourt

www.instagram.com/mitchbetatattoo

Nadine Fraczkowski

www.nadinefraczkowski.com

Nasan Tur

www.nasantur.com

Nina Ansari

www.ninaansari.com

Oriana Fenwick

www.oriana-fenwick.com

Pascal Kress

thefloorshow.de

Pixelgarten

pixelgarten.com

Rebecca Stephany

www.rebeccastephany.com

Sandra Havlicek

www.jette-rudolph.de/kuenstler/Sandra_Havlicek.html

Sandra Kranich

www.sandra-kranich.de

Sandra Mann

www.sandra-mann.de

Sarah Ortmeyer

sarahortmeyer.com

Sonja Yakovleva

www.sonjayakovleva.de

Tina Kohlmann

www.ppcontemporary.com/artists/tina-kohlmann/

Valentin Beinroth

valentinbeinroth.com/de/

Veit Laurent Kurz

www.weissfalk.com/artists/veit-laurent-kurz

​Verena Friedrich

heavythinking.org

Vier5

www.vier5.de

Xenia Lesniewski

www.xenia-lesniewski.com

Valerie Sietzy 

thisisearly.com

und viele andere …

Robert Johnson Theory is an event of the Offenbach Academy of Art and Design in cooperation with the Robert Johnson Club. Prof. Heiner Blum and Patrick Raddatz present prominent, expert guests - sound specialists, musicians, authors, DJs - with lectures on club culture, production and reception of electronic music. The entrance is free.​
​

​A cooperation between Prof. Heiner Blum of HfG Offenbach and Robert Johnson Offenbach

heinerblum.de
​robertjohnsontheorie.de
​facebook.com/RobertJohnsonTheorie

RJT 01

Thomas Meinecke / Johannes Ullmaier / PRESETS / 4.12.2010 

RJT 02

Andreas Lubich / VINYL / 16.6.2012

RJT 03

Tobias Rapp / ZWEI ZEILEN UND DIE GESCHICHTE DER DANCE MUSIC / 25.8.2012

RJT 04

Roman Flügel / VON 101 BIS 909 / 14.09.2012

RJT 05

Monika Rinck / Benjamin Fehr / Patrick Raddatz / IM FEUERSCHEIN / 4.10.2012 

RJT 06

Felix Denk & Sven von der Thülen / DER KLANG DER FAMILIE / 20.10.2012

RJT 07

Andreas Schneider / SCHNEIDERS BÜRO / 10.11.2012

RJT 08

Ata Macias / MARIONS SCHALLPLATTENBOUTIQUE / 12.01.2013

RJT 09

Sascha Koesch / Debug / MYTHEN DES DANCEFLOORS / 16.2.2013

RJT 10

Karl Kliem / VIDEO / 23.3.2013

RJT 11

Efdemin / 100 JAHRE TECHNO / 29.5.2013

RJT 12

Markus Weisbeck / TECHNO STYLE / 15.06.2013

RJT 13

Stephan Plank  / CONNY PLANK / 20.7.2013

RJT 14

Kristian Beyer (Âme) / WONDERLAND / 10.8.2013

RJT 15 

Frank Bretschneider / KARL-MARX-STADT, KOMPUTER UND KLANGFORSCHUNG / 12.10.2013

RJT 16

Dick Hebdige / DANCING, DIVING, DIGGING: GOING UNDER, GETTING DOWN / 2.11.2013

RJT 17

Thomas Meinecke / ANALOG / 7.12.2013

RJT 18

Klaus Walter / AUTOTUNE, KÖRPERTUNING, PORNOBEATS / 25.1.2014

RJT 19

Atom TM / HARD DISK ROCK / 29.3.2014

RJT 20

Mark Fisher / HERE'S A GROUP TRYING TO DO ONE THING, AND THAT IS TO GET INTO THE FUTURE / 12.4.2014

RJT 21

Schorsch Kamerun / PUDELCLUB / 10.5.2014

RJT 22

Hans Nieswandt / NEW YORK HOUSE / 31.5.2014

RJT 23

Thomas Fehlmann / HAPPY ACCIDENTS / 21.6.2014

RJT 24

Volker Zander / FRANKFURT 1974: MOONDOG, KRAFTWERK, INTERMODULATION / 2.8.2014

RJT 25

Alex Lindblad, Alma Poric / BOOKING / 4.10.2014

RJT 26

Michaela Melián / ELEKTRONISCHE WELTORGEL / 1.11.2014

RJT 27

Ata Macias / ALLES IST GUT / 22.11.2014 / in Kooperation mit dem MAK Frankfurt

RJT 28

Stephan Plank / KRAUT / 6.12.2014 / in Kooperation mit dem MAK Frankfurt

RJT 29

Electric Indigo / FEMALE PRESSURE / 24.01.2015 

RJT 30

Sven Marquardt / DIE NACHT IST LEBEN / 28.02.2015

RJT 31 

Rüdiger Esch, Wolfgang Flür / ELECRI_CITY / 28.3.2015

RJT 32

Helena Hauff / 23.05.2015

RJT 33 

Olaf Karnik / JOHN CARPENTER / 20.6.2015

RJT 34 

Patrick Raddatz / HOUSE NATION BRD / 11.7.2015

RJT 35 

Mark Ernestus, Michael Zähl / KONSEQUENT ANALOG / 3.10.2015

RJT 36 

Brian Eno / WHAT I COME FROM or WHERE I STOLE ALL MY IDEAS or ALL THE THING I REPACKAGED AND SOLD AS MINE or ONE DAY I'LL HAVE AN IDEA OF MY OWN … I PROMISE ... / 10.10.2015

RJT 37

Michal Matlak / R WIE ROLAND / 21.11.2015

RJT 38

Dimitri Hegemann / DIE KRAFT VERGESSENER RÄUME / 12.12.2015

RJT 39

Acid Maria / ACID / 30.1.2016

RJT 40

Frank Witzel / REDE EINES ERWACHSENEN TEENAGERS VOM WELTGEBÄUDE / 5.3.2016

RJT 41 

Tilman Baumgärtel / SCHLEIFEN / 9.4.2016

RJT 42 

The Black Madonna / SOUND AS SITUATION: DANCE AND CRISIS  / 7.5.2016

RJT 43

Nanette Fleig, Lilo Unger / SO 36  /  11.6.2016

RJT 44

Daniel Pflumm / MINIMAL ELEKTRO  /  23.7.2016

RJT 45

Adrian Sherwood / INTO DUB  / Gastmoderation Klaus Walter  22.10.2016

RJT 46

Tim Lawrence / LIFE AND DEATH ON THE NEW YORK DANCEFLOOR  /  10.12.2016

RJT 47

Florian Hecker / ÜBER DEN KLANG ALS IMMATERIALIE: IANNIS XENAKIS  /  21.1.2017 / in Kooperation mit dem MMK Frankfurt

RJT 48

Marc Nothelfer / FROM THE BLACK ATLANTIC TO THE UNKNOWN AQUAZONE  / 11.03.2017

RJT 49

Colin Self / TROUBLED  ASSEMBLIES / Gastmoderation Britta Thie / 17.05.2017

RJT 50

Holly Herndon / Gastmoderation Britta Thie / 14.06.2017

RJT 51

Rainer Kohlberger / VISUELLE MUSIK / 08.07.2017

RJT 52

Stephan Plank / THE POTENTIAL OF NOISE / 15.09.2017 / in Kooperation mit der Me Convention in der Frankfurter Festhalle

RJT 53

Oliver Bernstein / PRESSWERK /  11.11.2017

RJT 54

Jace Clayton / UPROOT / Gastmoderation Christoph Gurk / 09.12.2017

RJT 55

Shantel / DIE WELT IM CLUB / 13.01.2018

RJT 56

Tom Simmert, Leo He Zhao / RE:BOOT AFRICA / 03.02.2018

RJT 57

Daniel Best / VON G.I.BLUES ZU G.I.DISCO / 10.03.2018

RJT 58

Daniel Haaksman / TRANS ATLANTIC EXPRESS / 28.04.2018

RJT 59

Wolfgang Voigt / LECTURE & CONCERT / 12.05.2018

RJT 60

Laurel Halo / LECTURE & CONCERT / Gastmoderation Britta Thie / 02.06.2018

RJT 61

Goto80 / HOW 8-BIT MACHINES CHANGED ELECTRONIC MUSIC /  20.10.2018

RJT 62

Mike Huckaby / 313 /  3.11.2018

RJT 63

Jan Jelinek / FAITICHE /  1.12.2018

RJT 64

Isenburg Quartett / MINIMAL /  26.1.2019

RJT 65

Klaus Walter / VON LET ME GO ZU LFO /  23.3.2019

RJT 66

Anne Imhof w/ Billy Bultheel / MUSIK /  13.4.2019

RJT 67

Dieter Meier (Yello) / 10.5.2019

RJT 68

Melanie Fritsch / ON AND ON, GAMES MUSIK UND CLUBKULTUR / 18.5.2019

RJT 69

Gudrun Gut / 8.6.2019

RJT 70

Levon Vincent / EXPLORING THE GOLDEN RATIO AND METHODS OF APPLICATION IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC / 26.10.2019

RJT 71

Simon Reynolds / ROOTS AND PHUTURE: UK RAVE AND THE HARDCORE CONTINUUM / 16.11.2019

RJT 72

Oliver Hafenbauer / URBAN PLANNING / 14.12.2019

RJT 73

Pietro Anton / ITALO DISCO / 11.12.2019

RJT 74

Tommi Grönlund / SÄHKHÖ RECORDINGS / 1.2.2020

RJT 75

Suzanne Ciani / 28.2.2020 / in Kooperation mit El Barrio und MAK Frankfurt

Founded in 2013 by Heiner Blum, the Institute for Sound Research (IfK) promotes artistic audio productions and producers. It focuses on experimental and electronic sound productions in the fields of track, installation, audio plays, performance, and concert.

In lectures, workshops, sessions and excursions the institute supports the transfer of knowledge in sound research and creates inspiring new opportunities. The institute’s studios enable creative freedom for cross-border experiments.
The way the institute works is deliberately nomadic, discursive, flexible, developing strategies, processes and actions in open design processes. It is a network, forum, and platform for producers and artists.

With its range of services it complements the teaching at HfG Offenbach, Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK), the Städel Academy and the Institute for Applied Theater Studies in Giessen. The institute also supports independent sound artists and producers.
As of July 2014 the Institute for Sound Research has been based in the Zollamt Ateliers in downtown Offenbach. Here there are studios for producers, an office, as well as a communal and workshop sound lab. The HfG Offenbach event and exhibition rooms on the ground floor of the building can also be temporarily used for larger events. Other events are held in the Städel Academy sound lab in Frankfurt, the HfG Offenbach palace chapels and the Robert Johnson club in Offenbach.

The Institute for Sound Research works in the following formats

• Workshops on audio basics, mastering and audio software (Ableton, Cubase, Logic, Max MSP, Protools …)
• Hands-on hardware workshops
• Workshops on: sound installation, audio plays, performance, dance
• Lectures and seminars with speakers from theory and practice
• Robert Johnson Theory, series of lectures on club culture
• 1:1 sessions with renowned sound producers
• Excursions and on-site encounters
• Events, concerts, symposiums
• Support of free projects
• IfK studios

A project group comprising students from the participating universities and independent producers discusses and develops current and future IfK projects and formats.

Project group

Philipp Bergmann, Heiner Blum, Sven Hergenhahn, Patrick Raddatz, Sabine Schmidt, Matthias Schönijahn, Cédric Dekowski, Felix Reifenberg, Max Vaahs​

At the 2014 HfG Offenbach annual show 60 students from the Experimental Spatial Concepts class studying under Prof. Heiner Blum displayed their works in the premises of the Kappus soap factory in downtown Offenbach.

With the generous support of Kappus soap factory and satis&fy AG Deutschland

Together with Prof. Heiner Blum and Prof. Kai Vöckler, an interdisciplinary working group comprising students from both departments and friends came up with ideas aimed at supplementing the city with things it lacks. Prof. Marc Ries and Prof. Peter Eckart added their support.

Unusual concepts were intended to breathe a new lease of life into vacancies in downtown Offenbach. The vacant “City Passage” in the pedestrian precinct became the “Intercity Passage”; new spatial strategies were tested. Furniture was assembled live from disposable objects, a hammock bar was a pleasant place in which to linger, there was Indian and Mexican food, flags were designed together with inhabitants and positioned in the city, there were experimental music performances, and new forms of exchanging and buying clothes could be put to the test, as could design objects. This temporary lease of life aimed to supplement and perpetuate the range of venues for students and creative minds in Offenbach. It became evident that there is a lack of meeting places and places for exchanging ideas and opinions in the city, which as a result should be developed.​

From May to October 2011 xqm conducted a total of 54 projects in five blocks in the public domain in downtown Frankfurt. In busy districts, regarded as prime locations, xqm identified architectural and urban design situations which have no clear function, but whose spatial circumstances, e.g., “a roof over one’s head” have potential for alternative use. In the manner of a realtor, xqm advertised these spaces and invited people with good ideas to use them for their own initiatives, projects, and experiments in the public domain.

xqm kicked off with a strategy of staking out spaces between column quads, in passageways, in public art works, and between trees and, depending on the particular project requirements and according to a simple principle, securing them with tarpaulin. This created “pieces of architecture” which fitted in with the minimal need for spatial demarcation and created a stage for the projects. During the course of the projects the original portfolio of available spaces was expanded by the users freely taking charge of other places. The manner in which the available tarpaulins were handled also became increasingly free.

The main concern of xqm was to open up inner-city public space very much dominated by consumerism for needs and activities that basically pursued a communicative interest. The aim was to make projects possible for which in this form there is no existing framework or established formats and spaces, and to provide a platform for needs for which there is no room in the public domain.
The xqm team discussed and developed the proposed project ideas together with the initiators, provided the requisite materials, assembled them as desired and provided support with the staging of the projects.

x-qm.de​

Taking Universal as its title, Heiner Blum and Jakob Sturm, together with an extended project group from HfG Offenbach, created a discourse and project platform for the public domain. “Universal” is an initiative for promoting self-determined, communicative and creative actions at work, in leisure time, and in everyday processes.

Universal supports and links people and projects, facilities and initiatives that play an essential creative role in the social structure and community life in the region. It encourages and supports projects at various levels: temporary, communal, cultural, intercultural, social – down to those which offer individuals or a group an existential perspective.
​

Since Universal was founded in 2004, its objectives have been formulated in various concept papers. Here are some excerpts from a paper by the 2006 project group:
​»Universal is a symbol of departure and self-determined action. Beyond the multiple choice propositions that politics, culture, and business offer with regard to existential differentiation, people stop waiting and assume control of their own existence and development.

Universal is an interface between feeling, thinking, and doing. It prompts people into assuming responsibility and offers an opportunity for self-development, self-help, self-service, and self-relaxation. It demands and promotes personal and collective creativity. It is an anti-remote control and searches for specific solutions for specific potentials. It is a sort of transit zone that crosses the threshold between staying silent and speaking, thinking and doing, feeling and making tangible, between sleeping and being awake, idleness and work, creating and realizing. Universal takes dreams by the hand.

Universal fills a vacuum. Our social systems offer diverse spaces for specific groups. There are places to go for children, youths and older people. Places for addicts, the persecuted, battered, homeless. As a rule, places for normal people are geared to differentiated scenes and are in far too many cases consumer-oriented. For every need there is a product, yet none of these products seem to satisfy people in their innermost selves. Universal sees itself as the focus of communicative processes, as a laboratory and transitional space for developing new perspectives on work, money, and free time.

Universal is a concentration of human energies in time and space. For the duration of its existence it creates an atmosphere of stirring, focusing vitality. Universal nestles in the spacious vacancy of the urban zone. A spacious multi-functional place is the heart of the activities. It exists in the center of town and is available to the living. Situations and actions are the core of Universal. It is open for all interested and curious people who would like to put a vision into practice. In terms of content the focus is on projects with a service and production character; there are no airs about it, no superficial vanity, no exhibitions or art in the classic sense. It is a place for doing what you always wanted to do, a space for what actually is, for big and small dreams. Universal’s energy feeds on the forum of all people in the city who are creative and keen to experiment.

Café Universal is provisional and keen on improvisation. The café is the local heart of Universal. Like a chameleon its open layout adapts to the needs of its users. It has areas of differing size and promotes the coexistence of variable and divergent projects. The various levels have room for large and small-scale activities, which can be conducted for minutes, a long period of time, or effectively at intervals. Café Universal almost never sleeps. It opens in the morning and keeps on pulsating until late at night.

With its satellites, Universal creates acupuncture points in an urban context. It has mobile action and presentation units, which can be used in the public domain as variable project platforms.
Universal is by nature an open project.«

Under the artistic directorship of Heiner Blum and under the aegis of William Forsythe, students at HfG Offenbach developed an experimental club concept which very quickly acquired a firm following.
The venue and starting point for the project was Theater am Turm in Frankfurt/Main, an old streetcar depot and its surroundings. Schmalclub was not a theater, party, exhibition, event, or performance. It was a part of life.​

In the year 2000 in Offenbach, on the city boundary with Frankfurt, on the initiative of Heiner Blum Ata Macias and Sebastian Kahrs founded the Robert Johnson, one of the most legendary clubs for functional electronic music worldwide.

The images show an installation by Daniel Herrmann, at the time a student at HfG Offenbach, who between 2000 and 2002 photographed the goings-on in the club and in various stages installed the images as wallpaper.
​

robert-johnson.de​​