OUTCOMES
Dr. Marie Enders
UniGR Visiting Professor 2025/26
Chair of Architecture – Theorie – History (ATG)
Department of Architecture (fatuk)
University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU)
Prof. Dr. Adria Daraban
Cultures of Assembly (COA)
Rue du Brill, 4041 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxemburg
Research Unit at
Chair of the City of Esch
Department of Geography and Spatial Planning
Faculty of Humanities, Social and Educational Sciences (FHSE), University of Luxembourg, Campus Belval, Luxembourg
Prof. Dr. Markus Miessen
University of the Greater Region – UniGR a.s.b.l.
Cité des Sciences Belval
Maison du Savoir 2, place de l’Université
4365 Esch-sur-Alzette
UniGR Guest Professorship offers a
„UniGR-Toolbox“ for valorizing encounters in the Greater Region
Within the framework of the UniGR Guest Professorship program, Dr. Marie Enders conducted a research stay from October 2025 to January 2026 to explore how sites of encounter in the Greater Region can be identified, analyzed, and valorized through artistic-research methodologies. The project was based on the premise that democratic processes are inherently spatial and that everyday encounters constitute a fundamental, yet often underestimated, infrastructure of democratic practice. The guest professorship was hosted by the Research Unit Cultures of Assembly (COA) at the University of Luxembourg under Prof. Dr. Markus Miessen and implemented in collaboration with the Department of Architecture – Theory – History (ATG) at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, led by Prof. Dr. Adria Daraban. Funding was provided by the UniGR Mobility Scholarship, with additional support from the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Architecture (fatuk). The professorship brought together twenty-nine students from Luxembourg and Kaiserslautern in a transnational tandem seminar combining artistic and research-based approaches. The project emphasized hands-on
experimentation, cross-border collaboration, and the integration of diverse disciplinary perspectives including
architecture, urban studies, sociology, media, illustration, and game design. It aimed not only at research outputs but at creating a dynamic process in which students, faculty, and the public could engage in dialogue around the value of encounters.
Project Implementation and Activities
Phase 0 – Identifying Encounters (constantly):
The seminar commenced on 29 October 2025 with a digital kick-off, during which students received methodological inputs for developing tools to capture encounters. Media artist Udo Noll presented his sound-mapping project, accessible via aporee.org/maps, showing how auditory methods can reveal spatial and social interactions. Complementing this, game developers Sebastian Oberlin and Adrian Rennertz introduced their sound-based memory game collection klang², illustrating how encounters can be experienced and communicated in playful, interactive formats. These two formats are intended to provide students with initial established tools to capture encounters. Until the end of the seminar, Phase 0 ran as a continuous process with the goal of capturing all analyzed and studied encounter typologies and sites in a shared map, documenting them on-site, and translating them into a memory game edition.
Phase 1 – Capturing Encounters
(October-26 November 2025):
Students then selected encounter sites in their respective cities and analyzed them according to the four types identified by sociologist Rainald Manthe in Democracy Lacks Encounter (2025): casual observation, recurring encounters, verbal exchange, and shared activities. This first analytical phase laid the groundwork for creative exploration combining mapping, sound, and participatory approaches.
Workshop 1in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
(24-26 November 2025):
A three-day workshop at the COA showroom in Esch-sur-Alzette brought students together with experts to refine analyses, create cartographies, and develop prototypes. On the first day, students exchanged findings in group sessions and discussed their preliminary analyses with Rainald Manthe
via an online session. Team-building exercises facilitated collaboration across both universities and established a shared working rhythm.The second day focused on developing cartographies and a sound-based game edition inspired by klang², guided by illustrator Bernd Pegritz.
Evening sessions included critical discussions of the artistic-research project Back Rooms of Democracy (Hinter-Räume
der Demokratie) with art historian Anke Kreamer and photographer Markus Bredt, moderated by Dr. César Reyes Nájera and Prof. Dr. Markus Miessen. These discussions deepened students’ understanding of the intersection between research, art, and social practice.On the third day, students
translated their analyses into initial architectural and planning strategies, culminating in a final colloquium with Dr. Marie Enders, Prof. Dr. Adria Daraban, Prof. Dr. Markus Miessen, and guest critics Astrid Fries, architectural sociologist and neighborhood manager, and Carine Oberweis, architect and
Honorary Consul of the Republic of Ghana in Luxembourg. Astrid Fries delivered a keynote on the practical relevance of translating research methods into tools that require testing and application in real contexts.
Phase 2 – Encountering the Region:
Tool Development (December 2025 – January 2026):
Now the focus shifted to valorizing the analyzed types of encounters and the drawn typologies for each category. In weekly supervision sessions, conducted partly online and partly on-site, the students were supported by Dr. Marie Enders in their work on developing concepts for the creation of tools.Throughout the semester, the ATG Forschungswerkstatt complemented the project. On 9 December 2025, Dr. César Reyes Nájera delivered a lecture titled Imperfect Assemblies, exploring hidden tensions, alliances, and everyday negotiations shaping urban life. The session reinforced the objectives of the guest professorship, inspiring students’ ongoing development of tools and strategies.
Workshop 2 – in Kaiserlautern, Germany
(19–21 January 2026):
The project culminated in a second workshop and public exhibition at the Architekturgalerie Kaiserslautern. Students curated eleven functional tools into an exhibition format, integrating the results of Phases 0 to 2. Each prototype was accompanied by a detailed guide documenting its
analysis, development, and potential applications. The exhibition included: The sound-based memory game (klang²), awall-sized immersive cartography of encounter typologies,
eleven functional prototypes aligned with the four Manthe encounter types, and the complete curated analog UniGR Toolbox consolidating all outputs.
Public Exhibition and Knowledge Transfer
The closing event was intentionally structured as a Shared Dinner, inspired by traditional ‚Tupperware parties‘, creating an informal setting for dialogue and reflection. Students presented their tools, demonstrated their potential applications, and collectively celebrated the symbolic “toast” to the utility of their work. Participants included students, faculty, UniGR representatives, and members of the public, fostering rich discussion and collaborative engagement. The exhibition translated research outputs into interactive experiences for both academic and public audiences. Dr. Marie Enders introduced the project’s objectives, methodology, and
significance, while Prof. Dr. Markus Miessen and Prof. Dr. Adria Daraban provided thematic framing linking the student work to broader debates in architecture, urbanism, and democratic spatial practices. Visitors engaged directly with the prototypes, tested the sound-based game, and explored the cartography, fostering dialogue on the practical and civic relevance of encounters.
Results, Outputs, and Impact
The UniGR Guest Professorship produced a comprehensive and cohesive set of outputs:
- Eleven instructional guides documenting tool development and implementation,
- Eleven functional prototypes corresponding to encounter typologies,
- The klang² memory game,
- A wall-sized cartography of analyzed encounter sites,
- A curated analog UniGR-Toolbox consolidating all outputs.
All elements were integrated into a format designed for future digitization and public sharing, creating an open platform for further development and application across the Greater Region. The outputs are conceived as an adaptable system, enabling local testing, regional adaptation, and broader large-scale application. The project demonstrated that encounters are spatial and civic resources for democratic engagement. It allowed students to gain practical experience in transnational collaboration, interdisciplinary teamwork, and artistic-research
methodologies. Participants reflected that encounters in the Greater Region connect not only spaces but perspectives, expanding the students’ understanding of cross-border educational and professional opportunities. The UniGR framework facilitated sustained collaboration, mobility, and iterative engagement between RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau and COA Luxembourg. The project highlighted the potential of shared knowledge to activate encounter spaces in educational and social practice.
Outlook
Building on these outcomes, future initiatives aim to expand the tools’ application and develop a digital UniGR Toolbox accessible to universities across the Greater Region. The ongoing collaboration between ATG and COA will support student supervision and potential doctoral projects, ensuring long-term impact. The tools are conceived as an open, evolving system, adaptable to local testing, regional development, and large-scale implementation, reinforcing the role of encounter spaces as infrastructures for democratic engagement and transnational collaboration.
