About us

UnDesignUnit challenges narrow definitions of design practice and explores – against the background of the current expansion of the notion of design – thresholds and new latitudes.

Behind UnDesignUnit are Sarah Dorkenwald and Karianne Fogelberg, who work as curators, authors and lecturers on contemporary subjects in design.

With their Munich-based studio they conceive new discursive and participative formats as well as innovative exhibitions, with which they render complex problems of the present more accessible and scrutable. A special focus lies on the development of distinct and subject-specific formats which may, in line with the requirements, address and involve a wider public as well as a professional audience.

Together Sarah Dorkenwald and Karianne Fogelberg combine competencies and methods from design and design theory. They work with future scenarios as participative medium to bring emergent future developments in the here and now up for debate, and with a number of mediation tools to put past and present narratives in context with future visions.

Their approach is grounded in the search for alternatives to established approaches and viewpoints. The education and exhibition formats they conceive unfold a variety of perspectives on the subject at hand and combine facts and scientific findings with concrete objects and narratives. Thereby complex matters may be conceptionally, visually and materially-spatially experienced and are being opened up for negotiation.

The concepts which they offer are situated at the intersection of design and architecture, industry and science. Particular emphasis is given to the integration of different disciplines and forms of knowledge and to the curation of distinct formats which may be adapted to different themes.

They work for museums and cultural institutions, universities and research institutes, companies and foundations, non-profit organizations and municipalities.

Within their expertise are curation and consultancy, moderation, science communication, the conception and realization of participative and discursive formats, installations and exhibitions, spatial design and scenography, text and graphics.

Separate services as well as complete service packages are available: from consultancy via conception through to planning and realization.

bayern design
BIOTOPIA – Naturkundemuseum Bayern
Creating NEBourhoods Together
Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden
Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum Munich
Jüdisches Museum München
Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft
Lothringer 13 Halle, ein Kunstraum der Stadt München
Munich Creative Business Week
Münchner Kammerspiele
Münchner Stadtmuseum
Netzwerk Klimaherbst e.V.
Rat für Formgebung
Steelcase Learning & Innovation Center München
Studio Animal Aided Design
Wider Sense TraFo gGmbH

Photo: Verena Kathrein