(How) do we (want to) work (together) (as (socially engaged) designers (students and neighbors)) (in neoliberal times)?

A critical discussion about work is urgently needed—in the field of design as much as anywhere else. Since 2011, Studio Experimentelles Design at the HFBK Hamburg has experimented with local design-assistance projects carried out within the framework of the St. Pauli Public Design Support initiative. The student-led program advocates a community based and cooperative approach, involving people who are usually only impacted by design or excluded from it. This partisan practice questions our understanding of what design can be, and who benefits or suffers from it. It also fundamentally questions how we work.In the summer of 2020, Studio Experimentelles Design organized the three-week online research festival “(How) do we (want to) work (together) (as (socially engaged) designers (students and neighbors)) (in neoliberal times)?” Hosted by the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin’s Design Lab #6, the festival invited friends, experts, and activists to discuss self-organizing academia, artistic collec