The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) is once again hosting the Krefeld lecture series in the winter semester 2025/2026. Entitled "Borders", the public lecture series is dedicated to a topic that is both topical and fundamental in politics, society, science and design. On six Tuesday evenings between 28 October and 2 December 2025, each from 17:00 to 18:30, interested parties will meet in the Future Work Lab at Petersstraße 124 in Krefeld to discuss the nature, impact and changeability of borders with experts from various disciplines. Participation is free of charge and no registration is required.
The series is curated by Professor Dr Erik Schmid, design theorist and Dean of the Faculty of Design at HSNR. In his introduction to the series on 28 October, he will open the topic with a cultural-theoretical perspective: borders as a reality that is both made and lived - constructed with words, bodies, tools or ideologies.
On 4 November, design graduate Charlotte Finzel will speak about boundaries in gender relations. She will show how existing structures are pluralised and at the same time reshaped by violence and power relations and ask what role design can play in this.
On 11 November, Professor Dr Andris Breitling will take a philosophical and cultural-theoretical approach to the limits of linguistic understanding. His lecture will illustrate how translation between languages and cultures reveals both the challenges and opportunities of intercultural understanding. Breitling is Professor of Ethics, Social Philosophy and Cultural Theory at the HSNR.
On 18 November, Professor Nora Gummert-Hauser will take the audience on a personal search for traces of the Polish-German border shift and link this with her creative research into historical "Ghost Signs". "Ghost Signs" are old façade advertisements that have survived for decades on the walls of buildings. Gummert-Hauser is a communication designer and former professor of typography and editorial design at the Faculty of Design at HSNR.
On 25 November, Dr Jessica Frieß will focus on boundaries in science. Research is always borderline work - between knowledge and error, ethics and feasibility. She will shed light on the dynamics of scientific curiosity and institutional framework conditions.
Dr Lea Bönisch will conclude the series on 2 December with a talk entitled "Limits of political representation", in which she will examine how visible different social groups actually are in the political arena and where democratic participation reaches its limits. Bönisch is a sub-project leader in the #Digitalkompetenz.nrw project at the HSNR, which is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW.
