Our Mission
ColLAB–The Transcultural Collective is a group of aspiring researchers who aim to use the transcultural method as a mode of problem-solving to address real-world issues. We strive to bridge the gap between transcultural theory and practice, employing a two-pronged approach in order to achieve this goal.
Through Interval, the collective’s magazine, we aim to integrate the transcultural model into discussions about art, politics, economy, and society beyond the confines of academia. Interval seeks to demystify the theoretical aspects of Transcultural Studies by creating multimedia content, including calls for papers, podcasts, video essays and more. We hold the belief in the capacity of such diverse narrative practices to promote the horizontalization of the previously hierarchical domain of knowledge production.
Through Crossmopollinate, the collective’s design thinking initiative, we aim to bring together expertise from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, geography, mathematics, art, and natural sciences. We wish to realise the conjunction between separated realities through new modes of critical thinking and problem-solving. Additionally, we aim to facilitate community-based workshops, research, and public art projects related to urban inhabitation, and citizenship. Our approach rests upon a mode of collaborative knowledge production.
Our Team
Founder Member
Inah Kim
I am a graduate student of M.A. European Art History and Transcultural Studies in Heidelberg. Growing up between South Korea, USA and Germany has shaped my interests in different modes of communication through visual language. I aim to widen my academic interest to more interdisciplinary research, where art history not only speaks about architecture as a built space but also a lived one.
Founder Member
Kattyayani Joag
I am an M.A. student in Transcultural Studies, with a background in sociology and prior work experience at Compound 13 Lab, a design lab and emergent maker-space in Dharavi, Mumbai. My work revolves around the changing landscape of the 13th Compound in Dharavi owing to demolitions and its varying impact on livelihoods and systems of social support of waste-workers. I hope to engage in community-based inquiries into questions of citizenship and personhood.
Member
Diego Jaimes
I am a BA Architecture from the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, where I was born and raised. I worked over 10 years as an architectural designer in Colombia and Panama, and am now an MA candidate for Cultural Heritage and Protection of Cultural Property in the Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage, Heidelberg University. My research deals with understanding the structures that characterize urban built heritage as a tool to plan the future of cities, communities, and societies. Transdisciplinary work and the establishment of learning networks characterize my commitment with cultural management, education, and exchange. I love to sketch and enjoy the experience of getting lost in a new city best.
Member
Diksha Jain
I’m Diksha Jain, an architect and urban designer, passionate about improving cities. My experiences in various Indian cities have deepened my understanding of how urban environments profoundly impact our lives. During my undergraduate studies in Architecture, I explored cities through research, realizing their enduring influence. While working at Designers Forum, I identified a knowledge gap in addressing urban challenges effectively, motivating me to pursue a master’s degree in Urban Design at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi. Here, I found my passion for research, documentation, and design, which I believe is underrepresented in urban design. I thrive in diverse, multidisciplinary environments, striving to expand my knowledge and create inclusive cities that leave no one behind.
Member
Ira Borgstedt
I am a Master student of Geography at the University of Heidelberg. My focus lies on political and urban Geography. I am interested in how planning and the built environment influence social and political processes and vice-versa. Aside from social inequalities in urban contexts, I am interested in placemaking strategies around the world. How can we use the information we have on urban inequalities to make our cities more livable? How do placemaking strategies create an environment worth living in? Interdisciplinarity and friends around the globe help widen my horizon and pursue my research interests.
Member
Anita Markmiller
I am a PhD student in Art History and Transcultural Studies, and I’m interested in how the things we see shape our understanding of aesthetics, knowledge, and truth. Coming from a rural area in the German Alps I am fascinated by the dynamics of larger cities and the way how urban structures affect our perception of our environment and the people we encounter in it. To explore a specific area, I am focusing on maritime environments and how the sea as a contact zone for humans, human creations, and non-human actants, is reflected in art.