Symposium: Women design radically different. A tribute to Katt Both

Symposium at the Stadtmuseum Kassel
The public, interdisciplinary and international symposium "Frauen gestalten radikal anders" (Women design radically different) starts on Friday, November 21 at 2 p.m. with a total of six positions from current female architects, scientists and landscape architects. This symposium is a precursor to the exhibition "Katt Both. The Bauhaus in Kassel", which will open on February 10, 2026 in the Kunsthalle of the School of Art and Design.

The protagonists: Barbara Buser, Prof. Anupama Kundoo, Vanessa Schwarzkopf, Prof. Nanni Grau, Monika Markgraf and Prof. Fanny Brandauer all stand for courageous rethinking and an initiative to do things differently. They are all radical in their thinking, sensitive in their actions and passionate representatives of their discipline. They all show new ideas on how architecture and landscape, building and the city will develop in the future, what importance topics such as community, the interaction of crafts and materials, new uses of building materials and techniques, but also artificial intelligence and the use of material resources and nature will have in the future. They will give us an insight into their work in relation to their careers, their commitment and their visions.

The occasion for this event is the architect, designer and photographer Katt Both, whose legacy is currently being processed by Prof. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs in the Department of Design and Building Theory at the University of Kassel. Katt Both played an active role in shaping society in the 1920s. As an architectural pioneer from Kassel, she expanded the paradigms of new building from a use-oriented and artistic-atmospheric perspective. As an artist, her photographic works provide an insight into the attitude to life of the so-called "new woman". However, the period of her development was abruptly interrupted by socio-political circumstances. Both the emancipation of women and modernist architecture were rejected from 1933 onwards.

Program:
In appreciation of her work, art historian Dr. Ute Maasberg will give an overview of Katt Both's oeuvre at the beginning.
Greetings: Gabriela Wolff- Eichel, Chairwoman of the Friends of the Kassel City Museum Association and Climate Councillor Simone Fedderke, City of Kassel
Introduction and moderation: Prof. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs and cultural journalist Sabine Kienzer

Admission is free.

Organizer:
The symposium is an event of the Department of Design and Building Theory of Prof. Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, University of Kassel in cooperation with the Friends of the City Museum Kassel. Patron: Lord Mayor Dr. Sven Schoeller.

Sponsored by:
Pfeiffer-Stiftung für Architektur, Kasseler Sparkasse, GWG-Kassel, Amt für Chancengleichheit der Stadt Kassel, Uni Kassel, Stadt Kassel and the Verein Freunde des Stadtmuseums Kassel