The university as institution establishes both: the actual place, building, function and the site of certain ideas, meanings and processes. Thus, the university constitutes its form and its content, it gives (and is given) spaces, norms, values, hierarchies, organization, language, tools, procedures and methods of dealing with things. In various ways and dimensions, the university produces relations: with and between its members, its environment, and the city, with international academia, and local and global society at large.

As the university is closely connected to our social, political, and aesthetic imagination, Testing University invites interdisciplinary guests to discuss its current state, the trajectories of its architectural and institutional transformations; ultimately the university’s possible futures in regards to the social, political and economic challenges we are facing.

This iteration of the HafenCity Lectures is a joint effort of the study programs Architecture, Urban Design, and Metropolitan Culture and is accompanied by an interdisciplinary seminar where students prepare the material and discursive space for each lecture and moderate the discussion in relation to our own university and our everyday experiences with the building and the institution, with learning and teaching. The guests include among others Beatriz Colomina, Nina Gribat, Tilman Reitz, Irit Rogoff, Simon Sheikh and Franciska Zólyom.

The event is supported by HafenCity Hamburg GmbH.