About us
TWIMC
We are TWIMC — a group of planners and designers from the fields of architecture, design, art, cultural studies and urban research. Together we develop participation formats and instruments for the design of living environments. On our own initiative or on commission, we create social spaces and situations that provide a basis for further planning.
With our participatory design approach, we want to enable people to better understand the conditions in which they live and to perceive them as collectively and democratically shapeable and changeable. We see participation not only as a powerful method but also as an urgently needed practice for a profound examination of the present and for exploring our expectations of the future.
Our practice is process-oriented and open in regards to the outcome. It can result in concrete objects, interventions, exhibition projects, publications or discourse.
Maike Fraas studied and taught design at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. Currently she teaches at the HBKsaar in Saarbrücken. Her work focuses on participatory processes with an emphasis on urbanism and public space. In addition, she works on various design issues, exhibition formats and collections. With the Initiative Kultur/Block e.V., an artistic planning initiative in the large housing estate Halle-Neustadt, and Mio e.V., she initiated and facilitated various exhibition, participation and publication projects in Halle-Neustadt.
Maik Ronz studied architecture and urban planning in Cottbus, Graz and Copenhagen. As part of his artistic practice he realises projects in public space and works as an architecture mediator. As such he conducts workshops and courses for architectural education to raise awareness for our built environment. In Plovdiv, Bulgaria, together with Martin Kaltwasser and Anna Kokalanova, he initiated participatory art projects in Stolipinovo, the largest Roma-inhabited district in the Balkans. Maik has been teaching at universities in Germany and Norway. Currently he is teaching at the Fine Art department at the TU Dortmund together with Martin Kaltwasser.
Anna Kokalanova studied architecture at the Bauhaus University Weimar and urban planning at the HafenCity University Hamburg. After her research on the segregated Roma settlement Fakulteta in Sofia, Anna is currently working on her doctoral thesis on “Arrival Infrastructures: Spatial Practices of Bulgarian Roma in Berlin”. Her practical experience includes project coordination at the International Building Exhibition IBA Hamburg GmbH. Anna is a research assistant at the Department of Design and Building Planning at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Irmela Wrogemann studied Cultural Studies at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg and Communication in Social and Economic Contexts at the University of the Arts Berlin. She has been responsible for the communication and production of various art projects, i.a. for the curated art process of the International Garden Exhibition Berlin 2017. In addition, she regularly conducts Design Thinking & Art Thinking workshops to demonstrate how organisations can learn from artists and designers. Cultural communication, creative problem solving, and human-centred design are some of Irmela’s key qualifications.