The Karlsruhe students Rosa Deutsch, Lilly Oehler, and Zhou Bingzhen have been awarded the sprint2 scholarship for their project Unser VERLAG. Beginning in January 2026, the team will transform studio hö in downtown Karlsruhe into an open workshop for zines—small, self-made, self-published booklets—over a period of three months.
As part of the project, studio hö will become a space where anyone interested can drop in at any time, contribute their own ideas, or discover what is already there. To this end, the scholarship recipients will set up a workshop supplemented by a reading and exchange corner, a small kiosk, as well as open gatherings and hands-on activities.
The project was selected within the framework of the annual sprint2 scholarship at studio hö, which is awarded to students from Karlsruhe universities and requires the participation of students from at least two different institutions, thereby explicitly encouraging collaboration across artistic and design disciplines. The jury—Yella Hoepfner (Hoepfner Foundation), Blanca Giménez (Department of Cultural Affairs, UNESCO City of Media Arts), Norina Quinte (ato), and Petra Weßbecher (Department of Cultural Affairs)—explains its decision to select Unser VERLAG as follows:
What proved decisive was the clear core idea of transforming studio hö into an open, walk-in publishing space—a place where zines can be created, shared, and discussed as artistic media. The concept is compelling not only for its coherence but also for its strong openness to process: the space remains flexible, responsive to encounters, capable of growing, changing, or assuming new forms. The ongoing possibility for participation—through workshops, spontaneous interventions, or collective production—aligns with studio hö’s core identity as a public, collaborative experimental space.
Especially important to the jury was the media-art dimension of the project, which demonstrates how media art extends far beyond digital technologies such as video, robotics, AI, or screen installations. Media-artistic practice also encompasses cultures of publishing, questions of authorship, the distribution of publicness, strategies of self-representation, forms of networking, and the dissemination of content. This is precisely where Unser VERLAG positions itself. The zine/kiosk project works with media in its original sense: as tools for communication, visibility, and self-empowerment. The studio itself becomes a medium—a place where publicness is produced and shared.
In doing so, Unser VERLAG convincingly connects artistic practice, media research, and social participation—accessible, thoughtful, and deeply rooted in questions of media culture.
The jury is delighted to hand over studio hö for three months beginning next year to Rosa Deutsch (HfG Karlsruhe), Lilly Oehler (State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe), and Zhou Bingzhen (KIT), and looks forward to the many publications, voices, and encounters that will emerge during this time.
About studio hö
studio hö is a production site and exhibition space for media art, photography, and installation in the heart of Karlsruhe. It is a project of the Hoepfner Foundation in cooperation with the Karlsruhe Cultural Office and the UNESCO City of Media Arts office, supported by Hoepfner Bräu Immobilien Verwaltung.
