[a]FA _ [applied] foreign affairs

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[a]FA _ [applied] foreign affairs

The process of relating and making is conceptualized in a reactive and slowed-down manner. Conditions of uncertainty and fragility are embraced.

[APPLIED] FOREIGN AFFAIRS is a trans-disciplinary lab investigating spatial, infrastructural, environmental, and cultural phenomena in rural and urban Sub-Saharan Africa. [applied] Foreign Affairs is a trans-disciplinary lab investigating spatial, infrastructural, environmental and cultural phenomena in rural and urban Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. Each lab project centers on a distinct

question or clear mission and culminates in field trips and residencies through which (applied) research, mappings, rural and urban growth patterns, urban prototypes, imaginary (art) spaces, and relational physical interventions are produced. A series of lectures and talks introduces students to the spatial diversity and cultural vibrancy of the contemporary condition of the respective project context, followed by workshops which focus on the status and potential of a specific region. The outcome of each lab is presented in different formats and contexts.

[A]FA is performed in (experimental) collaboration with international guests, teaching staff of the IoA, and with partner universities. [A]FA is commissioned by NGOs, cultural institutions, artist collectives and individuals.

10/04/2026

We are delighted to be featured in Outdoor Spaces 3/2026 by architektur.aktuell.

The article “Gentle, Sustainable Landing” presents our project Tamale Old Airfield Tree Transplanting.
A special thank you to author Laura Frediani .architektur for the thoughtful contribution.

“Outdoor spaces are moving to the center of architectural practice—not because they are new, but
because they have always been essential. Today, the focus is shifting from buildings as isolated
objects toward a more connected understanding of social, ecological, and material relationships.”
— A***n Lehner, Chief Editor, architektur.aktuell .aktuell

This first realization phase was made possible through the expertise and dedication of Christopher
Leitgeb, Richard Mensah, and the Ghana Forestry Commission team, alongside landscape designer
Kieran Fraser and [A]FA’s Baerbel Mueller and Daniil Zhiltsov.

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[A]FA teams
Concept design: Margit Applegate , Marcella Brunner , Adham
Sinan , Majeeda Umar .jeeda.arch, Daniil Zhiltsov
2024 design: Margit Applegate, Olja Radovanovic , Weichen Zhou , Richard
Mensah , led by Baerbel Mueller and Magdalena Pietryszyn
2025 realization: Baerbel Mueller , Christopher Leitgeb
, Daniil Zhiltsov , Elisabeth Apuseyine ,
Frank Kumah, Kieran Fraser, Richard Mensah
2026 TOA urban furnishing(s): Cheng Lou , Leonie Felger .felger, Samuel Sefah
Amoateng , Yuling Yan , Yunxi Wu .xyz, Richard Mensah

Led by Baerbel Mueller and Abdul-Rauf Issahaque

Collaborators & Donors
.angewandte

Lambert MEP Contractor Ltd. (Ghana)
Kieran Fraser Landscape Design (Austria)
Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly (Ghana)

29/03/2026

On Saturday, February 28th, we had the honor of welcoming Ambassador Regina Rusz ,
General Director for International Cultural Relations at the Austrian Foreign Ministry , together with her colleague Thomas Kloiber , alongside the Ambassador of Austria to Ghana , Jürgen Heissel, and the Director of the newly opened Austrian Cultural Forum Accra , Sandra Gintzberger.

It was especially moving to witness the warm reception by the community, led by Chief Andani. The delegation was welcomed in the presence of the Sagnarigu municipal leadership, as well as the Regional and District Directors of the Ghana Forestry Commission , and the community board.

During the site visit, [A]FA´s head Baerbel Mueller and the project team - Cheng Luo , Leonie Felger .felger , Sefah Amoateng , Yuling Yan , Yunxi Wu .xyz , with Richard Mensah (landscaping) and Abdul-Rauf Issahaque (co-teaching) - presented its ongoing work on urban furnishings at the Tamale Old Airfield, showcasing the designs through a 1:1 mock-up and 1:10 models of each work in progress.

We are deeply grateful for this meaningful exchange and the shared commitment to future collaboration.

Photos:

Gideon Asmah : 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19

Daniil Zhiltsov : 1, 3, 9, 15, 18, 20
angewandte

21/03/2026

OPEN CALL | APPLY NOW!

Applications are now open for "Acupuncturing Accra" taking place between May and November 2026, with an intensive Field Lab in Accra from September 1–23, 2026.
Acupuncturing Accra is a metropolitan-scale research and mapping project commissioned by and developed with the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Accra (FCA), under the umbrella project one50 (2026–2027). Selected participants from the I oA .angewandte , Angewandte , and Ghana, together with Accra-based artists and researchers, will collaboratively identify and document a finite set of urban sites—open spaces that mark specific waypoints where everyday practices, networks, and cultural expressions shape the city’s spatial and social life, in the context of Accra’s 150th anniversary in 2027. In its first phase, the mapping process itself constitutes the lab project’s primary outcome. Through a process of network acupuncturing—walking, photographing, flying drones, scanning, mapping, and drawing—it reveals the city’s latent spatial potentials.

Lead by Baerbel Mueller, with Abdul-Rauf Issahaque in collaboration with FCA and invited guests.

Send your portfolio and bio to: [email protected]

Application Deadline: March 27, 2026

07/03/2026

On Saturday Feb 21, the [A]FA Tamale Old Airfield Urban Furnishing(s) team presented work in progress to the Community Board onsite. The meeting created an important moment to share early design directions and invite direct feedback from community representatives who continue to play a key role in guiding the project’s development.

Chief Andani and his board members responded to the proposals with a mix of fresh ideas, practical insights, and thoughtful warnings based on their everyday experience of the site and neighbourhood. These perspectives helped highlight both opportunities and potential challenges for how seating, shared-use elements, and lighting might function within this evolving public space.

The exchange proved invaluable for the design team. The suggestions and concerns raised during the meeting strongly shaped the following design week, pushing the team to rethink certain approaches and programmatic ideas while expanding others. In this way, the ongoing dialogue with the Community Board continues to ensure that the urban furnishings for the former runway tree transplanted zone are developed in close conversation with those who know the place best.

Design team: Cheng Luo , Leonie Felger .felger , Sefah Amoateng Yuling Yan , Yunxi Wu .xyz , with Richard Mensah (landscaping)

Led by Baerbel Mueller , with Abdul-Rauf Issahaque

.angewandte

Photos: Daniil Zhilsov

22/02/2026

[A]FA and Nuku Studio present:

Sometimes the Goats Know the Way
A trilingual textile installation by Yunxi Wu
22 February – 2 March 2026

Sometimes the Goats Know the Way investigates Tamale’s inner-urban peripheries through poetry embroidered in white thread onto white Kente cloth. Developed under the heat of Tamale’s open urban spaces, the project emerged through walking, listening, and field recording when technical equipment failed. Constraint became method.

The work traces three sites, where communities informally re-appropriate space and infrastructure through everyday practice. Following the movement of goats through the city, the installation reflects on forms of spatial knowledge beyond formal planning: embodied memory, environmental attunement, and oral exchange.

Field poems are presented in Dagbani, English, and Chinese, positioning the three languages as equal anchors in cross-continental dialogue. Translation functions as both bridge and artwork.

The textile triptych embodies the global circuits it references: Kente woven in Ghana from Chinese cotton, embroidered in China with poems written in Tamale, first exhibited in Vienna, and now presented in Ghana. The cloth becomes a tactile archive — portable, circulatory, and embedded in local economies.

This marks the project’s first presentation in Ghana, completing a diasporic cycle. The work has been developed through [A]FA, in partnership with Nuku Studio, and evolved within the AfricaUninet project Tamale’s Inner Urban Ecologies.

Participating institutions
[A]FA, , I oA .angewandte University of Applied Arts Vienna
Nuku Studio - Centre for Photographic Research and Practice, Tamale

28 February 2026, 10:30 – 11:30
Public Reading
With Yunxi Wu, Artist/Curator .xyz .works ; Mariam Issahaka, Cultural Worker

1 March 2026, 10:00 – 11:30
Panel Discussion
From Text to Textuality to Textile
A conversation on language, material, and space Conversation with Yunxi Wu, Barbara Putz Plecko, Alhaji Suleman, Mariam Issahaka

Hosted and moderated by Baerbel Mueller and Nii Obodai

Venue: Nuku Studio, Bank Road, Tamale

20/02/2026

Following the first phase of tree transplantation in May 2025 at the Tamale Old Airfield, this February we are onsite to work on the design of seating and meeting devices — urban furnishings shaped by contextual approaches, and guided by principles of human and non-human cohabitation. Merging material research with landscape design, and body–space investigations with the urban scale, we operate across multiple realms — from the tactile to the urban.
Over three afternoons and evenings, the team conducted a series of 1:1 spatial interventions using chairs and light as primary tools. These temporary configurations operated as full-scale probes — testing proximity, orientation, verticality, shade, exposure, gathering, and pause.

Rather than representing design, they performed it: chairs became placeholders for future platforms. Light became a spatial boundary and counter element to the trees, providing light at night. Bodies became measuring instruments. Working between daylight heat and evening darkness, the team observed how small shifts in position recalibrate spatial experience and social dynamics. These 1:1 testings inform the design process, which will be shared with the community this weekend.
angewandte

Design team: Cheng Luo , Leonie Felger .felger, Sefah Amoateng , Yuling Yan , Yunxi Wu .xyz, with Richard Mensah (landscaping)

Led by Baerbel Mueller , with Abdul-Rauf Issahaque

Photos: Abdul-Rauf Issahaque, Baerbel Mueller, Sefah Amoateng

17/01/2026

ATLAS OF HABITATS: FOREST FICTIONS FINALS

We (almost) wrapped up the Forest Fictions lab project with a final review on Wednesday, joined by guest reviewers Lara Lesmes and Galo Moncayo—thank you for your time and insights!

First and foremost, a huge thanks to our amazing students: You brought your chimeras and the Białowieża Forest to life with incredible creativity!

Video

PRESENTATION
[A]FA, I oA, Angewandte, 14 January 2026, 6-7:30pm

STUDENTS
Kimia Lotfi
Max Groos .groos
Rafał Szczyglowski .aleksander_
Zuzanna Barczyk

GUESTS
Lara Lesmes
Galo Moncayo

[A]FA TEACHING
Baerbel Mueller
Philipp Reinsberg .0

GUEST FACILITATOR
Martina Menegon .menegon

10/01/2026

JOIN US!
ATLAS OF HABITATS: FOREST FICTIONS FINALS

PRESENTATION
14 January 2026, 6-7pm

LOCATION
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Oskar-Kokoschka-Platz 2, Schwanzer Trakt, 3rd floor, Room 309, 1010 Vienna

Kimia Lotfi
Max Groos .groos
Rafał Szczyglowski .aleksander_
Zuzanna Barczyk

GUESTS
Lara Lesmes
Galo Moncayo

[A]FA TEACHING
Baerbel Mueller
Philipp Reinsberg .0
angewandte

10/01/2026

JOIN US!
ATLAS OF HABITATS: FOREST FICTIONS FINALS

PRESENTATION
14 December 2026, 6-7pm

LOCATION
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Oskar-Kokoschka-Platz 2, Schwanzer Trakt, 3rd floor, Room 309, 1010 Vienna

Kimia Lotfi
Max Groos .groos
Rafał Szczyglowski .aleksander_
Zuzanna Barczyk

GUESTS
Lara Lesmes
Galo Moncayo

[A]FA TEACHING
Baerbel Mueller
Philipp Reinsberg .0
angewandte

31/12/2025

[A]FA’s 2025 was bright and grounded — shaped by deep collaborations, at times crazy yet always care-based practices, and shared visions of more-than-human (urban) futures.

We advanced, and successfully concluded, Tamale’s Inner-Urban Ecologies as a major urban research project, supported by an AfricaUninet grant jointly carried out with UDS Tamale and Nuku Studio. We realized the first implementation phase of the Tamale Old Airfield project, where tree transplanting became a tangible act of repair, care, and continuity. We launched Forestry Fictions, exploring speculative, scientific, and narrative approaches to ecologies and beyond human cohabitation.

Throughout the year, we activated research, teaching, and exhibition formats across continents. [A]FA presented and shared work at Nuku Studio in Tamale, the São Paulo Architecture Biennale, and at the Otto Wagner Areal / Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), opening our projects to diverse publics, discourses, and spatial contexts.

We thank our students and lab participants, young talents from around the world, as well as our partnering institutions, donors, and collaborators across disciplines and geographies.

Four individuals deserve special mention: Kush Badhwar co-taught with us, bringing critical and cinematic perspectives into the Tamale projects. The successful realization of the tree transplanting would not have been possible without Christopher Leitgeb .gmbh , whose commitment and expertise enabled this complex process. Elizabeth Apuseyine provided ongoing monitoring and care for the transplanted trees, ensuring their long-term viability and ecological integration. First and foremost, we thank Rosemary Orthner for her unwavering support — connecting us to potential and real donors, and standing by [A]FA with belief in our work.

We move into 2026 with curiosity, responsibility, joy, and a rich project list!

.angewandte .0

19/12/2025

On Sunday, 16 November, we gathered at the Tamale Old Airfield tree transplanted site for a focus group community meeting organized by Baerbel Mueller , Chief Andani and Richard Mensah . The meeting brought together residents from the immediate neighbourhood who hold active roles within the community, offering space to listen carefully to their critical feedback and perspectives on the evolving park. Following Chief Andani’s approach, the exchange began with individual conversations and then unfolded into a collective discussion. This structure fostered an open and relaxed atmosphere in which a range of cross-generational voices could be heard. Beyond reflecting on the current state of the project, the gathering also helped shape a clear, community-driven brief for [A]FA’s urban furnishings design team .angewandte , which will explore seating and shared-use elements for this section of the former runway landscape. The insights and ideas shared will directly inform the design process, ensuring that the emerging public space develops in close dialogue with those who live around it.

Photos
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 – Gideon Asmah
5, 11 – Baerbel Mueller

Adresse

Oskar Kokoschka Platz 2
Wien
1010

Telefon

+431711332331

Webseite

https://appliedforeignaffairs.net/

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