Experimental Pedagogies workshop

‘Vulnerability as a site of collective knowing’ was my contribution to this collaborative workshop about experimental pedagogies for health and care.

The workshop in Vienna brought together scholars, researchers and artists to imagine new interdisciplinary practices of ‘the body as archive’ for teaching and learning.
Organised by Nora Heidorn, Monika Pietrzak-Franger and Maria Morata (15-16 June).

Handout for Experimental Pedagogies, University of Vienna, June 2026.

“We are excited to announce this workshop which will bring together scholars, researchers and artists from different contexts and with varied backgrounds to imagine new pedagogical practices that include the body as archive of affective and sensory experiences and in this way contribute to new insights in teaching and learning. The idea of this workshop is to start building a community and to offer an inspiring space for thinking, learning and exchange, with an emphasis on practice and interdisciplinarity.
We want to create a space where we can be together with our doubts, our questions and the challenges we face in our pedagogical approaches, celebrate the good and enriching teaching moments, and explore new forms of sharing our knowledge that expand teaching in creative ways.”

https://medicalhumanities.univie.ac.at/workshop-experimental-pedagogies-for-health-and-care-16-june-2026/

Workshop aims
> Create a meaningful and in-depth networking opportunity for interdisciplinary scholars and artists who research and teach health, care, and medical humanities in different contexts – from universities and research institutes to museums, galleries, and activist contexts
> Develop the teaching practices and methods of all participants, which they can disseminate in their respective contexts and institutions
> Raise the international profile of medical humanities research at University of Vienna
> Create an interdisciplinary and collaborative space for discourse and practice
> Host researchers and artists at different career stages in a space where everyone contributes on equal terms and can learn from each other
> Think about form as much as about content by prioritising considerations around time,
accessibility, and care, which often fall aside in fast-paced academic environments

Speakers & Participants

Gemma Blackshaw is Professor of Art History at the Royal College of Art (RCA), and Inaugural Academic Associate of the Freud Museum London.

Ren Loren Britton is a trans*disciplinary artist-designer who reverberates with trans*feminism, technosciences, radical pedagogy and disability justice.

Fiona Johnstone is Assistant Professor in Visual Medical Humanities at Durham University where she leads the Visual and Material Lab as part of the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities.

Sofie Layton is an artist, researcher and facilitator with extensive experience in visual health and public engagement.

Lyndsay Mann‘s work centres around voice, drawing from ideas of embodied and extended mind in cognitive philosophy as methods of practice and exchange in time-based practices.

Bernd Oppl is a Vienna-based interdisciplinary artist working across video, photography, sound, and installation.

Kathi Wiedlack is Assistant Professor for Anglophone Cultural Studies at the Department of English and American Studies, University of Vienna.

Conveners:

Nora Heidorn is an interdisciplinary scholar, writer, and curator with a background in curating contemporary art.
nora.heidorn@univie.ac.at

Maria Morata Marco‘s artistic and research practice consider her body as a political entity, and illness as a platform for the creation of art and knowledge through anti-ableist and caring positions.
maria.morata.marco@univie.ac.at

Monika Pietrzak-Franger is Professor of British Cultural and Literary Studies at the University of Vienna and specializes in Medical Humanities, adaptation, transmediality and (neo-)Victorianism.
monika.pietrzak-franger@univie.ac.at

Organisers:
Livvy Helmholz-Vero
Charlotte Peters
Genevieve Smart
Ulrike Zillinger

Schedule:

15.06. 16:45-18:15 at NIG 
Workshop  Opening  with lecture  by  Gemma  Blackshaw:  
“Waiting  with Liliana  Amon  (1892-1939):  A  sick  feminist  art history of attention, affect, and care”

16.06. from 09:00 at SR 6, Kollingasse 14-16 
Soft Opening

09:15 Welcoming remarks

09:30 Guided meditation led by Maria Morata Marco

09:40-11:00  Input  from  speakers  on  Pedagogies  for Teaching Health and Care (15 minutes per talk)

09:45-10:00 Lyndsay Mann
10:05-10:20 Fiona Johnstone
10:25-10:40 Ren Loren Britton
10:45-11:00 Gemma Blackshaw

11:00-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-11:30 Bern Oppl
11:35-11:50 Kathi Wiedlack
11:5-12:05 Nora Heidorn
12:15-12:30 Monika Pietrzak-Franger

12:30-13:00 Group Discussion

13:00-14:30 Lunch Break
13:15-14:44  Rest  in  quiet  room  SR17  at  Kollingasse  or other individual activity

14:00-16:00 Workshop led by Sofie Layton: “Remediating Medical Data – Votive, Amulet or Relic?”

16:00-16:20 Coffee Break

16:20-17:00 Feedback and further plans

17:00-17:30 Closing Ritual with Nora Heidorn and Maria Morata Marco