ABOUT
Applied Studies in Art, Science, Philosophy, and Global Challenges
The department Cross-Disciplinary Strategies (CDS) offers a practice-based BA and MA study programme.
At CDS, students, artists, scholars, and civil communities work together to create an open space in which experimental projects and research come to life.
Cross-Disciplinary Strategies allows students to work on global challenges by interweaving perspectives from three study areas: (i) artistic strategies and art perception, (ii) science and technology, and (iii) economics and politics. CDS understands this collaboration as a basic precondition to finding practical solutions. In this way, CDS emphasises the intellectual practice of cross-disciplinarity and the transformative potential of engaging across different positions with diverse stakeholders.
STAFF
Senior Scientist, Mag. M.Phil.
Christian Höller heads the CDS Department. He runs the Master CDC Lab and supervises MA theses. Additionally, he initiates and develops exhibition projects for MA’s related to specific annual topics.
Christian Höller is editor of springerin – Hefte für Gegenwartskunst and has written extensively on art and cultural theory. Between 2002 and 2007, he was Visiting Professor at the École supérieure des beaux-arts in Geneva. Since 2018, he has been teaching at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
He has further curated several film programs, including:
- Pop Unlimited? (2000) and No Wave New York 1976–84 (2010) at the International Short FilmFestival Oberhausen
- Scan Scroll Surf – Digital Film Aesthetics Today (2014), Third from the Sun. Views and Prospects of the Anthropocene (2019) and Network Explosion (2022) at mumok Vienna.
Senior Artist, Mag.art. BArch
At CDS — after working with the BA students in the Application Lab in the past — Adnan Balcinovic currently focuses on courses about the role of artistic strategies such as reproduction, copying, repetition, and appropriation in cross-disciplinary practices.
Adnan Balcinovic further supports BA students in creating and continuously working on a study journal in the framework of the Program Related Reflection. This is a tool that documents the skills acquired, projects carried out, but also failures and dreams textually and visually. He also supports BA finalists in setting up a common ground for the presentation/installation/exhibition of the practical application of their BA thesis.
Adnan Balcinovic is an artist. In his artistic practice he deals with serial production in relation to moving images. Adnan works mainly with found materials and searches for concepts, structures, and patterns. Important terms for his artistic practice are repetition, reproduction, and presentation. As part of his artistic research and work, he is currently looking a lot at clouds, and depiction of clouds.
Senior Lecturer, Mag. PhD
At CDS, Gudrun Ratzinger co-leads the Application Lab, focusing on the themes of “Forecast” (2024/25) and “Witnessing” (2025/26). She also teaches the Program Related Reflection course, supervises bachelor’s theses within the framework of the Finalist Lab, and guides a transdisciplinary student project as part of the Sustainability Challenge.
Gudrun Ratzinger is a cultural scientist and curator. She studied art history at the University of Vienna and cultural studies at the University of Arts Linz. Her doctoral thesis examined the potential of installation- and object-based representations of history in contemporary art. Prior to joining CDS, she worked at Kunsthalle Wien, the Generali Foundation, the Wien Museum and the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology.
Her independent curatorial projects lie at the intersection of contemporary art, everyday culture, and cultural studies.
Yona Catrina Schreyer
Senior Scientist, MAS
At CDS, Yona Catrina Schreyer co-leads the CDC Application Lab, focusing on the themes of “Forecast” (2024/25) and “Witnessing” (2025/26). She also teaches the scientific seminar Politics, Economics, Global Changes with a focus on current urban transformations. She supervises bachelor’s theses within the framework of the CDC Finalist Lab.
Yona Catrina Schreyer is a spatial researcher and practitioner. She has studied architecture in Munich, Milan, and Ahmedabad and is currently pursuing her doctoral research at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Prior to joining CDS, she has been working, teaching, and conducting research projects at various international institutions. She has been teaching at the University of Applied Arts since 2020.
Yona Catrina Schreyer’s activities explore the relation between people and place, and how societal dynamics, norms, and forms refract in the design of the built environment. With her collective So.No Società Nomade, she develops critical spatial practices in order to achieve interdisciplinary experimental pedagogies and alternative design methods in the realm of urban commons, social infrastructures, care, and empowerment.
Lisa Stuckey
Senior Scientist, MMag. Dr.
At CDS, Lisa Stuckey co-leads the Application Lab with the research focus “Forecast” (2025) and “Witnessing” (2025/26). Furthermore, she offers the course Program Related Reflection and supervises Bachelor theses within the framework of the Finalist Lab.
Lisa Stuckey is an art and cultural studies researcher. Her interests revolve around contemporary visual cultures, forensic art practices, the moving image, media aesthetics, and tribunalization phenomena. Before joining CDS, she has been working at Angewandte since 2021 (Media Theory, Cultural Studies, Applied Human Rights, Zentrum Fokus Forschung).
With a junior fellowship from the International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK), Lisa Stuckey pursued her doctorate in philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. For her dissertation Law on Trial on “Investigative Aesthetics,” she received the Austrian State Prize “Award of Excellence 2021.”
University Assistant, Mag.rer.nat.
At CDS, Tanja Traxler teaches a range of topics within science and technology studies and supervises BA theses in this field.
Tanja Traxler’s cross-disciplinary work bridges science, philosophy, the arts, and society. Trained as a theoretical quantum physicist, her research, writing, and teaching have expanded from foundational explorations in quantum physics to broader inquiries in science and technology studies. Her work addresses gender issues, intercultural perspectives, and historical contexts.
Tanja Traxler’s research and teaching, rooted in quantum physics, reach beyond disciplinary boundaries, engaging with themes such as the nature of space and time, ethical challenges arising from scientific advances, and the philosophical foundations of science. Central to her approach is a dedication to cross-disciplinary research that combines the sciences, philosophy, and the arts.
At CDS, Andrea Nejo is responsible for the department’s organisational and administrative tasks. She coordinates the educational activities for students and lecturers.
She has a training background in economy and public administration and has organised curatorial projects of African media art before joining Cross-Disciplinary Strategies.
MA Students
Khadisha Dabayeva
Aimée Kohn
BA Students
Kyra Krencioch
Tara Momeni
LECTURERS
Bandi, Nina Univ.-Lekt. BA, MA
Boris Buden, Univ.-Lekt. Dr.phil.
Crawford, Ryan Univ.-Lekt. BA, MA, PhD
Fabian Elbaky, Univ.-Lekt. B.A., B.A., M.A.
Gheorghita, Lucian Viorel Univ.-Lekt. MSc
Hochenauer, Peter Univ.-Lekt. BA MSc
Brigitte Krenn, Univ.-Lekt. Mag. Dr.
Ludwig List, Univ.-Lekt. MA., MSc.
Monika Mokre, Univ.-Lekt. Dr. PD
Manfred Nowak, Sen.Lect., Univ.-Lekt. Univ.-Prof. Dr. LLM
Elisabeth Oberzaucher, Univ.-Lekt. Mag. Dr.rer.nat.
Birgit Peterson, Univ.-Lekt. Mag.rer.nat.
Sophia Rut, Univ.-Lekt. MSc
Schlüter, Jan Univ.-Lekt. Dr.
Sepehr, Pouya Univ.-Lekt. MA, MA, PhD
CDS Studio and Offices
Cross-Disciplinary Strategies
Expositur Georg-Coch-Platz (= PSK)
Georg-Coch-Platz 2, first floor
Institute of Arts and Society
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Vienna, Austria
