Patrick Klügel, Public Engagement Manager

When: May to July 2025

Where: Downtown Tübingen, Lange Gasse 16

Themed-Months: 

• May: Democracy and Europe
• June: Diversity
• July: Future

What: 

• Events
• Exchange
• Consulting and matching
• Co-creation
• Exhibitions
• Surveys
• Coffee and cookies 

Dialogue Bar – the open stand-up party for spontaneous exchange 

Three experts, one moderator, and many interested citizens: that is the recipe for the Dialogue Bar. Regularly exciting questions were discussed in an accessible way, contacts were made, and perspectives were shared over snacks. Topics covered by the Dialogue Bar included AI and education, participation, and democracy.

The MUT at ECKSTEIN 

Objects have history and stories: The provenance researchers at the Museum of the University of Tübingen (MUT), Dr. des. Annika Vosseler and Dr. Anne Kremmer, visited ECKSTEIN every week and discussed questions about the origin of objects with citizens: Where do the objects in museums come from? Should they even be there? Where do they actually belong? Exciting objects were found not only in museum display cases, but also in people's own living rooms, holding many interesting stories.

Science Snack

Science Snack combined intellectual and physical nourishment: at lunchtime, there were small snacks, a short keynote speech, and an open discussion. Topics included power, visibility, and diversity in science, a citizen science project at the Botanical Garden, CV research, Civis, and participatory democracy at the local level.

The Verein der Freunde des Zimmertheaters e.V. at ECKSTEIN

The Freunde des Tübinger Zimmertheaters have been supporting the theater for many years—both financially and ideologically. Their mission: to support the small but mighty municipal theater in its artistic endeavors. Over the course of 66 years, the theater has distinguished itself through its bold contemporary approach. Modernity and openness to aesthetic experimentation make the Zimmertheater a unique institution in Tübingen's cultural life. 

They were involved in ECKSTEIN as cooperation partners. With regular events focusing on theater, texts, and poetry, or cultural value, they sought encounters and exchanges with the diverse audiences of Tübingen. 

Highlight: Écorché! Anatomy of Dance 

Friedemann Vogel dances and talks about ‘different’ aesthetics Talk / Exhibition / Performance 

A dance performance as a research project? Ballet dancer Friedemann Vogel teamed up with the Tübingen Collaborative Research Center Different Aesthetics to embark on an experiment: Échorché! Anatomy of Dance. With a scientifically conceived and choreographed dance performance, he shows how fruitful the collaboration between aesthetic research and artists can be. 

An exhibition at ECKSTEIN showed the performance for a week as a film and through photographs taken during the performance in the Old Anatomy Building at the University of Tübingen. 

In addition, there was a vernissage with Friedemann Vogel and scientists from the Collaborative Research Center Other Aesthetics present. The event highlighted the creation of the performance and the potential of “artist in residence” collaborations. Afterwards, there was an opportunity to chat with Friedemann Vogel and the scientists over snacks and cold drinks. 

Highlight: Campus magazine Kupferblau at ECKSTEIN – Patient Local Journalism: Death or Rebirth?!

Under this title, the student campus magazine “Kupferblau” discussed issues surrounding local journalism with the Tübingen community and representatives from the media and academia: Why is local journalism (not) consumed? Which topics are of particular interest to the people of Tübingen, and which are missing? And is democracy threatened by the decline of local journalism? The discussion, which took the form of an open editorial meeting, was also attended by media researcher PD Dr. Ulrich Hägele, Moritz Siebert  from the “Schwäbisches Tagblatt” newspaper, and Viktoria Beatrice from the Instagram account “Stadtkind Tübingen”, who joined all participants around the table to seek constructive solutions.

Highlight: A live radio broadcast at ECKSTEIN – Blackout: how do we prepare?

On December 13, 2024, there was a power outage in large parts of the university town of Tübingen, and on April 28 and 29, 2025, there was a 16-hour blackout on the Iberian Peninsula. Refrigeration chains in the food industry were disrupted, factories and even nuclear power plants had to be shut down. Whether in Spain or Tübingen, power outages in the digital world are a real crisis that can affect society as a whole. 

Backgrounds, consequences, tips for preparation, and insights into practice and research: PD Dr. Ulrich Hägele  (Center for Media Competence) discussed these topics for Radio Micro-Europa with experts David Burkhardt from THW, Felix Bessler from Stadtwerke Tübingen, media scientist Laura Mitlewski, and Friedrich Gabel (International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities) from the University of Tübingen and Tübingen citizens in a participatory radio program produced live at ECKSTEIN. The program can be found on the Freies Radio Wüste Welle website.

Visitors to ECKSTEIN could always stay up to date via the Instagram channel engage.tuebingen. Even after the official end of the pop-up store, things continue online over there: exciting insights into research, information about events to participate in, and so much more!

Follow us on Instagram so you don't miss a thing! @engage.tuebingen