Stephan Kraus (1995, DE) explores sociopolitical topics through conceptual processes involving various artistic media. The resulting objects, compositions and images are regarded as souvenirs of a mental journey, and the research method, developed as their MA thesis in communication design at HAW Hamburg (2022), is accordingly called ‘Souveniring’.
His current research practice focuses (methodologically) on the epistemic potential of neurodivergent thinking and (regarding subject matter) on an exploration of ways of engagement with otherness and moments of de-identification (within rural contexts).
Stephan works as a freelance graphic and sound designer. Their artistic work was most recently displayed in the exhibition ‘Schicht&&Gewebe’ at Raum Linksrechts gallery (2024) and he regularly participates in various projects such as ‘SoUnD’ for the astrochemistry department at Leiden University or ‘Speculative Space’ at HAW Hamburg. His writing on their research topic resulted in essays published in SPECOLOGY (adocs, 2023) and Designabilities 08: Design Detours (designforschung.org, 2025