RWTH Honors Recipients of 2023 Teaching Award
On Friday, Christina Klug from the Department of Visual Arts received the RWTH Teaching Award. Professor Aloys Krieg, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Learning, presented the certificate in a special ceremony.
The architect, who is head of the Ceramics Studio, has been working as a research assistant at the Department of Visual Arts at RWTH Aachen University since 2019. Klug was nominated for the teaching award by the Student Council of the Faculty of Architecture. The University has been recognizing innovative achievements with the Teaching Award since 2001.
Christina Klug teaches and researches at the intersection of manual and digital production methods. She teaches students how to create new shapes and design elements using parametric models and the 3D printer. The material they are working with is ceramics. For her, it is essential that students gain access to – and thus literally grasp – digital production techniques through material practice. Ceramics is a technically challenging material: The liquid deposition modeling process uses a plastic mass that continued to deform after printing. The product is therefore never exactly as specified by the digital model, and identical templates generate different results.
One can sense Klug’s enthusiasm for her vocation when she talks about her work in the Ceramics Studio and, above all, about her work with students. She also wants to pass on this enthusiasm to her students. In particular, she appreciates the interaction with her students, encouraging them to experiment, to think out of the box, to go above and beyond to improve their results, and to reflect on their own work and on themselves.
“At RWTH, I have the opportunity to work with many great young people from all over the world, who bring a wide range of skills and life experiences to the table. A lot of new ideas often emerge from our discussions and that is very enriching for me. It is important to me to provide a space for experimentation and failure and ultimately to learn together with my students,” says Klug. The students benefit from this explorative but scientifically guided approach to complex media and technologies, which is further refined through interdisciplinary collaboration. Ultimately, she wants her students to develop their own positions and confidently develop and pursue their own ideas.