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Dusts Institute

Dusts Institute is an interdisciplinary research platform and community agency based in Vienna

24/04/2026

LIGHTCATCHING WORKSHOP The evening workshops invited participants to experience the park after dark differently, not only as a human space, but as a shared habitat shaped by many forms of life. Guided by the light intervention, we slowed down and tuned into nocturnal biodiversity, noticing how small changes in light can shift what becomes visible.

A key moment was observing insects through a simple light-trapping setup. As the UV light hit the white fabric, insects began to appear slowly, one by one. Not in large numbers, but in quiet, fragile encounters.

This absence of abundance made each appearance more noticeable. It became less about counting species and more about recognising how delicate these ecosystems are, and how strongly light influences them.

Together, we reflected on how everyday urban lighting shapes nocturnal life and how it is unfolding directly in front of us.

Photos: Wirtschaftsagentur Wien Esel.at Joanna Pianka
Supported by
Part of .wien

Workshop leaders: .autischer.drawings

11/04/2026

A device for nocturnal encounters

As part of Licht für Vielfalt, we developed a simple tool: a light catcher.

It’s based on a well-known scientific method used in entomology using short wavelengths of light to attract nocturnal flying insects onto a white surface, where they can be observed without harm.

We adapted this principle into a participatory device.
During three evening workshops, visitors can gather around it together with an insect specialist, watching how different species respond to light in real time.

The device follows the same design language as the whole project,
patterns derived from the movement of moths around light.

What interested us was how a scientific method could become something you actually experience. Instead of observing from a distance, you’re standing there together, watching what happens. Insects arriving, reacting, moving through the light.
Within our workshops we are creating a moment where you slow down, get curious, and encounter nocturnal life up close.

—

📍 Jutta-Steier Park
📅 Workshops: 17.4. / 26.4. / 9.5.

Free & open to everyone

Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Klima Biennale Wien
Supported by
DesignResearch Vienna

06/04/2026

LICHT FÜR VIELFALT - Light for Biodiversity

Jutta-Steier Park is already a biodiverse place. With Light für Vielfalt we wanted to highlight what is already happening there but often goes ignored.

The intervention combines two layers:
a changed light spectrum and site-specific knowledge.

Along the path, 14 lamps tell 14 different stories.
Each one reflects a specific way light pollution affects local nocturnal biodiversity and together, they form the underlying reason for this project.

The information boards extend this experience.
They translate these stories into a visual language inspired by movement; patterns derived from how insects actually move around light.

—

📍 Jutta-Steier Park
📅 9.4.–10.5.2026

Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Klima Biennale Wien
Supported by
Graphic design:

MoreThanHuman Vienna DesignResearch

05/04/2026

LIGHT RECLAIMED

The intervention in Jutta-Steier Park works directly with the existing street lamp.

Each of the 14 lamps is fitted with a system of two custom filters and info board.
Together, they shift the light spectrum while carrying a second layer of meaning: Every filter contains an engraved pattern which symbolises
a unique flight path of a different moth species.

These patterns follow the design language of the project:
movement translated into geometry, non-human trajectories becoming visible gesture.

During the day, the engravings appear as quiet drawings on the surface of the filters.
But at night, they begin to emerge When you look into the light (while eyes slightly narrowed) the patterns reveal themselves within the glow.

A trace of movement inside the light itself.

Each lamp becomes both a functional object and a carrier of a specific story;
14 lights, 14 site-specific species, 14 trajectories of attraction.

A reminder that even the most ordinary infrastructure
can hold invisible relationships to the all beings that lives around it.

—

📍 Jutta-Steier Park
📅 9.4.–10.5.2026

Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Klima Biennale Wien
Supported by

DesignResearch MoreThanHuman Vienna

04/04/2026

DRAWN TO LIGHT
design informed by disorientation and attraction of non-human

At night, moths don’t move randomly.
Their flight follows invisible rules guided by natural light sources like the moon. But in cities, artificial light disrupts this orientation system, pulling them into repetitive, spiraling paths around street lamps.

What we often perceive as chaotic is in fact a precise, light-driven choreography.
A movement pattern caused by light pollution.

With Licht für Vielfalt, we began here:
by observing these flight paths, trying to understand them, and translating them into design language.

We mapped the trajectories of moths circling around light sources.
Looping, orbiting, collapsing inward; as traces of a non-human experience of the city.

These movements became the foundation of our design language.
The patterns used in the filters and our information graphics are directly derived from these mapped trajectories; a visual imprint of how insects inhabit artificial light.

—

📍 Jutta-Steier Park
📅 9.4.–10.5.2026

Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Klima Biennale Wien
Gefördert

MoreThanHuman LightPollution DesignResearch UrbanEcology

02/04/2026

Jutta-Steier Park at nigh; a habitat shaped by light

Jutta-Steier Park is already an important refuge for nocturnal insects. Its existing lighting conditions including partial night-time darkness allow many species to remain active, feed, and navigate through the night.

But even low levels of artificial light can disrupt these fragile ecosystems. Many nocturnal insects, especially moths, are highly sensitive to specific parts of the light spectrum. Short wavelengths, particularly ultraviolet and blue light strongly attract them, pulling them away from their natural behaviors such as pollination, feeding, and reproduction.

With Licht für Vielfalt, we work directly with this phenomenon.
Instead of adding new infrastructure, we transform the existing park lighting through a minimal, reversible intervention.

Special optical filters are temporarily attached to the park’s lamps. These filters selectively remove short wavelengths from the light spectrum, significantly reducing its attraction to nocturnal insects, while maintaining visibility and safety for visitors.

The result is a shift in how light behaves in the environment,
from attracting and disturbing → to coexisting and supporting.

This intervention invites us to reconsider a simple question:
What if urban lighting didn’t only serve humans but also respected the rhythms of other species?

—

📍 Jutta-Steier Park
📅 9.4.–10.5.2026

Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Klima Biennale Wien
supported by Wirtschaftsagentur Wien

Vienna

01/04/2026

LICHT FÜR VIELFALT (Light for Biodiversity)

Our contribution to the Klima Biennale Wien 2026 explores a dimension of the city that often remains unseen: the biodiversity of the night.

From 9.4.–10.5.2026, Licht für Vielfalt transforms Jutta-Steier-Park into a temporary observation site for nocturnal urban life. Developed by Dusts Institute, the project investigates how artificial light affects insects and other night-active species.

By adding specially designed optical filters to existing park lighting, we subtly shift the light spectrum to reduce disturbance for nocturnal insects—while maintaining visibility and safety for visitors. The park becomes a space to experience light differently and to reflect on how urban environments are shared across species.

Join us for three public evening workshops, where we explore the night together with scientists and observe insects through light-based methods:

📍 17.4.2026 9PM
📍 26.4.2026 9PM
📍 9.5.2026 9PM

Licht für Vielfalt
Project by Dusts Institute
Project team: Adam Hudec, Natalia Štundová , Antonia Autischer .autischer.drawings , Mario Oswald
Supported by SozialBau AG, WUK

Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Klima Biennale Wien 2026
wien

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