AFFAIRS In German it is not often that you hear about affairs without there being some mention of scandal, dangerous scheming or sexual relations. A sneaky search on the internet throws up many sites such as ‘search for a partner, with photos’ or ‘relationship over? alone?’. Not a bad clue as to the topic of this first edition of the design department magazine of the‘Fachhochschule Dortmund’ technical college. Relationships, emotional and sexual relations, elective affinities and the madness they involve when you fall for someone. This is a topic but also a concept. Is it possible to make judgements based on such ‘subjective’ feelings, to make fair judgements about the spiritual and creative capabilities of another person? As we know: gut instincts can cause us to fall in love but not to make judgements about Newton’s optics, Brüstle’s stem cell research or Botero’s series of paintings. But things are always changing. Even the modern history of science is familiar with the hollow sounds of certain objectivity postulates whether they relate to discoveries in natural science or interpretations in cultural science and aesthetics. In the meantime, the history of science contains sufficient analysis of art that we now hear about the affairs of the researchers, philosophers and artists who are now famous. And this doesn’t mean that they had something going on with their housekeeper or pastor, but instead with their research and work, their topics and subjects. And the reason they were so successful in their field is because they invested so much in their work – which is what characterises intense affairs. – Indeed, it is an approach to thought and recounting. One of many. And understandably, anyone who believes that Einstein or Picasso were so creative because of their many affairs also believes the same of their own judgements – that it is only possible to convincingly access the work of another creator by having an affair with him. The concept of this book is influenced by similar considerations. We don’t want to release any documentation or list of works produced in the department over the last few years. Instead, we have searched for affairs. Affairs between the different media, affairs between different forms and the bringing forth of creativity. Affairs between individual works which have never come into such close contact with one another until they appeared together in this book. If it’s not love at first sight, a search for a suitable partner before the affair is often enough. Then the affair begins; what happens beforehand is perhaps less to do with libido and more to do with effort. In our case, in the case of a group publication, which is not an art book, a desirable relationship was sought in accordance with suitable criteria. And then to illustrate the special relationships according to the works – where possible being evident, conceptional and visual. With no great explanation. But of course: in the long run, the affair team is responsible for the relationship sought. In the end, we brought the various works together. Sceptics will say they were forced marriages and that the participants were not consulted. We find that we couldn’t achieve anything if the participants didn’t have anything to do with each other. There were also no hard and fast criteria to determine our views of a possible union. Instead, we identified a type of family similarity which was then documented with a work concept. The chapters of the book are derived from these similarities. The proof of the pudding will be that it is tasted. We have also improved on the taste a little. Pictures with texts. The chapters are framed with texts which represent different categories – like the graphics, photography, film, object and interior design and new media – which they precede. Tests and images together should brighten up the affairs we hope will happen. Of course, all affairs claim to be lively. And new loves may result. We are looking forward to the next edition. That makes one, two, three new magazines. – We’d like to thank everyone who has worked with us and supported us. The affairs team