Viewed through the lens of artist and designer Stephan Kraus’s own experience, this research project deals with the neurobiological developmental disorder ADHD. From the standpoint of someone affected, the pathological perception offered by medical and psychological frameworks is understood to be insufficient in adequately accounting for the lived experience of this invisible divergence from ‘normalcy’.
The aim is to develop models of understanding that enable the navigation of this condition of otherness within cultural and social contexts, and adequately deepen the public’s understanding of the disorder. This venture is also based on observations from the field of Disability Studies (Mad Studies), in which the prevailing interpretative portrayals of ADHD as a categorical deficit, or the result of a trend towards overdiagnosis, are similarly problematized.
To develop alternative modes of handling ADHD, Kraus is experimenting with his artistic research method of ‘souveniring’, following the hypothesis that processes of thinking and understanding within ‘souveniring’ appear at times to overlap with, merge into, or run parallel to ADHD symptoms: ADHD thought processes are experienced by Kraus as moving through a landscape in which one is constantly pulled away from established tracks, and has to struggle through thicket and undergrowth which sprawl beyond the usual rational paths; thereby losing one’s orientation, yet simultaneously coming across serendipitous discoveries.
Souveniring, too, can be understood within a model of mental topology: ‘Souvenirs’ come into being as aesthetic objects in a process of trying to grasp complex or abstract situations artistically. Hence, souveniring performs as an artistic practice for linking and arranging different bodies of knowledge, creating unique models of comprehension and mediation. The resulting art objects and texts – as souvenirs of processes of comprehending artistically – might have the potential to deepen the understanding of ADHD and contribute to the academic and wider societal discourse on neurodiversity.
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