The Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« aims to create a basis for a new culture of materials. The central vision of the Cluster is to rediscover the analog in the activity of images, spaces and materials in the age of the digital. Biology and technology, mind and material, nature and culture intertwine in a new way.
＿matter Festival 2025
Beetle Galleries in Spruce Wood. Photo: Pelin Asa, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Matters of Activity, 2024
Matter shapes our existence, although we tend to forget about its activity in everyday life. The ＿matter Festival 2025 shines a new light on material agencies. We invite you to explore exhibitions, workshops and debates at 12 venues across Berlin. Discover the program spanning from April to October here! Learn
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»Syntopolis« reef prototype in STARESO, Rasa Weber & Atelier Marie Drouet. Photo: Till Timmermann, 2024
2.5.2025–16.5.2025
What if the Ocean Were a City?
Exhibition and Interactive Program
Design researcher and diver Rasa Weber takes on the challenge of creating an artificial reef in the river Spree, a project she calls »Syntopolis«. Streamed into the re:future lab, the reef will transform the institute’s exhibition space into an immersive aquatic habitat for encounters, experiences, and reflections on shared ecological futures. The registration for the interactive program such as a boat cruise is now open!
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Still of MAKING Artificial Reefs with Rasa Weber. Copyright: Matters of Activity
30.1.2025
MAKING Artificial Reefs
This Episode of MoA Mini Documentary Series Highlights the Work of Rasa Weber
Ever wondered what it takes to build a reef — underwater? Rasa Weber does just that, diving into the depths with hammers and screwdrivers to create Syntopolis, a city-like structure designed for anyone who wants to call it home. In the latest episode of Making, join Rasa as she explores the fascinating world of artificial reefs, their environmental impact, and the challenges of constructing them. From sustainable design to marine conservation, this project could be one step in shaping the future of our oceans for the better. Watch the full episode now to see how innovation meets nature!
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Film Still taken from a film by Oula A. Valkeapää. Still: Oula A. Valkeapää, 2021
10.4.2025–13.7.2025
Johtingeaidnu – The Path Within
Exhibition, Talk and Tours
»Johtingeaidnu – The Path Within« is the first program highlight of the ＿matter Festival 2025. The exhibition at Schering Stiftung brings together two worlds: reindeer nomadism in the Arctic Sápmi region and the bioscience of epigenetics. Drawing on living relations within contemporary reindeer worlds and bioscientific research, the exhibition at materializes a world in which epigenetic memories are not only shared between humans but carried within ancestral migratory paths, called ›Johtingeaidnu‹. The exhibition opens on April 10th, 2025, 6:00 pm, followed by a conversation between artist Emilia Tikka and Miriam Liedvogel (Director Institute of Avian Research, Wilhelmshaven) on April 11th.
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On Berlin Winters and Shared Memories of Humans and Animals
Studio Visit Emilia Tikka. Photo: Molnar for Berlin Art Link
In preparation for the ＿matter Festival 2025's first opening – the exhibition »Johtingeaidnu – The Path Within« by MoA Associated Member and artist-researcher Emilia Tikka with reindeer herder Oula A. Valkeapää and artist-researcher Leena Valkeapää, Berlin Art Link made a visit to Tikka's studio in Kreuzberg, discussing her speculative project ›Johtingeaidnu‹. The rather harsh Berlin winters are also discussed in Tagesspiegel, when Robert Klages writes about Emilia Tikka's research travels between the Finnish village of Kilpisjärvi (part of the Arctic Sápmi region) and Berlin-Kreuzberg. Her exhibition project is on display at Schering Stiftung, starting April 10th at 6:00 pm.
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Latent Accumulations: Walking Along Paraffin Pollution at Nida Coastline. Film still: Anna Luise Schubert 2025
9.5.2025–31.5.2025
Latent Accumulations
Exhibition, Roundtable and Workshop
Paraffin pollution is a recurring concern in coastal environments, yet one that is inherently difficult to detect and classify. The exhibition »Latent Accumulations« at Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin traces the elusive activity of this material. It gives insights into site-specific research processes that connect material investigations with local experiences and memories of shifting landscapes.
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Samples of woven cotton cloth dyed with mud (vouwo), Adama Séré - Marka-Dafing master dyer, 2020. Photo: Salif Sawadogo 2020
16.5.2025–6.7.2025
Fermenting Textiles – Weaving Together Traditional Craft, Anthropology, Microbiology and Art
Exhibition and Talks
»Fermenting Textiles« explores the fermentation of textiles in mud and plant material. The exhibition at Art Laboratory Berlin connects anthropology, microbiology, and art through the engagement of artisans, anthropologists, scientists, and artists and mirrors the multi-species collaborations that are integral to the mud dyeing process.
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Ailanthus altissima, Musée national d’histoire naturelle Luxembourg, title: Specimen № 15467, MNHNL 2000, license: CC BY 4.0, color and framing of this image were modified
13.5.2025–28.6.2025
Vegetal Companions: Arts, Sciences and Temporalities of Co-Existence
Exhibition, Workshops, Audio Walk and Movie Night
Focusing on the agency of plant and tree collectives and their ability to shape entire ecologies, »Vegetal Companions« aims to critically reposition conventional human-centered concepts that highlight control and mastery over nature. In a close dialog with the botanical garden of Späth-Arboretum, »Vegetal Companions« explores different forms of knowledge creation, be it soil as archive, art as research, or philosophy as gardening.
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11.4.2025
MoA Co-Director Peter Fratzl New Member of Leopoldina
The Renowned Materials Scientist was Elected to the Mathematics, Natural and Technical Sciences Class
We are delighted to congratulate Peter Fratzl on his admission to the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In this new role, the renowned materials scientist will work with his colleagues in the Physics Section and beyond to achieve the two goals of the Leopoldina: representing the German scientific community internationally, and providing policymakers and the public with science-based advice. We wish our Co-Director all the best for this important position!
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The eight most common biological structural design elements (from upper left to lower right): Fibrous: high tensile strength in one direction, minimal compressive strength; Helical: toughness in multiple directions, in-plane isotropy; Gradient: gradual property transition to reduce interfacial stress, enhancing toughness; Layered: complex composites that improve toughness, especially in brittle materials; Cellular: lightweight porous structures for stress distribution and energy absorption, often in sandwich forms; Tubular: organized porosity for energy absorption and crack deflection; Overlapping: layered plates or scutes for flexible, often armored surfaces. In the center, a 3D printer is shown schematically; Suture: interdigitating interfaces for controlled strength and flexibility (figure inspired by: Naleway et al. 2015). Figure by Konrad Eyferth.
5.1.2025
A Bio-Inspired Perspective on Materials Sustainability
New Article Emphasizes Importance of Interdisciplinary Collaboration For Developing a Sustainable and Resilient Materials Economy
The article by Wolfgang Wagermaier, together with Cluster member Peter Fratzl and Alumni Associate Khashayar Razghandi, explores materials sustainability through a bio-inspired lens and discusses paradigms that can reshape the understanding of material synthesis, processing, and usage. It addresses various technological fields, from structural engineering to healthcare, and emphasizes natural material cycles as a blueprint for efficient recycling and reuse. The study shows that material functionality depends on both chemical composition and structural modifications, which emphasizes the role of material processing. The article identifies strategies such as mono-materiality and multifunctionality and explores how responsivity, adaptivity, modularity, and cellularity can simplify material assembly and disassembly. It concludes by emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration as a key factor for developing a sustainable and resilient materials economy in harmony with nature’s material cycles.
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Open Space Event, 9 November 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity
MoA's Showroom and Workspace
With the »Activarium«, we want to actively engage with potential partners from the industry, start-ups, NGOs, politics and society as a whole to initiate an exploratory exchange on active materials, bio- & culture-inspired innovation as well as sustainability approaches. We want visitors to experience our prototypes to make MoA’s intentions and research tangible and accessible. The »Activarium« serves as a work-in-progress showcase of different research strands and processes. Our visitors can dive into the research as it's happening before its published results.
Walk in and experience the »Activarium« Thursdays, 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm! If you are a group of more than 5 people or if the opening hours do not fit your schedule, please contact us via moa.activarium [at] hu-berlin.de!
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Bacterial Cellulose: Co-Weaving Biofilms. Copyright: Bastian Beyer
10.4.2025–2.11.2025
Bauhaus Ecologies
Installation »Bacterial Cellulose: Co-Weaving Biofilms« Featured at Exhibition in Dessau
Was the historic Bauhaus interested in ecology? Presumably in a different context than today. The exhibition »Bauhaus Ecologies«, on view from April 11th to November 2nd, 2025 at Bauhaus Museum Dessau, explores approaches to ecological thinking in modern design. We are thrilled to share that the exhibition also features the installation »Bacterial Cellulose: Co-Weaving Biofilms« developed in the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«. The project of architects Bastian Beyer and Iva Rešetar and microbiologist Regine Hengge presents the latest results of research at the interface between design, materials science, and biology.
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Automated elevator system for harvesting BC. Detail of fig. 6 in: N. Rackov, N. Janßen, A. Akkache, B. Drotleff, B. Beyer, E. Scoppola, N.E. Vrana, R. Hengge, C.M. Bidan, S. Hathroubi, in: Bacterial cellulose: Enhancing productivity and material properties through repeated harvest, in: Biofilm Volume 9, June 2025, 100276, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioflm.2025.100276
14.4.2025
Enhancing Productivity and Material Properties Through Repeated Harvest
New Paper on Bacterial Cellulose Out Now
Bacterial cellulose (BC), a promising versatile biopolymer produced by bacteria, has immense potential in various industries. However, large-scale application is hindered by high production costs and low yields. This study introduces an innovative approach combining a prolonged static culturing with intermittent harvesting. The findings by the interdisciplinary team, which also included Cluster members Bastian Beyer, Cécile Bidan, Regine Hengge, and Skander Hathroubi, highlight the potential of intermittent harvesting for sustainable BC production and the role of bacterial adaptation in tuning BC properties.
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Microverse III-3, 2025 © Kathrin Linkersdorff
20.3.2025–8.6.2025
Microverse
Photographs Created by Kathrin Linkersdorff in Collaboration with Regine Hengge Exhibited at Haus am Kleistpark
Circularity and sustainability of material flows are hallmarks of intact ecosystems. This principle has now been stunningly visualized in ultrahigh resolution, large format photographs - the MICROVERSE series - created by Kathrin Linkersdorff in collaboration with Regine Hengge, Professor for Microbiology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The exhibition at Haus am Kleistpark (Berlin-Schöneberg) will be on view until June 8th, 2025.
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Drawing Together, Judith M. Dobler. Copyright: Kulturverlag Kadmos
31.1.2025
Drawing Together – Zeichnen als kollaborative Wissenspraxis
Publikation von Judith M. Dobler erschienen
Kollaborative Praktiken stehen hoch im Kurs. Sie treten als kollektive, kooperative, kokreative und partizipative Zusammenarbeit in den unterschiedlichsten Diskursen und Wissenspraktiken hervor: in Unternehmen, Organisationen oder Feldern der Technologie, Wissenschaft, Kunst und Gestaltung. Judith Marlen Dobler untersucht in »Drawing Together« die Wissenskultur des kollaborativen Zeichnens mit einem praxisgeleiteten Ansatz und zeichnerischer Forschung. Im Anschluss an ihre Untersuchungen zu den Laboratory Studies der 1970er Jahre besuchte die Autorin ein naturwissenschaftliches Labor mit der Frage: Welchen Stellenwert hat die Handzeichnung im 21. Jahrhundert? Anhand zahlreicher historischer und aktueller Fallbeispiele und einer umfangreichen ethnografischen Feldstudie entfaltet sie in ihrem Buch ein transdisziplinäres Feld für das Zeichnen als kollaborative Wissenspraxis.
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15.5.2025–18.5.2025
Common Sense
Matters of Activity is Part of This Year's Berlin Design Week
We're delighted to share that »Matters of Activity« is part of this year's Berlin Design Week, which is taking place from 15-18 May 2025. The Berlin Design Week presents new approaches and trends in a design culture focused on innovation and sustainability. As an international podium for contemporary design from teaching, research, and practice, once a year, it gathers the industry players and their most exciting interfaces in the capital of creatives. Berlin Design Week is a platform for showcasing the diversity and depth of design in full. Design is seen in its entirety – not just as an aesthetic discipline, but as a means of offering solutions to social, technological, and ecological issues. Design creates realities. Check out the program contributions from Matters of Activity!
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Anthropoligist Maxime Le Calvé at Mall Anders. Photo: SCIoI/Seesaw
1.4.2025–30.4.2025
Augural Anthropology: Staging Retrieval-Augmented Generative Conversations Beyond AI's Illusion of Scientific Understanding
Cluster Member Maxime Le Calvé Invited to UC Davis for AI Anthropology Talk and Workshops
We are pleased to announce that Cluster Member Maxime Le Calvé has been invited for a research stay at the Center for AI and Experimental Futures at the University of California in Davis this April. His visit will focus on advancing collaborative research in AI Anthropology. On April 9th, he gave a talk »Augural Anthropology: Staging Retrieval-Augmented Generative Conversations Beyond AI's Illusion of Scientific Understanding«, followed by workshops on April 11–12th.
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7.4.2025
Exzellentes Pub Quiz
Berliner Exzellenzcluster veranstalten eigene Pub Quiz-Reihe
Wozu forschen eigentlich die sieben Berliner Exzellenzcluster? Taucht ein in die wunderbare Welt der Forschung von Literatur bis Chemie, von Politik bis KI – überraschende, spannende und witzige Fragen laden zum Miträtseln ein. Sucht Mitstreiterinnen, denkt Euch Teamnamen aus und seid dabei! Wir freuen uns, euch zur zweiten Folge der neuen Pub-Quiz-Reihe am Montag, den 7. April in die fahimi bar nach Kreuzberg einzuladen.
So funktioniert‘s: Jeder Quizabend highlightet die Forschung eines Exzellenzclusters mit einer dazu passenden Live-Performance. Fragen aus den Bereichen aller Berliner Cluster ergänzen den zweistündigen Rätselabend. Am Ende seid ihr gewiss schlauer als zuvor – und geht vielleicht sogar mit großartigen Preisen nach Hause. Moderiert wird der Abend von Jochen Müller. Wir freuen uns auf euch! more
So funktioniert‘s: Jeder Quizabend highlightet die Forschung eines Exzellenzclusters mit einer dazu passenden Live-Performance. Fragen aus den Bereichen aller Berliner Cluster ergänzen den zweistündigen Rätselabend. Am Ende seid ihr gewiss schlauer als zuvor – und geht vielleicht sogar mit großartigen Preisen nach Hause. Moderiert wird der Abend von Jochen Müller. Wir freuen uns auf euch! more
Raue Reihe / Raw Studies, the first three editions, 2024-5. Copyright: Matters of Activity
18.3.2025
Raue Reihe / Raw Studies Available in Open Access
New Edition »Gestaltungsmetrik« by Horst Bredekamp and Carlos-Andres Palma
We are thrilled to announce the third volume of the Cluster’s Raw Studies series, Gestaltungsmetrik: Parallel transport in arts and culture for topological and holonomical activity, co-authored by Horst Bredekamp and Carlos-Andres Palma, with a commentary by Christian Kassung. This treatise introduces Gestaltungsmetrik as a conceptual framework for studying and designing informal space, from image and Gestaltung to anatomy and materials.
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2.4.2025–11.4.2025
Zwischen Schrift und Graphismus
Stephan Kammer und Karin Krauthausen auf Forschungsreise in Japan
Wir freuen uns sehr zu berichten, dass Clustermitglieder Karin Krauthausen und Stephan Kammer Anfang April nach Japan reisen, um unter anderem an einem vom DAAD geförderten Workshop an der Universität Osaka mitzuwirken. Bei der zweitägigen Konferenz, bei der sich deutsche und japanische Wissenschaftlerinnen über »Die Schreibszene zwischen Schrift und Graphismus« austauschen, wird Stephan Kammer eine Keynote zu Hölderlins Federproben halten, Karin Krauthausen wird über Paul Valérys Graphismen sprechen.
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DESIGN EARTH (Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy), The Planet After Geoengineering, 18/25, 2021
13.6.2025
Planetary Experiments: Environments by Design
Annual Conference of DGTF, Organized by Michaela Büsse Among Others
The German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF), in collaboration with the Chair of Digital Cultures TU Dresden, invites participants to critically engage with the theme »Planetary Experiments: Environments by Design«. This conference, organized by Michaela Büsse among others, explores the diverse perspectives and practices of design research and theory in addressing the far-reaching ecological, social and technological challenges of our time. Over the course of one day and in a hybrid setup (Dresden & remote), they will bring together scholars and practitioners, like Cluster member Rasa Weber, to engage in keynote talks, panel discussions and practice presentations that critically explore the concept of »Planetary Experiments«.
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Project »Myko.Plektonik«, Natalija Miodragović & Dimitra Almpani-Lekka. Photo: Michelle Mantel. Copyright: Matters of Activtiy
18.3.2025
Active Matter and Environmental Relations
Charlett Wenig and Natalija Miodragović, Together with Alice Jarry, are Panelists at »In.Site2 and Sustainability Across Disciplines«
In this conversation, designers Alice Jarry (Concordia, CA), Charlett Wenig and architect Natalija Miodragović discuss with »pk langshaw« how engagement with living, semi-living, and sustainable materials that sense, react, and transform with their environment can deploy regenerative and resilient relations and constitute future-forward opportunities for material practices. The whole conference is hosted in Montreal from on March 17th–21st, but will also be available via Zoom.
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MAKING Material Move with Heidi Jalkh. Copyright: Matters of Activity (with a special thanks to Max Planck Gesellschaft for the ice plant footage)
13.2.2025
MAKING Material Move
The New Episode with Heidi Jalkh Explores Auxetic Materials
Just a single drop of water and the ice plants’ leaves spring to life! No muscles, no motors. What's the secret? It’s all in the plant’s structure. Researchers like Heidi Jalkh are diving deep into how plants move to design smarter materials for the future. From everyday stuff like EVA foam, she creates bioinspired, so-called auxetic materials that can even lift rocks. »My aim was to make it be alive«, Heidi says. Unlocking nature’s magic recipe book to motion could change the way we build, create, and design.
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Image: STS Hub 2025
11.3.2025–14.3.2025
Diffracting the Critical
STS Hub in Berlin with Contributions by Many Cluster Members
To strengthen the interconnectedness of Science & Technology Studies (STS) in Germany, the STS Hub has been organized – a conference series that brings together German organizations, labs, and research groups that are more or less closely related to STS. The conference is organized by Ignacio Farías, Anke Gruendel, Sandra Jasper, Maxime Le Calvé, Claudia Mareis, and Robert Stock, among others. This year's STS Hub, titled »Diffracting the Critical«, is an opportunity to collectively explore contemporary formations of critique in and with STS along three thematic clusters: ecologies & infrastructures, scales & temporalities, collaborations & solidarities. Registration is already closed.
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Brain Roads, Symposium 2025.
4.3.2025–6.3.2025
Brain Roads. Visions and Representations of Neuroplasticity
Field Workshop and Symposium Organised by Olaf Avenati & Patricia Ribault
The interdisciplinary symposium at La Villa Douce in Reims aims to gain a better understanding of the role of images and to analyze their modalities and limits after observing their use in situ, in order to better understand neuroplasticity, propose new graphic forms, and open up an interdisciplinary conversation on their future. The event is part of the Brain Roads project and in addition to the two organizers Patricia Ribault and Olaf Avenati, Lucius Fekonja and Thomas Picht are among the Cluster members involved.
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Still of »MAKING a robot feel« with Anna Schäffner and her project »Soft Collision«. Copyright: Matters of Activity
23.1.2025
MAKING A Robot Feel
New MoA Mini Documentary Series Starts with Anna Schäffner
Imagine hugging a robot as soft and comforting as a teddy bear. This could be the future, moving away from the cold, steel monsters we’ve seen in sci-fi films. Anna Schäffner, designer and PhD candidate at Matters of Activity, is bringing this vision to life with her innovative project »Soft Collision«. Anna covered a steel robot in silicone membranes that inflate when you touch them. »It’s giving skin to the robot«, Anna says. But how does it work? How might it let us interact with robots in a more intuitive and secure way? And what’s a caterpillar got to do with it?
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Newly Appointed Scientific Advisory Board, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, February 2025. Copyright: Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
24.2.2025
Claudia Mareis Member of the New Scientific Advisory Board of the Bauhaus Foundation Dessau
We warmly congratulate Cluster Co-Director Claudia Mareis on her appointment to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation! The Scientific Advisory Board advises the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation on specialist issues and is made up of experts from architecture, art history, design, and related disciplines. Due to their expertise and their engagement with current social discourses, they will also play a valuable role concerning the anniversary »An die Substanz. Bauhaus Dessau 100«.
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19.2.2025
Materials of the Future
Public Event with Cluster Co-Director Claudia Mareis, and Architects Anupama Kundoo and Regula Lüscher
What will our built environment and urban development look like in the future? What role will a new approach to materials play? This was the topic of BUA Open Space #4 on 19 February 2025 in the former tower of Tempelhof Airport. Cluster Co-Director Claudia Mareis was joined on the panel by architect and Technical University professor Anupama Kundoo and Berlin's former Senate Building Director Regula Lüscher. Following the stimulating discussion, the guests gained insights into state-of-the-art research and practice on materials that have so far been rather unusual in a pop-up exhibition.
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Cover Landwirtschaft und Literatur, 2025. Copyright: diaphanes Verlag
14.2.2025
Agropoetik
Neuer Sammelband von Stephan Kammer und Karin Krauthausen untersucht das Verhältnis von Agrikultur und Textkultur
Die Landwirtschaft nährt das Erzählen. Über ihr initiales Wirken für menschliche, tierische und pflanzliche Lebensformen hinaus hat die Kultur der Bauern und Hirten über Jahrtausende hinweg die kollektive Imagination beschäftigt. Die Ausbildung eigener Genres und die Aufnahme in unterschiedlichste Erzählmodelle zeugen bis heute von den Wechselverhältnissen zwischen Agrikultur und Textkultur. Der Band Landwirtschaft & Literatur, herausgegeben von Clustermitgliedern Stephan Kammer und Karin Krauthausen geht dem Themenkomplex aus literaturwissenschaftlicher Perspektive nach und adressiert das Feld in seiner ganzen Breite.
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13.2.2025
Rethinking Raw Materials: Design, Brains and the Future
Cluster Member Emma Sicher Gives Talk at Futurium
Moderator Pireeni Sundaralingam, a cognitive scientist, and her guests, Emma Sicher, MoA Pre-Doctoral Researcher and Anna Yona, founder and managing director of »Wildling« will discuss the future of sustainable design and the unconventional use of raw materials at Berlin’s ›House of Futures‹. Emma is a designer investigating materials and foods at the intersection of microbiology and anthropology to envision relational futures. What would happen if we used different materials for our clothes and our shoes? How could our food systems or our buildings use completely different raw materials? A ticket is required, but the admission is free of charge.
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Teaser »MAKING« with Anna Schäffner and her project »Soft Collision«. Production: Richard Ley & Maxim Landau. Copyright: Matters of Activity
19.1.2025
MAKING_
New Documentary Series Takes Viewers Behind the Scenes of Matters of Activity
How can we make a robot feel? What does it take to build an artificial reef? And how do we design structures that move effortlessly like plants? Find out in the Cluster's new mini-documentary series, MAKING_. Here, our researchers share insights into their groundbreaking work in simple terms. We’re kicking off with Anna Schäffner's Soft Collision. On Thursday, January 23rd, the first episode will be released on the Cluster’s website and social media, followed by Rasa Weber's hidden coral cities on January 30th and Heidi Jalkh's auxetic materials on February 6th.
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Still »¡Aquí Estoy!« with Heidi Jalkh (left) and Pía Castro (right). Copyright: DW
7.2.2025
The Future of Construction Lies in Nature
Heidi Jalkh Interviewed for DW Format »¡Aquí Estoy!«
Industrial designer and MoA Associated Member Heidi Jalkh has lived in Buenos Aires for 20 years, but has been traveling to Berlin for extended periods for the past 5 years. She combines experimental design, research and teaching around sustainable and nature-inspired materials. Her work explores how fungi, marine debris and other natural elements can transform the relationship between design and ecosystems. Her work has now been featured in Spanish in the Deutsche Welle format »¡Aquí Estoy!«, moderated by Pía Castro.
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Akhil Amer, Claudia Plascencia: Experiments within Coding IxD studio project »Paper:Drive«, 2024. Copyright: Matters of Activity
12.2.2025–15.2.2025
PAPER:DRIVE – Coding IXD Studio Project for Coeducation in Computer Science and Design
Project Exhibition 12–15 February 2025 at Modulor Aufbauhaus
In this year's Coding IxD research-oriented studio project, students from Computer Science at the Freie Universität Berlin and product design at weißensee school of art and design berlin will explore paper as a medium to store and interact with digital data. We will investigate how to design physical machines and digital processes to output, transfer, interact with, store, and read information within a novel explicit use case. The seminar is supervised by Cluster members Prof. Thomas Ness, Peter Sörries and Hanna Wiesener. The project exhibition will take place from February 12th– 15th, starting with the opening at 6.00pm, at Modulor.
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Topo Lock, Boyoung Chung, weissensee school of art and design
11.2.2025–19.2.2025
Scaling Nature (4) – Tiles and Tissues
Final Review and Presentation of MoA Design Research Studio
Tiles and tissues are elements of tessellated systems found in nature, serving as strategies to enable movement, protection, growth, or adaptation in living beings. This concept appears across all scales and various species of plants, animals, and even in geological formations. Tessellations and tiles also shape our built environment. Such principles allow for specific assembly and repair while providing stability or flexibility according to need. From exploring natural and geometrical strategies, the students developed concepts of material systems for a spatial context, that will be presented and on display starting February 11th.
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Hyomandibula - Tesserae shapes and their growth. Image: Mason Dean
4.12.2024
Growth of a Tesselation
Team Led by MoA Researchers Mason Dean and Peter Fratzl Present New Findings
The skeletons of sharks and rays, consisting of cartilage and armored with a covering of mineralized tiles (tesserae), pose a mathematical challenge: How can continuous coverage be maintained as the skeleton grows? New insights into the geometric rules governing the development of stingray skeletal patterns by a research team including MoA members Peter Fratzl, Mason Dean, Binru Yang, and Jana Cicierska-Holmes, can be read in an article published in last December's issue of »Advanced Science«. The study used microCT and custom visual data analyses of growing skate skeletons to systematically examine the tessellation patterns and morphology of the many thousands of interacting tesserae that cover the hyomandibula, a skeletal element critical for feeding.
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13.12.2024
Operate with Fungi
New Publication Edited by MoA Members Vera Meyer and Wolfgang Schäffner
»Operate with Fungi« is the final book in a trilogy dedicated to the world of fungi and their possibilities. In all three projects, various scientific, artistic and civil society actors from the Berlin area worked together in different constellations to learn from the life of Funga, to be inspired by the possibilities of fungal biotechnology and, building on this, to jointly develop new fungal-based biomaterials that can form the basis of a circular and bio-based economy and architecture. While the first two books focused more on the why and how of transdisciplinary collaboration, this book, edited by MoA members Vera Meyer and Wolfgang Schäffner, reports on how working with fungi can bridge divides and build strong connections. Between highly specialized scientific and artistic disciplines, and between closed university laboratories and open social spaces. See you at the book presentation on January 22nd at the Mitkunstzentrale!
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Book Cover Toward a New Culture of the Material, September 2024. Copyright: De Gruyter.
23.9.2024
Toward a New Culture of the Material
Latest Cluster Anthology Out Now
What happens when we begin treating multi-stable, ambivalent, and adaptive behaviors of active matter as a formative principle? The contributions of this volume edited by Frank Bauer, Yoonha Kim, Sabine Marienberg, and Wolfgang Schäffner, investigate the potential of the processual and untamable — ranging from microbial co-designing, morphogenetic experimentation and atmospheric creation to plasticity and liveliness in architecture, history of art and scientific concepts. Walking the line between analog and digital forms, the 19 Cluster perspectives not only cross disciplinary and methodological boundaries but also aim at installing a new material paradigm between the epistemic cultures of sciences, humanities, and design.
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10.2.2025–12.2.2025
Design as a Third Culture of Knowledge
Cluster Co-Director Claudia Mareis Holds Lecture Series in Vilnius
Cluster Co-Director Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis, an expert in Design and Professor of Design and History of Knowledge at the Department of Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, is holding a lecture series at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. The aim of the lectures is to critically explore the historical, cultural, and material aspects of Design as a third culture of knowledge and creativity, addressing contemporary challenges and future opportunities through interdisciplinary and innovative approaches.
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1.1.2025
Sandra Jasper Appointed Chair of Cultural Geography and Society-Environment Research
Cluster Member Takes Up Professorship at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Since January 1st, 2025, Sandra Jasper has been appointed Chair in Cultural Geography and Society-Environment Research at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Moreover, Sandra has been awarded a major research grant from UKRI’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) for her collaborative project titled »Networked through Sound: Listening to 20th Century Wildlife Sound Archives«. We congratulate Sandra on her appointment and wish her new research project every success!
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14.1.2025–18.3.2025
No Data Without Excellence
A Coffee Lecture Series
Join us for the Coffee Lecture Series, where we explore the essentials of research data management and its role in driving excellence in science. Under the theme »No Data Without... Excellence«, this series delves into key topics like research integrity, FAIR principles, persistent identifiers, electronic lab notebooks, and more. This series is proudly organized by MATH+, NeuroCure, Matters of Activity, and UniSysCat, bringing together expertise from leading Clusters of Excellence in Berlin. Starting mid-January 2025, join us every Tuesday at 2:00 PM (GMT) for a 10-minute presentation followed by questions and discussions, all held online via Zoom.
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Vanessa at work on the operating table, with her instruments plunged into her brain, seated at the binocular microscope. The giant screen shows what she is seeing, allowing the head surgeon to supervise her. Copyright: Drawing by Maxime Le Calvé, digital, 2019
15.1.2025
Cutting in the Brain for Fun
A Newly Published Peer-Review Research Article in Graphic Anthropology on an Experimental Neurosurgical Simulation by Maxime Le Calvé
How to prepare those aspiring to make a profession of cutting into a living human brain? In this article, Maxime Le Calvé recounts, drawing on ›live‹ graphic field notes, the development of a neurosurgical simulation. This narrative is contextualized and theorized through a literature review on the anthropology of doing, the formation of habit, and the technologization of skill transmission in surgery. The peer-reviewed research article in graphic anthropology on an experimental neurosurgical simulation is published in French in »Revue d’anthropologie des connaissances (RAC)«.
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13.12.2024–31.1.2025
Mahamadi Ilboudo Knight of the Order of Merit of Arts, Letters, and Communication
MoA Associated Member Receives High Honor from the Government of Burkina Faso
On December 13th, 2024, Mahamadi Ilboudo, MoA Associated Member to Weaving, was made a Knight of the Order of Merit of Arts, Letters, and Communication, with an Arts clasp. The ceremony took place in the courtyard of the National Museum of Burkina Faso and was attended by a host of guests including members of the government, leading figures from the cultural sector, and the recipients’ friends and family. Ilboudo's contribution to the development of culture and the quality of his curatorial projects were recognized. Congratulations on this honorable award!
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Beetle-infested Spruce. Copyright: Pelin Asa, MPICI
15.12.2024
Architectures of Syntopia: An Interdisciplinary Speculative Model for Constructions with Insect-infested Wood
Publication Authored by Pelin Asa, Karin Krauthausen, Robert Stock and Karola Dierichs Out Now
The new article »Architectures of Syntopia: An Interdisciplinary Speculative Model for Constructions with Insect-infested Wood« is out now, authored by Pelin Asa, Karin Krauthausen, Robert Stock and Karola Dierichs. The research was conducted at Matters of Activity. Image Space Material, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and Weißensee School of Art and Design Berlin. Thanks to the editors Cordula Kropp and Simon Aicher and the great team at TATuP – Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice.
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4.12.2024
Horst Bredekamp Received the Knight’s Cross
Cluster Co-Director Awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
On December 4th, 2024, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Horst Bredekamp received the Knight’s Cross, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) from the Italian Ambassador Varricchio, awarded by President Sergio Mattarella. We warmly congratulate our Cluster's Senior Co-Director, Professor Bredekamp, on this special honor.
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Seaweed resonance, presentation by Julia Lohmann (Aalto, Helsinki). Photo: Clemens Winkler
14.11.2024–15.11.2024
Sensing Common Grounds. Towards Collaborative Speculation
Symposium by CollActive Materials
The symposium »Sensing Common Grounds. Towards Collaborative Speculation«, organized by Léa Perraudin and Martin Müller, asked about the ›how‹, foregrounding the methodologies of such speculations and projections: How to relate speculative design proposals to critical diagnoses of the present and attempts at historical speculation? How specifically can collaborative speculation in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts enable us to sense ›what is in the air‹? What narratives, prototypes, materials, and media hold knowledge (and non-knowledge) of these scenarios?
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Paper Fieldwork, Copyright: Maxime Le Calvé
28.11.2024
»Sketching Brains« at Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin
Exhibition of Drawings by Maxime Le Calvé in Steglitz
We kindly invite you to the Vernissage of »Sketching Brains« at Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin. »Sketching Brains« is a collaborative exhibition-as-research project that nurtures new conversations around the neurosurgical practice. Based on a series of fieldwork within the Neurosurgical Department at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin by graphic ethnographer Maxime Le Calvé and the research of neurosurgeon and cultural scientist Anna L. Roethe, this initiative takes the form of graphic-based stories, presented and continued both onsite and online. The texts are comment-enabled to make the community react and question the descriptions. The »participant exhibition« becomes a vibrant collaborative forum to understand more profoundly the implications of neurosurgery in people’s lives, on both sides of the scalpel.
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Exhibition of research objects during the MoA PhD presentations 2024. Posterlayout Ada Favaron. Copyright: Matters of Activity
27.9.2024
testing un/common grounds
Presentations Doctoral Program 2024
Under the title »testing un/common grounds«, the Matters of Activity doctoral cohort impressively presented the progress of their diverse research projects during the Cluster retreat. The event included the three moderated panel discussions as well as an exhibition of selected research objects that were at the core of the format. With their various disciplinary backgrounds ranging from art, architecture, engineering and design to the humanities and natural sciences, the group explored this interdisciplinary ›un/common ground‹ and aimed to develop forms of common knowledge that respect locally-based actors and embrace collaborations with diverse agencies and species.
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»Dissect« Event at Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin, 04.11.2022. Foto: Samuel Bianchini. Copyright: Matters of Activity
23.9.2024
Dissect
Films of Performances Online Now!
The two »Dissect« events held as part of Berlin Science Week 2022 on November 2nd and 4th were a great success and unique experience. In the sold-out Tieranatomisches Theater (TA T) at Humboldt-Universität Berlin, researchers from different disciplines discussed contemporary artworks, including Marco Donnarumma's »Amygdala« and Tomas Saraceno's »Spiders«. Konstantin Mitrokhov’s three films allow you to re-experience these fascinating events.
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Adaptive Digital Twin. Copyright: Lucius Fekonja
17.9.2024
The Digital Twin in Neuroscience
Interdisciplinary Cluster Research Published in Frontiers Neuroscience
How can digital twins illustrate the complex relationships between the plastic dynamics and function of brain networks? Based on the clinical scenario of brain tumor patients, the authors, including Cluster members Lucius Fekonja, Rosario Tomasello, Samo Tomšič, and Thomas Picht, provide answers to this question. Discussing methods of technical modeling with philosophical concepts, the article, published in Frontiers Neuroscience in September 2024, presents a theoretical framework that bridges philosophical theorizing, neuroscience, and clinical practice.
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Still »Change by Design«. Copyright: ARTE.tv
24.8.2024
Change by Design
Claudia Mareis Contributes as an Expert to an ARTE Documentary on Sustainable Design
For all our German and French-speaking friends we have a special treat: ARTE TV visited us and made our Co-Director Claudia Mareis and »Matters of Activity« part of a documentation about sustainable fashion and of course design. English subtitles as well as other languages are also available, so don’t miss it!
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Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemyer-Cürten mit der Barksphere am Strausberger Platz, Kampagne »Das offene Wissenslabor«, 2024. Copyright: Berlin University Alliance
9.9.2024–31.10.2024
Welche Materialien und Ressourcen wollen wir in Zukunft verwenden?
Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten über das Bark Project
Fasern, Samenkapseln, Pflanzenstängel oder Seidengespinste – in der Natur gibt es jede Menge unterschiedlicher Materialien, die außergewöhnlichen mechanische Eigenschaften haben und sich an wechselnde Umweltbedingungen anpassen können. Wie funktionieren diese biogenen Materialien und könnten sie möglicherweise Inspirations- und Rohstoffquelle für Architektur, Design oder Produktentwicklung sein? In einem Interview, das Teil der neuen Kampagne der Berlin University Alliana »Das offene Wissenslabor« ist, geben Cluster-Mitglieder Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten Einblicke in die Arbeit der Forschungsgruppe »Adaptive Fibrous Materials« und insbesondere über ihre Forschung zu Baumrinde.
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Folgenbild Syntopische Architekturen, 2024. Käferbefallenes Fichtenholz, Foto: Pelin Asa, MPIKG, adaptiert von MoA.
1.9.2024–30.11.2024
Syntopische Architekturen
Neue Podcast-Folge der Serie »Exzellent Erklärt« mit Karola Dierichs und Robert Stock
In Folge 48 der Podcastserie »Exzellent Erklärt« erwartet die Zuhörer:innen ein inspirierender Austausch zu der Frage, wie die Materialien, die in der direkten Umgebung und ihren Kreisläufen vorkommen, das Bauen der Zukunft mitgestalten können. Journalistin Larissa Vassilian hat mit Cluster-Mitgliedern Karola Dierichs und Robert Stock über ihr Projekt »Syntopic Architectures« gesprochen, das darauf abzielt, natürliche Strukturen in die Architektur zu integrieren, die in Verbindung zu dem Ort stehen, an dem gebaut wird. Ein Beispiel dafür ist das Arbeiten mit Käferholz, also mit Holz, das vom Borkenkäfer befallen wurde.
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Open Science
From Left to Right:
Footprint in Cacao. Copyright: Matters of Activity
PhD project of Iva Rešetar. Copyright: Jens Ziehe
Weaving process of stripes of wild silk and indigo dyed cotton. Copyright: Laurence Douny
Extra-Cellular Matrix Liver at Experimental Surgery Lab. Copyright: Igor Sauer
Drawing showing the relation of the cerebral arteries. Copyright: Lucius Fekonja
Project »Performing Clouds«. Copyright: Clemens Winkler
In accordance with the mission statement of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the recommendations of the German Research Foundation, the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« understands openness as an integral part of the research process and is convinced of the principle that there should be free and equal access for all people to the results of scientific work. Digitization offers science new opportunities in dealing with knowledge and information. In this context, the term Open Science bundles strategies and procedures that aim to make all components of the scientific process openly accessible and reusable.
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Syntopia – Harvesting the Forest; MoA Design Research Studio. Prototype by Gaia Reiner. Copyright: Gaia Reiner
1.8.2024–31.8.2024
Syntopia
Harvesting the Forest
The MoA Design Research Studio »Syntopia — Harvesting the Forest« investigated how materials collected in the forest can be formed into architectural structures. Such materials can for example be branches, leaves, moss, bark, grass or even earth. It was structured in three successive phases. Phase 1 engaged in the speculative design of »Stories of Syntopia«. Phase 2 introduced harvesting, analyzing, making and recording in »Designing Syntopia«. In phase 3, we shared our vision and our designs with a wider public by »Showing Syntopia«.
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Fermentation preparation with Tanyaporn Tantasathien. Thailand 2024. Copyright: Emma Sicher
2.7.2024
Generating Biomaterials By Acetic Fermentation
Emma Sicher Exchanged Knowledge with Researchers and Practitioners in Thailand
Between May and June, doctoral researcher Emma Sicher spent three weeks in Thailand as part of her PhD in Design Studies. Invited by Professor Aracha Krasae-in, she presented the work of the Cluster and her current research at the Faculty of Architecture of Kasetsart University in Bangkok. There, she also exchanged ideas with Professor Prakit Sukyai, an expert in Biotechnology and Biopolymers. Additionally, she presented at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts of Thammasat University, invited by Professor Wuthigrai Siriphon.
The heart of the experience consisted of visits to two sites associated with acetic fermentation techniques that can generate biomaterials. These techniques range from ancient practices to more recent methods, employed in various ways from fertilizers to health-promoting substances. The visits took place in small artisanal production realities in Nakhon Ratchasima province, including Stefano and Somporn Abbruzzese, and Micro Friends, an initiative run by Tanyaporn Tantasathien and Waratchanat Thongthiangtham at the Baan Ama farm stay. more
The heart of the experience consisted of visits to two sites associated with acetic fermentation techniques that can generate biomaterials. These techniques range from ancient practices to more recent methods, employed in various ways from fertilizers to health-promoting substances. The visits took place in small artisanal production realities in Nakhon Ratchasima province, including Stefano and Somporn Abbruzzese, and Micro Friends, an initiative run by Tanyaporn Tantasathien and Waratchanat Thongthiangtham at the Baan Ama farm stay. more
26.6.2024
Wege zur Professur
Vera Meyer zu Gast in neuester Folge des BUA-Podcast »Spot ON«
Im neuen Podcast »Spot ON - Wege zur Professur«, sprechen Mitglieder der Postdoc-Academy der Berlin University Alliance mit Professor*innen aus den vier Berliner Universitäten über ihren Weg zur Professur. Hier geht es nicht um Karriere-Blaupausen, sondern wir wollen wissen: Was waren die entscheidenden Abzweigungen auf dem Karriereweg? Was war im Rückblick besonders wichtig? Was hätten sie gern früher gewusst und was würden sie Postdocs heute empfehlen, die eine akademische Karriere anstreben? Wer oder was hat sie besonders beeinflusst? Und ist es jetzt so, wie sie es sich vorgestellt hatten? In der neuesten Folge gibt Clustermitglied Vera Meyer, Professorin für Mikrobiologie an der TU Berlin, Antworten auf diese Fragen und Einblicke in ihre Forschung.
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Skylab Food Tray, December 30, 1971. Copyright: NASA S72-15409
26.6.2024
Floating Food / Creating Knowledge
Alwin J. Cubasch's Article About NASA Food Testing Online Now
To survive in space, people also have to eat in space. In preparation for the first American space station Skylab, NASA food experts tested food systems on parabolic flights. Cluster member Alwin Cubasch has delved into the NASA archive material from the early 1970's and applied concepts from the history of science to the fields of historical food science and the history of nutritional science. His findings can now be read in an article on the »History of Knowledge« blog of the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC.
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Gestalten mit Cellulose, Wasser und Luft. Copyright: Eva Bullermann
9.5.2024
Magic Machines aus Bio-Plastik
Open Lab Abend der Reihe »Materialzukünfte besuchen« im Futurium
In diesem Workshop ging es um flexible Materialien wie Cellulose, Bio-Plastik und Silikon als mögliche (neue) Materialien für Soft Robotics oder gar biologische Maschinen. Soft Robotics ist ein relativ junges Forschungsfeld, das sich mit alternativen Ansätzen zur Gestaltung der Maschinen von morgen beschäftigt. Wie können wir Maschinen bauen, damit sie sensibler und anpassbarer werden? Können wir dafür adaptive vielleicht sogar nachhaltige Materialien nutzen, statt immer mehr Metall, Plastik und Energie zu verbrauchen? Mit den Design-Forscherinnen Anna Schäffner und Eva Bullermann spekulieren wir darüber, wie die Maschinen der Zukunft gestaltet sein könnten. Wie sieht deine Magic Machine aus?
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Copyright: Sistemas Materiales
11.4.2024
Trazos
Pioneering Publication on Biomaterials Launched in Buenos Aires
»Trazos« is a pioneering publication in Spanish in the interdisciplinary field of biomaterials developments. The book is divided into three sections which explore, interrogate, shape, and reflect on these scientific and creative advancements. This book encourages interaction between the Spanish-speaking community and provides access to a topic predominantly discussed in English. It seeks to stimulate dialogue and amplify the reach of the Latin American biomaterials field to a broader audience. Likewise, it aspires to foster collaborations that transcend language barriers, promoting enriching exchanges of ideas and knowledge. The book, edited by MoA Associated Member Heidi Jalkh and Gisela Pozzetti, and designed by Paula Rodríguez, includes contributions by MoA researchers Bastian Beyer, Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten, Wolfgang Schäffner, Daniel Suárez, Charlett Wenig and by Rodrigo Martin Iglesias, Coordinator of the Master Open Design.
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Mykoplektonik by Natalija Miodragović and Dimitra Almpani-Lekka. Copyright: Matters of Activity
13.6.2024
Growing Architecture - Co-Designing with Fungi
Last Open Lab Evening of the Series »Visiting Material Futures« at the Futurium
In the last workshop of the series at Futurium, we dive into the interconnected world of fungi and their mycelium. Together with architects Dimitra Almpani-Lekka and Natalija Miodragović, we explore the properties and behaviors of mycelium in nature and architecture, to speculate about future relations and applications: Could the buildings of tomorrow be grown in collaboration with plants and fungi? Can fungi help us build life-supporting networks in the cities to maintain natural resources and the local biodiversity? How can co-designing and co-habiting with a living organism transform our experience of future architecture and our relationships with other species? The workshop is already fully booked.
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Thermography shows the effect of shading and the influence of solar radiation on surface temperatures. Copyright: Maxie Schneider
14.3.2024
Materialzukünfte besuchen: Smartes Material für überhitzte Städte
Workshop Series at Futurium
Gestaltet das Futurium Lab selbst mit! In der öffentlichen Workshopreihe »OPEN LAB ABEND: Materialzukünfte besuchen« spekulierten Teilnehmende darüber, aus welchen Materialien die Welt von morgen gemacht sein könnte. Die Workshopreihe umfasste 4 Termine und fand von März bis Juni im Futurium statt. Forschende von »Matters of Activity« (MoA) gaben Einblick in ihre Arbeit. Davon ausgehend entwickelten Teinehmende Zukunftsszenarien und gestalteten Prototypen, die im Anschluss zusammen mit Objekten aus der MoA-Forschung im Lab ausgestellt wurden. Begleitet wurden Teilnehmende dabei vom spekulationserfahrenen Team von »CollActive Materials«.
It’s getting hot in here... In diesem ersten Workshop ging es darum, wie wir mit smarten Materialien die Städte der Zukunft gestalten können. Im Sommer machen steigende Temperaturen, Metall und Beton das Leben in der Innenstadt für alle Bewohnenden immer mehr zur Herausforderung. Welche Materialien schaffen Abhilfe in überhitzten Städten?
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Intro, Excursion Filtering Oranienburg, 2023. Foto: Sybille Neumeyer.
23.2.2024
Tracing Tainted Environments: Legacies of Oranienburg
Online Documentation of Interdisciplinary Cluster Workshop Available Now
In March 2023, an interdisciplinary team from design, computer science, art, and cultural studies examined various concepts of dealing with radioactive waste and the historical environmental impact of the industrial site of Oranienburg. While exploring the history of radioactive legacies in Oranienburg, we were confronted with different types of information: traces of the former industrial sites and bombings, symbols, maps, or signs of cleaning and securing as well as memorials as part of today's culture of remembrance. Oranienburg, with its multi-layered historical legacies, but also the land activations that have taken place, thus offered a concrete environment for the workshop questions as a field of research and experimentation. The group now published detailed documentation of the workshop.
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Cover Material Trajectories, 2023. Coypright Meson Press
23.2.2024
Future Ecologies | Material Trajectories. Designing With Care?
Book Launch on 23 February at Pro qm Bookstore
»Material Trajectories: Designing With Care?« turns towards material-driven design processes with the aim of relocating technoscientific trajectories. Concerned with new forms of caretaking, it combines positions from the extended fields of design research and humanities scholarship including practice-based approaches. The contributions are an outcome of the 2021 Annual Conference of the German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF), organized in cooperation with »Matters of Activity«. The volume is edited by MoA members Léa Perraudin, Clemens Winkler and Claudia Mareis, and Matthias Held, Prorector for Research at Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd, and published as part of the Future Ecologies Series in 2023 by Meson Press. The digital edition can be downloaded free of charge on the publisher’s website
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MoA Design Research Studio »DeLIGHTful«, 2023/2024. Copyright: weißensee school of art and design berlin
14.2.2024
deLIGHTful Interactions | eLab Studio Project
Final Presentations of MoA Design Studio at Weißensee School of Art and Design
On February 14th, 2024 the MoA Design Research studio project »deLIGHTful interactions« held its final presentation at Flughalle 4th floor, weißensee school of art and design berlin. Using the example of light, project contributors led by MoA member Carola Zwick explored how civilizational practices and rituals evolve when technological conditions change. Light offers itself as an exciting and, above all, highly accessible topic to illuminate this field of tension in an exemplary way. For »deLIGHTful interactions«, students worked with light as an active material, demonstration the wide range of technological possibilities at our disposal to develop meaningful and enjoyable interactions.
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Cover of »Architectures of Weaving«: »Stone Web«. Copyright: weißensee school of art and design berlin / Natascha Unger, Idalene Rapp
6.12.2023
Multidisciplinary Anthology Architectures of Weaving
Now Open Access
The volume »Architectures of Weaving«, a rich anthology edited by MoA members Christiane Sauer, Mareike Stoll, Ebba Fransén Waldhör, and Maxie Schneider, published by Jovis Verlag, Berlin in November 2022, is available open access now at De Gruyter. Taking as its point of departure a symposium of the same title held in July 2021, the lavishly illustrated volume brings together contributions from numerous researchers from various disciplines of the Cluster of Excellence and experts from other institutions.
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Plektonik Structural Textiles column – continuous wooden ›Active Yarns‹ 40 mm diameter loops. Copyright: Daniel Suárez & Natalija Miodragović
17.11.2023–31.1.2024
Design for Rethinking Resources
Cluster Members Beyer, Miodragović, Mossé and Suárez Publish in Proceedings of the UIA World Congress of Architects Copenhagen 2023
The book provides new perspectives from leading researchers accentuating and examining the central role of the built environment in conceiving and implementing multifaceted solutions for the complex challenges of our understanding of planetary resources and circularity, revealing critical potentials for architecture and design to contribute in more informed and long-term ways to the urgent transition of our society. Bastian Beyer et. al. contributed with the article »Towards a Bacterially-Induced Textile Architecture« and Daniel Suárez and Natalija Miodragović an article on »Plektonik— Active Yarns for Adaptive Loop-Based Material Systems«.
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Syntopia 1:Soma I Body. Roland Halbe
13.11.2023
Cultures of Creation. »The Intelligence of Art« in Computational Design
Cluster Professor Karola Dierichs Holds Lecture at IntCDC on November 13
Karola Dierichs lecture at the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC) is a first attempt at arguing for an »intelligence of art« in computational design. It will do so by introducing the notion of design as the creation of novelty and will ask the question how this novelty is produced: is it a result of computational data processing or are there other forces at play?
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Workshop participants discussing T.J. Demos recent book »Against the Anthropocene: Visual Culture and Environment Today« with the author. »Critical Times« at »Matters of Activity«, 17 & 18 November 2023
17.11.2023–18.11.2023
Critical Times. Part I: Multiple Matter
Workshop with Contributions by T. J. Demos, Sandra Jasper, Kiran Pereira & David Weber-Krebs
Time has become an increasingly critical factor and concept in the wake of Anthropocene debates. With the workshop »Critical Times. Part I: Multiple Matter«, which took place at »Matters of Activity« on November 17 and 18, the organizers asked, what times and temporalities shape the pressing crises of the present but also what temporalities allow for a critical response to a homogenizing crisis of such a present. The focus of the workshop resided in the conjunctions between speculative practices and narratives, other-than-scientific modes of sense-making as well as enchanting, violent, or haunting counter-/temporalities unfolding through eco-artistic practices. Around twenty-five multidisciplinary workshop participants engaged in discussions together with our invited guests — T.J. Demos, Sandra Jasper, Kiran Pereira and David Weber-Krebs.
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Brainroads. Copyright: Lene Zech
2.11.2023
Brain Roads
Exploring Neuroplasticity through Art and Science
Like the sculptor with marble, neurosurgeons dialogue with the brain they operate on. Mapping and representing these ›brain roads‹ can be achieved through various imaging methods, which help neurosurgeons extend their knowledge of the cerebral anatomy. The French Professor in neuro-oncology Hugues Duffau is famous for operating on low-grade gliomas by performing awake surgery with very little technology. His methodology includes a complex mix of techniques, disciplines and experiments based on the concept of neuroplasticity and a limited use of medical imaging in the operating room. The workshop, organized by Patricia Ribault, will explore these »Brain Roads« during Berlin Science Week on November 2nd from 10.00 am– 5.00 pm.
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Design, Gestaltung, Formatività. Philosophies of Making. Copyright: Birkhäuser, 2022
15.9.2023
Design, Gestaltung, Formatività. Philosophies of Making
A Central Cluster Publication Edited by Patricia Ribault Released – Now Available Open Access
After the release of the anthology edited by Patricia Ribault, including contributions by Cluster members Samuel Bianchini, Cecile Bidan, Horst Bredekamp, Mason Dean, Emile De Visscher, Peter Fratzl, Lorenzo Guiducci, Leonie Häsler, Claudia Mareis, Martin Müller, Jörg Petruschat, Emanuele Quinz, Khashayar Razghandi, Patricia Ribault, Wolfgang Schäffer and Charlett Wenig, we're happy to announce that the publication is now available open access.
Through the concepts of »Design, Gestaltung and Formatività«, this book sheds new light on the processes of formation and transformation of the material world we live in. In the first part— »Giving Form« —philosophers, historians, psychologists and cultural studies scholars question our modes of giving form, while in the second— »Form Given« — artists, designers, engineers and scientists unfold their creative processes. These »philosophies of making« invite us to reflect on what we do, what we can do, and how to do it, but they also spur us into action.
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Unsteady Matter – Investigating Water-Based Design Pathways and 3D Printing Techniques for Hydrogel Composites. Copyright: Tairan (Aurora) Li, Daniel Suárez, Dr. Bastian Beyer
26.5.2023–31.7.2023
Unsteady Matter
Investigating Water-Based Design Pathways and 3D Printing Techniques for Hydrogel Composites
Architectural design conventionally operates within or creates seemingly static and permanent conditions. The two-week project developed by Tairan Li (MoA Young International Fellow 2022) and Daniel Suárez, led by Bastian Beyer, in the context of the project »Weaving« aimed to interrogate these conditions through a series of experiments with hydrogels. This group of materials mainly consists of water held together by three-dimensional polymer chains. Compared to inert materials, hydrogels are in constant dynamic exchange with their surrounding environment. Their water content can vary according to external conditions. They shrink substantially when dried and expand in humid environments and, therefore can be understood as latent buffer materials with ever-changing properties. Furthermore, this volume change can induce strong forces which lead to curling or buckling of the material during the drying process.
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Bacterial cellulose curtain. Experiments: Bastian Beyer and Iva Rešetar (design), Skander Hathroubi (microbiology). Photo: Bastian Beyer, adapted by Ada Favaron. Project coordination: Elisabeth Obermeier & Franziska Wegener
1.1.2019–31.12.2022
Cluster Report Now Available
Research Phase 2019–2022
We are pleased to announce that the report of the Cluster’s first research phase (2019–2022) is now available in print and pdf. It documents research questions, methods and outcomes from our research projects and serves as an outreach publication, providing an illustrated overview of the many Cluster activities over the past four years and highlighting events and formats across projects. Many thanks to all who contributed!
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Poster Workshop »Intercultural Views on Matter«, June 2023, Image: DALL•E, Sabine Marienberg. Copyright: Matters of Activity
28.6.2023–30.6.2023
Intercultural Views on Matter
Gemeinsamer Workshop des Exzellenzclusters mit der Akademie für Europäische Kulturen der Tongji Universität Shanghai
Am Mittwoch, den 28. Juni, und Donnerstag, den 29. Juni, begrüßte »Matters of Activity« Wissenschaftler*innen der Akademie für Europäische Kulturen der Tongji-Universität Shanghai, um den bereits seit 2016 bestehenden Austausch über gemeinsame Forschungsthemen fortzusetzen. In Ergänzung der philosophischen und kunsthistorischen Ausrichtung um naturwissenschaftliche und designtheoretische Perspektiven war neben übergreifenden Diskussionen zur Materialität ein thematischer Schwerpunkt die Beschäftigung mit Wasser als Active Matter, die auch Gegenstand der aktuellen Clusterforschung ist. Die Veranstaltung fand auf Deutsch und auf Englisch statt und stand einer Anzahl von zehn Interessierten offen. Die Planung und Durchführung der Veranstaltung lagen bei Cluster-Direktor Wolfgang Schäffner und Sabine Marienberg, Projektleiterin »von Symbolic Material«.
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Incandescent mantle for Continental lamps -- artificial silk. BBWA U3/31 Auergesellschaft/MSA Germany, No. F/14.
Research Project Explores the History of the Town as a Radioactive Industrial Landscape
The project explores the history of the town of Oranienburg as a radioactive industrial landscape. At the turn of the 20th century, large chemical factories that supplied Berlin‘s gas light industry began to cluster in and around Oranienburg. Tons of monazite sands were accumulated and refined to extract radioactive thorium and the rare earth cerium, among other elements. The residual radioactivity in Oranienburg can be traced back to these industrial activities, and to the destruction of several production sites during a bombing raid in March 1945, near the end of World War II. »Filtering Oranienburg« addresses, first, in environmental historical terms, the power structures that shaped industrial materials' extraction, refining, and disposal. On the other hand, Oranienburg serves the project as an experimental site for exploring and developing approaches to collective futures in damaged landscapes, through which the understanding of filtering as a fundamental cultural technique is tested and further developed.
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Panel »Interdeterminacy and Liveliness« at MoA Annual Conference »Tipping Points« 2021. Copyright: Matters of Activity
17.10.2022–16.11.2022
»Tipping Points« Now Part of MoA Virtual Cluster Space
View Conference Contributions of MoA Annual Conference 2021 in 360° Knowledge Rooms Now!
The 2021 MoA Annual Conference »Tipping Points« was all about matter in motion. We discussed transition and contingency, processes of acquiring and losing form, and the creative potential of the unfinished and indeterminate. All conference contributions our now shown as part of MoA's Virtual Cluster Space, where you can view a variety of 360° knowledge rooms and all contributions of the four panels »Plasticity & (In–)Stability«, »Interdeterminacy and Liveliness«, »Fragile Entanglements« and last but not least »Contingent Matters«.
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1.9.2022
What is our Future Made Of? Active Materials and Bio-Inspired Design
Episode 18 of the DFG Podcast Series »Exzellent Erklärt« Gives Insights Into Matters of Activity
How do we deal with materiality in the age of digitalization? Can other understandings of materiality lead to other modes of production or other ways of living? Episode 18 of the DFG podcast series »Exzellent erklärt« (English: Excellent Explained), available from 1 September 2022, focuses on the interdisciplinary research at »Matters of Acticity«. Journalist Larissa Vassilian speaks with Cluster Co-Director Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis, designer and cultural historian, and Research Associate Dr. Khashayar Razghandi, a materials scientist and design teacher about topics like sustainability and bio-inspired design and what active materials have to do with it.
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Multiscale architectures. Left: the wooden tower of Lake Mjøsa, Norway Reproduced with permission from [1]. Copyright: Voll Arkitekter AS & Ricardo Foto. Right: the internal structure of wood based on parallel tube-like wood cells with diameters in the range of tens of microns (shown for several wood species from top to bottom). The white arrow points to a sketch where nanometer-thick cellulose fibrils are indicated by black lines [2] John Wiley & Sons. Copyright: 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
8.7.2022
Bioinspired Architectural and Architected Materials
Special Issue Edited by Cluster Members K. Razghandi, C. Sauer and P. Fratzl
Architecture stands as a paradigm for the development of structural entities, which define functionality from the nanoscale to entire buildings. However, the distinction between structure and material becomes totally blurred in biological systems where it is impossible to distinguish between material and device or organ. A tree stem, as a prototypical example, is both material and plant organ with specific biological functions. Partially inspired by this, there are recent parallel movements—in materials development as well as in architectural design—towards the merging of materiality, structure and function into one integral construction system.
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Collection Overview - Tessellation Archive. Copyright: Felix Rasehorn
13.6.2022–31.12.2022
Launch of the Tessellation Archive
An Online Collection of Tiled Tissues and Architectures from Across the Natural World
Tessellations are structural motifs made up of repeating tiles, found in many forms and serving a variety of functions in nature. Perhaps partly inspired by natural examples, tessellations have also been a part of human history in art, design and culture, commonly in the form of mosaics, and more recently in the realm of bio-inspired design and engineering. This collection showcases the diversity of this motif, exploring commonalities in structure and function across environments and taxa, to inspire biological and biomaterials research, but also bioinspired design and architecture. Follow the link to explore the classification scheme and compare the similarities and differences between the tessellations.
https://tessellated-materials.mpikg.mpg.de
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CollActive Materials Workshop. Copyright: CollActive Materials
The Experimental Laboratory »CollActive Materials«
In the experimental laboratory »CollActive Materials«, society and science are speculating together about the materials of tomorrow: What might they look like or feel like? Could they be more active or more intelligent than the materials of today? By trying things out together, the speculators develop new future scenarios, stories and objects and invite discussion of various conceivable futures.
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Still from Interview with Bastian Beyer and Skander Hathroubi showing the making of parts of the »Active Curtain Project« shown at the exhibition »After Nature« at Humboldt Lab. Copyright: Anne von Petersdorff (info@annevonpetersdorff.com) for Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
8.7.2021
Bacteria as Architects
Interview with Bastian Beyer and Skander Hathroubi
The Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« investigates materials that are built by bacteria. Architects and biologists work together to explore new, sustainable materials. Some of these bacterial structures were on display at the Humboldt Lab. In the interview with Cluster Members Bastian Beyer and Skander Hathroubi, parts of the development of the »Active Curtains Project« are presented in more detail.
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All 7 Berlin Clusters of Excellence are represented with a film at the foyer at Humboldt Lab. Copyright: Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
6.5.2021
Matters of Activity Film at Humboldt Lab
Cluster Video Online Now
The Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« was represented with some exciting objects in the exhibition »Nach der Natur« at the Humboldt Laboratory of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. You can watch an introduction to the Cluster right here. Follow the link to the video in German with either English subtitles or in easy German language.
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Symbolic Material. Image: Myfanwy Evans
The change of view from allegedly passive material to »active matter« that engenders symbolic processes according to its inherent structure provokes a shift in the traditional boundaries between nature and culture. Thus, other traditional opposites (body-mind, active-passive, material-symbolic) can also be rethought as changeable polarities. The project »Symbolic Material« investigates the material foundations of symbolic processes in interaction with the symbolic dimension of materials from the viewpoint of Philosophy, History of Mathematics, Physics, and Neuroscience.
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Copyright: Matters of Activity
From a historical perspective, modern culture and technology have been extensively built on passivated materials, like concrete, steel, plywood or glass, resulting in anthropogenic ecological crises. The core objective of »Material Form Function« is to overcome this logic, which considers matter as an exploitable, passive and ahistorical substance.
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Fiber tractography delineating the white matter of the brain. Image: Lucius Fekonja
A material guides a cutting tool along its inner boundaries and structure. Take a stonemason splitting a rock: the rock’s internal tensions do most of the work once the cut has been started. Similarly, surgeons and paleontologists, using data from scans and models, make their path within brains or fossils following the lines set by the active material. We understand cutting as healing and shaping rather than the extractive or destructive separation and reunification. Such an approach to material-guided cutting requires concepts and tools that connect the skilled operator with the activity of the material as a partner in the process.
In the axis »From Brain Matter to Function«, we investigate innovative ways of navigating brain surgery, in particular by using biologically inspired neural network models. In the axis »Hybrid Interactions«, we contribute to the future of robotic-assisted surgery automation, digital fossil preparation, and experimental surgical tools based on microscopy techniques. Together, we explore different dimensions of the ›cut‹ in the digital age, integrating predictive models, tools and visualizations in surgery, paleontology and beyond.
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Flour Cloud. Copyright: Clemens Winkler
In »Object Space Agency«, the researchers of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« are gathered to examine the relationships of active materials in the sphere of objects, persons and architectural structures. Material objects appear to be temporally and spatially at once stable and changeable. Check out the brand new project website.
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Cellulose in E. coli biofilm. Image: Diego Serra & Regine Hengge
Can bacteria weave? Can architecture become soft? Can humans learn from caterpillars how to develop a more sustainable construction? And how do material processes build communities? In our research, we challenge the common understanding of weaving, as we focus on bacterial cellulose, West-African wild silk cocoons and the use of yarn in architecture. We address relationships of two- or three-dimensional longitudinal elements interconnected by entanglement, interlacing, braiding or classical weaving. Such fiber-based matter can be the product of natural or cultural processes and occur ubiquitously from the nano-scale in biological systems to the macro-scale in architectural contexts. By doing experiments on biological fiber-based matrices and tissues, by upscaling microscopic structures into architectural prototypes and by historical and theoretical investigations, we are redefining woven structures as a material practice running through nature and culture.
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