Open Space Event, 9 November 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity

Activarium
MoA's Showroom and Workspace | Currently on Winter Break
13.2.2025
Rethinking Raw Materials: Design, Brains and the Future
Cluster Member Emma Sicher Gives Talk at Futurium

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

Visual Open Space. Copyright: Berlin University Alliance

19.2.2025
Materials of the Future
Public Event with Cluster Co-Director Claudia Mareis, and Architects Anupama Kundoo and Regula Lüscher

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
14.1.2025–18.3.2025
No Data Without Excellence
A Coffee Lecture Series
24.1.2025
On Care, Repair and Breakdown in Contemporary Arts
Cluster Member Rahel Kesselring Gives a Talk at the 3rd International Care Ethics Research Consortium Conference

The Symbiosis Keeper, Carolina Valivieso & Ana Belén Palacios. Illustration: Nashely Lascano

30.1.2025
The Mestiza Ways: Ontologically Oriented Speculative Design of Mestizo Women
Master Student Ana Belén Palacios Earns 2nd Place in this Year’s THESys Award for her Thesis

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
Save-the-Date for the Project Exhibition 12–15 February 2025

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
13.12.2024
Operate with Fungi
New Publication Edited by MoA Members Vera Meyer and Wolfgang Schäffner
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

GHOST MINES. Copyright: Johanna Mehl

17.12.2024–31.1.2025
GHOST MINES — Sensing Pasts/Casting Futures
Call for Participants
6.1.2025–31.12.2025
Mareike Stoll Solkatten Scholar 2025
Research at the Swedish Institute for Children’s Books in Stockholm

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

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
4.12.2024
Horst Bredekamp Received the Knight’s Cross
Cluster Co-Director Awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

»Architectural Yarns«. Photo: Michelle Mantel. Copyright: Matters of Activity

Student Research Assistant (m/f/d) for the Research Group »Architectural Yarns«
40h per Month – Application Deadline: 13 December 2024 – Start of Employment: As soon as possible (January 2025)

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
14.11.2024
Sensing Common Grounds. Towards Collaborative Speculation
Roundtable Questions Future Role of Embodied Knowledges, Situated Inquiry and Extra-Academic Encounters

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

»Kiki Prototype«. Design: Rasa Weber, rasaweber.com. PhD Project: «SymbiOcean». Location: STARESO - Calvi (FR). Diver: Noémie Chabrier. Installation team, assistance and monitoring: Arnaud Boulenger, Sandra Bracun, Noemi Chabrier, Mélodie Chapat, Sylvain Coudray, Stéphane Jamme, Leonie John, Teal Jordan, Michael Karle, Mathieu Kelhetter (design intern), Michaela Roger, Bram van der Schoot, Kelly Stiver, Anja Wegner, Lena Wesenberg, Aubin Woehrel. Date: June 2023. SNF research project: «Interfacing the Ocean». Hosting University: Zurich University of the Arts & University of Art and Design Linz. Photo: Stéphane Jamme @stepp_aquanaute.

5.11.2024
The Whispering World: Words by a Silent Sea
Exhibition by Rasa Weber Opens at Berlin Science Week

Cover »Nach der Natur – Laborbuch zur Ausstellung im Humboldt Labor«. Copyright: Diaphanes

22.10.2024
Nach der Natur
Laborbuch zur Ausstellung im Humboldt Labor veröffentlicht

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

»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!

Adaptive Digital Twin. Copyright: Lucius Fekonja

17.9.2024
The Digital Twin in Neuroscience
Interdisciplinary Cluster Research Published in Frontiers Neuroscience

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

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

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
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

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

Tracing paraffin accumulations. Fieldwork on the coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve, Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar. 2024. Copyright: Iva Rešetar

1.7.2024
Latent Accumulations. Coastal Phase Change, Paraffin Pollution and Maintenance
Fieldwork of Léa Perraudin and Iva Rešetar on the Coastline of the Curonian Spit in the Neringa Nature Reserve

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
26.6.2024
Wege zur Professur
Vera Meyer zu Gast in neuester Folge des BUA-Podcast »Spot ON«

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

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

Copyright: Sistemas Materiales

11.4.2024
Trazos
Pioneering Publication on Biomaterials Launched in Buenos Aires

Marco Tamborini: Biorobotik zur Einführung

17.5.2024–31.5.2024
Biorobotik zur Einführung
Neue Publikation von Clustermitglied Marco Tamborini

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

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

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

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

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

Microverse I-6, 2023. Copyright: Kathrin Linkersdorff

26.10.2023–21.1.2024
Microverse
Photographs Created by Kathrin Linkersdorff in Collaboration with Regine Hengge Exhibited at Deichtorhallen

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

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

Open Space Event, 9 November 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity

8.11.2023–9.11.2023
Open Space – Active Matter on Stage
MoA Opened its Doors

Gosia Lehmann, Breathless Choir. Copyright: CollActive Materials, Foto: Michelle Mantel

20.10.2023–9.11.2023
Bound through Air
A Report on the Exhibition »AIRBOUND. Sensing Collective Futures«

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

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

Samples of Flax Fiber Bundles as a precursor for Architectural Yarns, adapted by Node Berlin/Oslo. Copyright: Maxie Schneider, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, weißensee school of art and design, Matters of Activity 

8.11.2023
Threads: Localities & Temporalities of a Fiber Bio-Economy
Activating Circular Networks Goes Berlin Science Week 2023

Brainroads. Copyright: Lene Zech

2.11.2023
Brain Roads
Exploring Neuroplasticity through Art and Science

Exhibition Opening »Airbound«, 19 October 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity

19.10.2023–9.11.2023
Airbound. Sensing Collective Futures
Speculative Exhibition by the »CollActive Materials« Experimental Laboratory

»Textile Gestures - Mapping Tactile Practices with Architectural Yarns«, Hand-on Workshop at Bauhaus Study Rooms. Copyright: Thomas Meyer

15.6.2023–16.6.2023
Textile Gestures - Mapping Tactile Practices with Architectural Yarns
Hand-on Workshop at Bauhaus Study Rooms

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

Syntopia 1—Soma I Body. Copyright: Karola Dierichs, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, weissensee academy of art and design and Matters of Activity

5.9.2023
Minimal Machines
Paper Published on Augmented Reality (AR) Framework
We're Hiring!

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

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

Brochures, doctoral presentations 2023. Layout: Ada Favaron. Project coordination: Franziska Wegener

27.6.2023
MATTERSCAPES. A Studio Visit
Doctoral Presentations on 27 June 2023

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

Layout: Pilar Cebey. Photo: Javier Deyheralde

18.7.2023
Symbolic Dimensions of Platonic Polyhedra
Hands-on Workshop on 18 July 2023

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

Fungi as Building Material. Copyright: Vera Meyer, MY-CO PLACE

12.5.2023–31.7.2023
MY-CO PLACE – Architecture of Sustainable Growth
Cluster Members Natalija Miodragović and Dimitra Almpani-Lekka Give Talk on Textile Architecture Associated with Mushrooms

Visual Bauhaus Study Rooms, International Network Meeting, 15+16 June 2023. Copyright: Bauhaus Dessau

15.6.2023–16.6.2023
Design Acts: Gestures of Performative Research
MoA Members Contribute to International Network Meeting with Bauhaus Dessau

Copyright: Mina Mahouti

1.6.2023
Talking Wool – Wool in Exchange
Activating Circular Networks Event Series Will Kick Off on 1 June at Uferhallen Wedding

Driving the Human Book Launch at Matters of Activity, 10 May 2023. Copyright: Camille Blake / Driving the Human

10.5.2023
Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal
Book Launch with Hand-On-Workshops, Guided Tours, a Talk, and Debates at Matters of Activity

Futures of Air. Copyright: CollActive Materials

6.5.2023–20.5.2023
Futures of Air
Speculative Workshop Series in May

Poster Lecture Series »Designing in Times of the Anthropocene«, 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity

19.4.2023–12.7.2023
Designing in Times of the Anthropocene
New Online Lecture Series Organized by MoA Co-Director Claudia Mareis Starts on 19 April

Exhibition Opening DAOULA | sheen, 17.11.2022, Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin. Copyright: Matters of Activity

18.11.2022–30.6.2023
DAOULA | sheen
West African Wild Silk on its Way

Incandescent mantle for Continental lamps -- artificial silk. BBWA U3/31 Auergesellschaft/MSA Germany, No. F/14.

Filtering Oranienburg
Research Project Explores the History of the Town as a Radioactive Industrial Landscape

Panel Discussion Materials Matter, May 4th, 2022, Humboldt Lab. Copyright: Matters of Activity

13.1.2023
Materials Matter – Perspectives on Active Materials
Audio Broadcast of the Panel Discussion at the Humboldt Lab Online Now

Annual Conference »Deep Material Futures« at silent green, November 2022. Copyright: Michelle Mantel

16.11.2022–17.11.2022
Deep Material Futures
Exploring the Different Temporalities of Active Matter at MoA's Annual Conference, 16 November 2022

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!
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

Joining Perspectives on Haptics - Design Workshop Filtering 2022. Foto: Felix Rasehorn

14.3.2022–16.3.2022
Joining Perspectives on Haptics
Online Documentation of Interdisciplinary Cluster Workshop

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

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

CollActive Materials Workshop. Copyright: CollActive Materials

What are Futures Made of?
The Experimental Laboratory »CollActive Materials«

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

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

Symbolic Material. Copyright: Myfanwy Evans, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo

Symbolic Material

Copyright: Matters of Activity

Material Form Function

Fiber tractography delineating the white matter of the brain. Copyright: Lucius Fekonja, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo.

Cutting

Flour Cloud. Copyright: Clemens Winkler, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo

Object Space Agency

Cellulose in E. coli biofilm. Copyright: Diego Serra & Regine Hengge, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo.

Weaving

Filters. Copyright: NODE Berlin Oslo

Filtering