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.
Image of E. coli bacteria, based on SEM imagery by Alissa Eckert, CDC. From We the Bacteria: Notes toward Biotic Architecture, by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, Lars Müller Publishers, 2025.
2.6.2026
Microbial Matters
Lecture by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, Followed by a Roundtable Discussion
We warmly invite you to »Microbial Matters« — an interdisciplinary exchange focusing on shifting perceptions of microbial activity in the built environment, design, and material culture. By challenging the modernist impulse to control and exclude microbial life, we open up a dialogue about the active role of bacteria in past and future design practices. »Microbial Matters« welcomes a lecture by renowned architectural historians and theorists Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley to present their latest book, We the Bacteria, followed by a roundtable discussion with microbiologist Regine Hengge, architects Iva Rešetar and Bastian Beyer, and design and cultural historian as well as co-director of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material«, Claudia Mareis.
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Event »Folk Dance and AI Rethinking Traditions«, The Oxford Research Center of the Humanities, Dance Scholarship Oxford (TORCH-DANSOX). Copyright: Ian Wallman
3.5.2026
Embodied Futures. Knowledge and Movement
Cluster Members Involved in New Public Engagement Hub at Zentrum für Kulturtechnik
How do movement and the formation of knowledge relate to one another? The answer is as profound as it is exciting: Movement is not merely a physical act, but a fundamental catalyst for understanding. The new Public Engagement Hub at Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (ZfK) – Embodied Futures. Knowledge and Movement – is dedicated to this groundbreaking connection. This hub serves as a dynamic platform for projects and courses that utilize creative movement as a rigorous research method and a transformative educational tool. By integrating scientific, artistic, and practical perspectives, the hub fosters a participatory form of knowledge production. We are delighted that Cluster members Anna Schaeffner, Léa Perraudin, and Shintaro Miyazaki are participating in the very first collaboration round to explore these innovative frontiers!
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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, making 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.
If you are interested in a visit, please contact us via moa.activarium [at] hu-berlin.de to visit!
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Do you want to know more about...?
Delfina Foundation, Group Photo Residents Spring 2026, Copyright: Delfina Foundation
1.5.2026
Residency at Delfina Foundation
Congratulations to Heidi Jalkh
We are delighted to announce that our Associate Member, Heidi Jalkh, has been selected for a residency at the Delfina Foundation in London. Chosen from over 1,200 global applicants, Heidi is one of seven artists joining the thematic program Making and Materiality in spring 2026. This residency explores the intersection of fine art, craft, and design, bringing together a diverse cohort to advance research-led material practices and artistic exchange. We warmly congratulate Heidi on this outstanding achievement and look forward to the insights she will bring back from her time in London!
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1.4.2026
Congratulations to Cluster Member Karin Krauthausen!
Visiting Professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Invited Fellow at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne
We are thrilled to announce that Karin Krauthausen has taken on two prestigious academic roles, running from April until September 2026. She is now a visiting professor in the Department of Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, filling in for Wolfgang Schäffner’s professorship. She is also active as an invited fellow at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where she is focusing on her research project, »Reading the Forest« (»Den Wald lesen«). The project examines exemplary forest locations, practices, and histories, challenging the notion that there is a single, universal definition of a forest. Rather, it shows how forests have a long, evolving history deeply intertwined with regional political, economic, and cultural systems. Congratulations to Karin on these outstanding appointments – wishing continued inspiration and success in her research and teaching this semester!
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STS Conference »Before Ruins« 2026, Case »Toxic Heritage Ruhr«, photo: Clemens Winkler. Copyright: Matters of Activity
26.3.2026
Atmospheric Archives
Clemens Winkler on the Fleeting Legacies of the Ruhr Region
At the STS conference »Before Ruins« at Ruhr University Bochum, Clemens Winkler participated in the case study »Toxic Heritage Ruhr« case study. During the Case Day, participants were taken from the German Mining Museum in Bochum to the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex and PACT Zollverein, where they focused on industrial sites whose ecological and material legacies persist to this day. Clemens contributed his research on atmospheric infrastructures, air samples, and microclimates to the case study's field-research format. Using simple sensors, agar plates, adhesive sampling films, and notational forms, he examined air as an archive of dust, moisture, microbes, and industrial residues. In this way, »toxic heritage« became legible not only as a matter of soils, buildings, or landforms, but also as a fleeting, shared atmosphere. This work combines design research, STS, aerobiology, and speculative methods, and views atmospheric measurement as a practice of paying attention to »invisible« ecological and political interconnections.
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3.6.2026
Research Software Day Berlin and Brandenburg
Matters of Activity is proud to co-organize and host the 1st Research Software Day Berlin & Brandenburg. This event brings together researchers who code, data stewards, research managers, and everyone interested in research software for a day of talks, training, and networking. Registration is needed. We look forward to welcoming you to our premises on June 3rd.
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12.5.2026
Plant Architectures Across Scales
Exchange with Susanne Brorson and Lorenzo Guiducci
We are looking forward to the transdisciplinary exchange »Plant Architectures Across Scales« with architect Susanne Brorson and material scientist Lorenzo Guiducci on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, 5-7 pm at »Matters of Activity« in Berlin-Mitte. Join us, connect, and take part in the discussion! Architect Susanne Brorson (STUDIO SUSANNE BRORSON, Rügen) constitutes her practice as an experimental laboratory on building materials, local typologies, and climatic conditions. Material scientist Lorenzo Guiducci (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam) works on material activity, shape-programmable structures, and bioinspirational design. Based on their talks Making Architecture and From Plant to Material: Structure, Processes and Properties of Hemp, we will discuss the structure, processing, and material properties of plant fibers such as hemp, as well as their potential for architectural design. This transdisciplinary exchange across scales and disciplines is part of the Material Focus Studio: HEMP – Ancient Plant for New Design at the Department of Textile and Material Design, led by Prof. Christiane Sauer at weißensee school of art and design.
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16.4.2026
Minimalist Lifestyle Practices in Contemporary German-Language Literature
Now Available: Special Issue of the Germanic Review, Edited by Karin Krauthausen and Christiane Arndt
The latest issue of The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory, guest-edited by MoA members Karin Krauthausen and Christiane Arndt, focuses on minimalism. The literary texts discussed — among them Lola Randl’s Der Große Garten, Judith Hermann’s Daheim, and Thomas von Steinaecker’s Die Verteidigung des Paradieses — indicate how less can indeed be a vantage point for more. All contributions are freely available as open access through the publisher.
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Co-Weaving Biofilms, Bastian Beyer, Iva Rešetar, Moritz Liedtke, Regine Hengge, Installation for Bauhaus Museum Dessau, 2025, photo: Michelle Mantel. Copyright: Matters of Activity
19.3.2026
Microbial Matters
MoA Researchers Initiate an Exchange between Princeton University and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
MoA researchers receive a grant for a strategic partnership between Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Princeton University for the project »Microbial Matters«. The academic exchange focuses on shifting perceptions of microbial activity in the built environment, design, and material culture. By challenging the modernist impulse to control and exclude microbial life, our project opens up a dialogue about the active role of bacteria in past and future design practices. Bringing together key initiatives – a manifesto on biotic architecture »We the Bacteria« by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, and interdisciplinary research on »Co-Weaving Biofilms«, carried out at the MoA Cluster, the project engages wider audiences in conversations about alternative design histories seen through the lens of microbial life, and explores why microbes matter for contemporary regenerative and multispecies design cultures.
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Stretching Materialities, edited by Clemens Winkler, Christian Stein & Object Space Agency, adocs 2025
22.12.2025
Stretching Materialities
New Cluster Publication Available in Print and Open Access
We are excited to announce that the latest Cluster publication Stretching Materialities. Negotiating Boundaries in Exhibition Research is now available in print and Open Access with adocs publishing. Stretching Materialities is an experimental approach to rethinking exhibitions in terms of »active matter«: not as a presentation of material knowledge and practices per se, but as an interactive and participatory research approach to new forms of activity emerging from the poiesis of the material. The interdisciplinary exhibition at Tieranatomisches Theater (TA T) Berlin experimented with curatorial processes, the existing environment and its material-energetic resources, sound performances as well as the interweaving of physical and virtual matter. The group of researchers, made up of designers, architects, art historians, computer scientists and anthropologists, expanded materiality into temporal-spatial dimensions and new sensory experiences.
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Syntopia 1—Soma I Body © Roland Halbe
27.11.2025
syntopia 1—soma | body
Visual Essay Published on .able
Congratulations to Elaine Bonavia, Jessica Farmer, Roland Halbe, Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten, Nuri Kang, Mareike Stoll, and Karola Dierichs on their latest visual essay publication in the .able journal! syntopia 1—soma | body is an exploration of the formation of space by the human body. Using a hand-based augmented reality (AR) framework a filament-structure is spun by hand which gradually envelopes its maker. The project is a constructive critique of the current-day use of industrial robotics in architecture since this entails a high use of material and energetic resources. It proposes a return to human handcraft with only the minimal necessary application of electronic technical devices which are required for data streaming. This reduction of machines is also in favor of a bodily sensing of matter’s own inner activity, thus fostering the interlacing of Body—Matter—Machine.
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＿matter Festival 2025
Beetle Galleries in Spruce Wood. Photo: Pelin Asa, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Matters of Activity, 2024; Graphic Design: NODE Berlin Oslo
It's a wrap! In November 2025, the Cluster celebrated the Closing of the ＿matter Festival 2025. Since April 2025, exhibitions, workshops and talks held at eleven places around Berlin have made us see materials in a new way, as things that are not just passive, ahistorical substances. Over 1.500 guests attended the opening events of the exhibition series, and various media outlets covered aspects of the festival program. Learn
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Screenshot Tagesspiegel Magazine »Beyond Now«, October 2025
20.10.2025
Speculative Design as a Research Principle
Essay by MoA Co-Director Claudia Mareis in Tagesspiegel Magazine »Beyond Now«
In light of growing global uncertainties, the future is less predictable than ever before. An article by Cluster Co-Director Claudia Mareis, Professor of Design and History of Knowledge at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, shows how speculative design can stimulate reflection with alternative scenarios. The article in Tagesspiegel Magazine on Berlin Science Week 2025 »Beyond Now« is available in both English and German and can be accessed online.
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LIMBS (2025), 250x70cm, jacquard woven with acryl, polyester, cotton. Copyright: Elaine Bonavia, weissensee school of art and design berlin.
14.10.2025
Fragmented Futures
Doctoral Presentations 2025
The »Matters of Activity« doctoral cohort—bringing together diverse disciplines such as art, architecture, design, engineering and the humanities—explored the theme of »Fragmented Futures« from their individual research perspectives on October 14th, in the Central Laboratory. The public review featured short presentations, a plenary discussion and offered an opportunity to engage with both the researchers and a curated selection of their research objects.
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Raue Reihe / Raw Studies, 5th issue, 2025. Copyright: Matters of Activity
14.10.2025
New Raue Reihe / Raw Studies Issue Available in Print
Im Entwurf: Perspektiven einer dritten Wissenskultur, by Claudia Mareis
We are thrilled to announce the fifth issue of the Cluster’s Raue Reihe series, »Im Entwurf: Perspektiven einer dritten Wissenskultur« by Claudia Mareis, is now available in print. Under the influence of the two cultures discussions of the 1960s, a third, long-neglected mode of knowledge generation became virulent: that of design. This volume of Raue Reihe, edited by Horst Bredekamp, deals with the history of this third knowledge culture of design and its traction in our current crisis-ridden social and ecological debates.
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Key Visual On Water Ausstellung, Humboldt Lab 2025. Copyright: Berlin University Alliance
10.10.2025
On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin
Exhibition at Humboldt Lab shows works by Dimitra Almpani-Lekka and Rasa Weber
Water is life, but it can also destroy. The exhibition »On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin« will show current research projects of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) on the topic of water from October 10, 2025, in the Humboldt Labor. These will be flanked by artistic positions that deal with the element of water and vividly convey its versatility. MoA researchers Dimitra Almpani-Lekka and Rasa Weber contribute to the exhibition with objects from their research on rainwater harvesting and artificial reefs.
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MAKING facades host life with Dimitra Almpani-Lekka
10.9.2025
MAKING Facades Host Life
The new episode with Dimitra Almpani-Lekka explores how sponges and their porosity could hold the key to the future of architecture
Imagine a home whose surface absorbs rainwater like a sponge. This innovation could improve the abilities of urban areas to adapt to both heat and floods in the future. Don't miss the latest episode of MAKING_ where Dimitra Almpani-Lekka reveals how she takes the principles of sponges and applies them to clay tiles to create prototypes for bioreceptive facades and buildings.
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Remaining African mahogany trees at a plant nursery in Safané that was established around 1936 and photographed before the trees were cut down in April 2024. Photo: Salif Sawadogo, 2023
18.6.2025
The Colonial Tree: Encountering the Vegetal Legacy of French Colonialism in the Mouhoun Region, Burkina Faso
New Article Published by Laurence Douny and Salif Sawadogo
Remains of colonialism subtly manifest themselves in the particular configurations of natural and urban landscapes and the distribution of vegetation, such as in the case of Khaya senegalensis or African mahogany. In the Mouhoun region of western Burkina Faso, this vegetal legacy of the French colonies bears witness to a complex and hybrid natural, cultural and local heritage known by the Marka-Dafing as laada, a ›more-than-colonial‹ heritage. This paper sheds light on aspects of a shared colonisers’/colonised heritage through an examination of people’s recollections, fragments of colonial history and their views of the tree as the embodiment of forced labour or arboreal ornamentation that remind people of the past need to align with the rules set by the former colonial administration.
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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Emile de Visscher, Vascularizations, still of video article released on 15 January 2025 at .able journal.
15.1.2025
How to Design for Cells Rather than for Humans?
Visual Essay by Emile De Visscher Published on .able
»How can we design for cells rather than for humans?« is the question that drives MoA member Emile De Visscher's latest video article for .able, »Vascularization«. Inspired by vascular networks (vessel-like structures that enable fluid flow and are widely found in nature) and fulgurites (formations created when lightning strikes sand), this research investigates how lightning-like processes can create microvascular networks for potential medical applications. By bridging biology, experimental surgery, design, and physics, this research proposes a unique approach to addressing organ donation scarcity while moving towards more resilience in materials science. .able is an image-based journal at the intersection of art, design, and sciences responding to the complexities of today’s society.
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Publication »Co-Creating Futures – A Practical Guide to Speculation Workshops Connecting Research, Design, and Society«. Photo: Kristin Werner
15.4.2025
Co-Creating Futures – A Practical Guide to Speculation Workshops Connecting Research, Design, and Society
Open Access Publication by Antje Nestler and Kristin Werner
How can public engagement foster creative exchange between science and society? Cluster member Antje Nestler and former CollActive Materials Coordinator Kristin Werner explore science communication through collaborative speculation. From foundational concepts to practical workshop tools and worksheets, this guide for public engagement practitioners and curious researchers offers tested methods for bringing together academic research, design, and society in co-creating pathways into a sustainable future.
Beeswax Luminaire. Copyright: Junpyo Kwon, Pelin Asa, Karola Dierichs / MoA, MPICI, KHB
23.5.2025
Beeswax Luminaires
New Publication on Sustainable Lighting Through Materials Design
Biogenic materials like beeswax have potential for sustainable manufacturing by reducing environmental impact. An interdisciplinary team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Ajou University in Korea, the Cluster »Matters of Activity« at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin and the Department of Biomaterials of Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm introduces »Beeswax Luminaires«, a sustainable lighting solution made from natural beeswax and water via ice-casting. Their findings are now published in the latest Issue of »Materials & Design«. We congratulate the first authors Junpyo Kwon and Pelin Asa as well as Mourad Jaffar-Bandjee, Shahrouz Amini, Peter Fratzl, and Karola Dierichs.
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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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Vouwo - mud dye produced by Marka-Dafing master dyer and hunter Adama Séré. Photograph by Salif Sawadogo.
5.5.2025
Vouwo Mud Dye
New Paper in Coloration Technology About Novel Approach to Researching Sustainable Textile Dyes
Coloration using soil-based dyes is a fast-growing subject of enquiry in fibres and textile surface design, with pigments and microbes involved in their production being extensively researched. Using this rich natural resource, dyeing techniques have also been integral to long-standing textile traditions worldwide. Grounded in an anthropological study of the dyeing practice of Marka-Dafing hunters in Burkina Faso, West Africa, this paper analyzes the coloration processes in vouwo, or mud dye, used for hunting and ceremonial garments. It highlights complex chemical and microbiological reactions occurring in a dyeing experiment curated by dyers throughout an 18-month-long fermentation process. The authors, Cluster members Laurence Douny, José Ignacio Hernández Lobato, Salif Sawadogo, Peter Fratzl, and Regine Hengge, together with Adama Séré and Shahrouz Amini (MPICI), propose an interdisciplinary approach to the study of vouwo.
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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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MAKING Scoby Grow with Emma Sicher. Copyright: Matters of Activity
16.4.2025
MAKING Scoby Grow
New Episode with Emma Sicher
Remember that cup of tea you left forgotten on your table for weeks? Don’t worry – you might have created something amazing without even realizing it! Meet the SCOBY – a symbiotic structure made of bacteria and yeast, a true powerhouse of bio-design! Find out more and watch the newest episode of »MAKING_«!
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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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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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Automated elevator system for harvesting BC, photo: Marius Land. 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 dove into the interconnected world of fungi and their mycelium. Together with architects Dimitra Almpani-Lekka and Natalija Miodragović, we explored 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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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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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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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: The 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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