The Cluster »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.
Between Body, Text and Image: Towards a Digital Atlas of Greco-Roman Anatomy
A Talk by Orly Lewis
»Dissection as a method of discovery« from the exhibition »The soul is an Octopus - Ancient Ideas of Life and the Body«. Copyright: Christoph Geiger
Dr. Orly Lewis is a Research Fellow at The Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities and Social Sciences at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She will give a talk at the Cluster on Febuary 19th, 10 am. She will talk about the relation between scientific (anatomical) phenomena and textual and visual depictions of the phenomena, in particular: the methods and challenges in designing and recreating 2D and 3D visualisations of Greco-Roman anatomical ideas based on the ancient textual descriptions.
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Save the Date: MoA Annual Conference
On May 14th, the Annual Conference of the Cluster Will Take Place for All Members and External Guests
On May 14th the Annual Conference of »Matters of Activity« will take place. We look forward to welcoming you at silent green Kulturquartier for lectures, impulses and exchange. Please save the date and stay tuned for the program.
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Entity:City Exhibition at CityLAB
The Design Studio Project Invites to their Exhibition Opening
Copyright: weissensee school of art and design berlin
On February 12th, Product Design and Computer Science students of the weissensee school of art and design and the Freie Universität Berlin present their work under the topic »Entity:City« in cooperation with CityLAB.
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MoA Design Studio: Scaling Nature (2): Fibers, Muscles, Bones
Final Presentation at weissensee school of art and design berlin
Copyright: weissensee school of art and design berlin
»Scaling Nature« experiments with natural components as actors, tensile elements or structural scaffolds. It generates a novel concept for active surfaces that could be used for applications in a spatial context. The work of the students can be viewed in the final presentation on February 11th.
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On Activity
A Joint Symposium on Activity and Materiality
Symposium »On Activity«. Copyright: »Matters of Activity«
The symposium took the ongoing revolution in the understanding of matter in the natural sciences and the question of activity as its starting point, but focused on the answers of the humanities. The event on February 7th was jointly organised by the projects »Symbolic Material« and »Weaving«. A summary of the symposium, can be read in German.
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Nature as Source of Inspiration
The Innovation Potential of Bio-inspired Materials
Stone Web – Spatial module system made from basalt fibre at the weißensee school of art and design berlin (Idalene Rapp, Natascha-Katharina Unger, Christiane Sauer). Copyright: weißensee school of art & design berlin, I. Rapp, N. Unger.
Nature is a source of inspiration for the production of new materials. A project by acatech in cooperation with the Cluster Deputy Director Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Fratzl, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), highlights the innovation potential of bio inspired materials – from chemistry and energy to medicine and robotics, art and design.
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Unmaking: Against General Applicability.
From Critical Media Lab (Ibach, M., Büsse, M., Gerloff, F., Bedö, V., Miyazaki, S., Allen, J.). In The Critical Makers Reader: (Un)learning Technology
Copyright: Institute of Network Cultures
What was making? What is making? What could making become? And what about unmaking? The Critical Makers Reader features an array of practitioners and scholars who address these questions.
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TMS Language Mapping Analysis Revisited
A Preprint by Ziqian Wang, Lucius Samo Fekonja, Felix R. Dreyer, Peter Vajkoczy and Thomas Picht
Machine learning classification of 90 patients reveals distinct reorganization pattern in aphasic patients. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation allows to non-invasively and transiently disrupt local neuronal functioning. Its potential for mapping of language function is currently explored.
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Brain Roads
Exploring the White Matter of the Human Brain
Copyright: Olaf Avenati
»Brain Roads« is an interdisciplinary French-German project for visualization and interactive exploration of the brain. It brings together graphic & digital designers from Esad de Reims, engineers from Télécom SudParis, and researchers in Neurosurgery and Social Sciences from the Cluster »Matters of Activity« and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Its ambition is to develop visual representations and interactive tools for exploring the white matter of the human brain.
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Cultural Heritage - Documentation, Conservation & Information
Lectures from Prof. Stefano Bertocci und Julien Letellier
Copyright: Julien Letellier
On Friday, January 24th at 10am, Prof. Stefano Bertocci and Julien Letellier will give a lecture on »Remote Sensing in Archaelogy and Architectural Heritage: Digital Documentation for Knowledge and Conservation« (Bertocci) and »Virtual Reality with High Resolution 3D Models for Research and Education« (Letellier).
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Matters of Writing: How to Make the Text Write Itself
Immersive Workshop by Maxime Le Calvé on February 20th
Meditation as a matter of activity. Copyright: »Matters of Activity«
The aim of this workshop is to share techniques and tools to overcome the obstacles that occur in academic writing, and in particular that of the dissertation. It allows early-career-stage researchers to initiate an investigation into the journey of text making, and toward a sustainable balance that will contribute to a good quality of life and a high quality of writing. As a follow-up, »Shut Up and Write« sessions as well as thematic trainings will be offered within the Cluster.
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Membranes as Molecular Machines
A workshop on Active Matter and the Remaking of Life
Images from slide collections, 1970s. Top, molecular models of retinal; center left, bleached purple membrane in cuvette, center right: chemically modified preparations of purple membrane in centrifuge tubes, bottom left: Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 1974 (© www.luftbild-bertram.de ); bottom right: electron micrograph of cell surface. By courtesy of D. Oesterhelt, Martinsried.
The workshop on January 10th, jointly organized by the projects »Filtering« and »Weaving«, offers an opportunity to relate historical and current research on membranes and molecular machines to concepts of »active matter«.
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MoA Design Studio: Scaling Nature (1): Wrinkles
at NuThinkers during Domotex Tradefair in Hanover
Design Studio »Scaling Nature (1): Wrinkels«, Design: Juni Neyenhuys and Stefanie Eichler. Copyright: weißensee kunsthochschule berlin
Students of the bachelor's program in textile and surface design investigated material activity in natural structures and developed new design strategies for active surfaces in a spatial context and showcase these at Domotex, Hanover, January 10–13th, 2020.
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Open Science Statement
Since 2007, International Open Access Week is celebrated at hundreds of events around the globe. This year publishers, librarians, researchers, and institutions have discussed and organized events around the theme: »Open for whom? Equity in Open Knowledge«. With its own Open Science Statement »Matters of Activity« supports its members in opening up their research
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Entity:City
Interim Presentation
On Wednesday, December 11th, 2019 the Interim Presentations of the interdisciplinary semester project »Entity:City« took place at the Cluster. The five interdisciplinary teams of students of Computer Science (FU Berlin) and Product Design (KH Berlin Weißensee) presented their concepts.
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Animal Materialities
Compositions and Practices in the History of Science
The Workshop »Animal Materialities« organised by Lisa Onaga & Laurence Douny (project »Weaving«) took place at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Dec 5-6, 2019. The workshop examined the range of components of animal bodies used and transformed over time by animals, and humans.
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MoA Talks
John Nyakatura: The Anatomy of Movement and Nature's Design. Vertebrate Function, Evolution, and Scaling
Copyright: John Nyakatura
Under the title »MoA Talks«, the interdisciplinary lecture series continues on November 19th at weißensee academy of art berlin.
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Weaving in Different Disciplines
with Dr. Ellen Harlizius-Klück
The weaving/braiding robots are part of an experimental setting of the ERC group PENELOPE. Copyright: Karin Krauthausen.
The Weaving-Project continues its series »Weaving in Different Disciplines« on November 7th, 2019 with Dr. Ellen Harlizius-Klück, Project Leader of the ERC group PENELOPE at Deutsches Museum Munich.
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MoA Talks
Interdisciplinary lecture series at weißensee academy of art berlin
»MoA Talks« is an interdisciplinary lecture series of the Cluster »Matters of Activity« running at weißensee school of art berlin. The lectures present different scientific positions from the Cluster. The first invited speaker in the winter semester 2019/2020 was Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Peter Fratzl.
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Cluster Member Stefan Zieme Awarded the 2019 Adler-Mansfield Prize
Adler Planetarium Chicago. Copyright: James Willamor/ Creative Commons
Stefan Zieme was awarded the 2019 Adler-Mansfield Prize for his paper »Adam Elsheimer and the Renaissance Night Sky«, presented at the 14th Biennial History of Astronomy Workshops, 19-22 June 2019, at the University of Notre Dame.
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Cutting
Fiber tractography delineating the white matter of the brain. Copyright: Lucius Fekonja, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo.
The project »Cutting« deals with the technique of forming, changing and opening surfaces and bodies – cutting. Here, researchers from Art History, Computer Science, Biology, Neurosurgery, Linguistics and Brain Research, Physics, Design and Interaction Design jointly research a new perspective on material and data through cutting.
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Object Space Agency
Flour Cloud. Copyright: Clemens Winkler, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo
In »Object Space Agency«, the researchers of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« are gathered to examine the affectivity 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.
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Material Form Function
Wrinkled E Coli Biofilm making cellulose. Copyright: Diego Serra & Regine Hengge, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo.
The research group of the project »Material Form Function« deals with the relationship between material, form and function in order to generate new design principles and insights for the Materials Sciences and Humanities.
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Weaving
Cellulose in E. coli biofilm. Copyright: Diego Serra & Regine Hengge, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo.
The project combines expertise from the fields of Anthropology, Cultural History and Theory, Literary Studies, Biology, Design/ Architecture, Material Sciences and Mathematics. The researchers investigate resources, practices and forms of weaving, focusing on the activity that is structurally anchored in the materials and as a process.
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Filtering
Filters. Copyright: NODE Berlin Oslo
The project »Filtering« investigates filters using historical, experimental and computational approaches. What information, for example, can be enhanced by new filter techniques?
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Symbolic Material
Symbolic Material. Copyright: Myfanwy Evans, adapted by NODE Berlin Oslo
In the project »Symbolic Material« researchers from various disciplines investigate the material foundations of symbolic processes in interaction with the symbolic dimension of materials.
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