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.
Research Assistant (m/f/d) – DR/062/20
with 100 % regular working time – E 13 TV-L HU limited until 31.12.2025
The EXC »Matters of Activity« is looking for a Research Assistant from the field of Cultural History and Theory to support the project Material Form Function and the Deputy Director Prof. Dr. Claudia Mareis
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Closed but Open
Veterinary Anatomy Theater now Shows Exhibition »Meshwork of Things« Online
Corrosion preparation, vessels of the left hand (red plastic). Preparators: Klaws (Kiel) and Heuckendorf (Berlin), 2003. Collection of »Fächerverbund Anatomie der Charité Berlin«. Copyright: Tieranatomisches Theater (Veterinary Anatomy Theater)
»The Meshwork of Things – Sammlungsschaufenster in the Tieranatomisches Theater« shows 80 objects from 26 collections – now online! Together with its partner Shoutr.Labs MoA's cooperation partner the Veterinary Anatomy Theater (Tieranatomisches Theater) offers you the complete permanent exhibition as a couchsurfing experience.
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Funding by European Research Council
Cluster Member Prof. Dr. Dr. Pulvermüller Received Funding for the Project »Material Constraints Enabling Human Cognition«
The European Research Council is the premiere European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. A total of 1881 proposals were submitted, of which 35 ERC Advanced Grants went to Germany. The project »Material Constraints Enabling Human Cognition« will be funded with 2.5 million euros and will use novel insights from human neurobiology translated into mathematically exact computational models to find new answers to long-standing questions in cognitive science, linguistics and philosophy.
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ExC Matters of Activity
@exc_moa, 7.4.2020
RT @HumboldtLabor: Wissenschaft Backstage - die Designer erzählen, wie sie das #HumboldtLabor gestalten.
#HumboldtForum #Ausstellungsarchi…
#Maskeaufjetzt
Spread Masks not the Virus
MoA Members wearing masks during the Corona crises. Copyright: »Matters of Activity«
Next to research and management activities, our Members are very much concerned with one really important activity right now – making and wearing masks. Please support the initiative @we_can_stop_corona and @maskoncollective on Instagram by some of our members.
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Flatten the Curve
Due to the current situation most members of »Matters of Activity« are working from home. The members of the Management Office can be best reached via email, please find all contact information on our Contact page. The site Sophienstraße 22a will be closed, starting Friday, March 20th after work, since the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is going into presence emergency operation only. There are currently no consultation hours.
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All Events Canceled until 20 July 2020
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Decides to Cancel All Its Events
Due to the current situation and pandemic outbreak, we are canceling all events until July 20th. All lectures requiring personal attendance in research and teaching (including lectures, preparation courses, workshops, symposia, colloquia, excursions or language courses) are also canceled during the non-lecture period until April 20th. We are hoping to be able to postpone our plans to the second half of the year. More information can be read here: hu.berlin/corona
Stay safe!
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POSTPONED / 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« was supposed to take place. We were looking forward to welcoming you at silent green Kulturquartier for lectures, impulses and exchange. Due to the current situation we are postponing the event to the second half of the year. A replacement date will be communicated as soon as possible.
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MoA Design Studio: Scaling Nature (2): Fibers, Muscles, Bones
Final Presentation at weißensee school of art and design berlin
»Scaling Nature (2): Fibers, Muscles and Bones« Final Presentation. Copyright: weissensee school of art and design
On February 11th, 2020 the final presentations of MoA Design Studio »Scaling Nature (2): Fibers, Muscles and Bones« took place in weißensee school of art and design. We are very happy that many MoA-Members were able to attend and discuss the students' works, as the final presentations showcased the inspiring journey of this semester's research-based design projects.
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ExC Matters of Activity
@exc_moa, 2.4.2020
RT @JohnNyakatura: That's right! Looking to hire a student assistant from Berlin-Brandenburg area with strong interest in 3d imaging, compu…
Where Analog Solutions are More Efficient than Digital Ones
Interview with Peter Fratzl in Austrian »DerStandard«
In »DerStandard« MoA's Deputy Director Peter Fratzl is talking about the efficiency of analog solutions compared to digital ones. In his interview, the Director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and Deputy Director of »Matters of Activity« also discusses information processing in nature and recycling problems. The article is available in German.
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Make It Real - Für Einen Strukturalen Realismus
Published by Karin Krauthausen and Stephan Kammer
Cover Make It Real. Copyright: Diaphanes
The publication »Make it Real. Für einen strukturalen Realismus« (Make It Real - For a Structural Realism) of the Cluster members Karin Krauthausen and Stephan Kammer deals with the relationship between structuralism and realism. The literary realisms of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries must – like structuralism itself – be understood via a tension that not only takes place between the formal-abstract structure and the diversity of empiricism or the contingency of history, but also captures and dynamises the concept of structure itself.
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Entity:City Exhibition at CityLAB
The Design Studio Project Invited 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 presented their work under the topic »Entity:City« in cooperation with CityLAB.
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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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ExC Matters of Activity
@exc_moa, 2.4.2020
#MoA is looking for 1 #studentassistant from #biology working with @JohnNyakatura and @MasonDeanLab at… twitter.com/...
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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ExC Matters of Activity
@exc_moa, 1.4.2020
Congratulations to our #MoA PI Friedemann Pulvermüller for receiving an @ERC_Research Advanced Grant for the projec… twitter.com/...
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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ExC Matters of Activity
@exc_moa, 1.4.2020
RT @ECN_Berlin: Also big congratulations to ECN PI Friedemann Pulvermüller for receiving an #ERC Advanced #Grant for developing mathematica…
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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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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ExC Matters of Activity
@exc_moa, 30.3.2020
RT @HumboldtUni: #closedbutopen - das „Flechtwerk der Dinge. Sammlungsschaufenster der #HumboldtUni“ zeigt 80 Objekte aus 26 Sammlungen - u…
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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