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  more

The exhibition »Design Lab #13: Material Legacies« at Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin explores contingencies and ruptures between traditional crafts and the most recent developments at the crossroads of material research, design, engineering, and architecture. It brings together artifacts from the museum’s collection with work-in-progress installations by designers and researchers from the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« to initiate a dialogue about the historical, contemporary, and future conditions under which materiality unfolds. »Design Lab #13: Material Legacies« is curated by Michaela Büsse and Emile De Visscher and is part of the exhibition series »Design Lab« at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, for which Claudia Banz, Curator of Design at the Kunstgewerbemuseum since 2019, invites selected design studios, students and researchers to present current projects and enter into a discourse with the collection of the Kunstgewerbemuseum. Check out all accompanying events that are scheduled for January and February until the closing of the exhibition. more

On November 17, 2022 at 3.00 pm, an exhibition will open that explores the subject of language in the technical age. In several interactive installations. The occasion is the 100th birthday of the poet, literary scholar and literary mediator Walter Höllerer, who taught at the TU Berlin from 1959 to 1988. Under the direction of Cluster Members Christian Stein and Claudia Blümle as well as Hans-Christian von Herrmann in collaboration with the design studio »Above & Below«, the interactive VR installation »Die Umgebung der Wörter - Ausstellung eines Romans« (the environment of words - exhibition of a novel) invites visitors to explore Höllerer's novel »Die Elephantenuhr« (the elephant clock) in an immersive exhibition space. more

The exhibition »DAOULA | sheen«, which was opened on November, 17th 2022 at the Tieranatomisches Theater in Berlin, focuses on the natural formation and the cultural history of wild silk obtained from caterpillars in West Africa, and on the many and complex ways in which this unique material is viewed by microbiologists, materials scientists, and architects in Germany. Curated by MoA members Laurence Douny, Karin Krauthausen, and Felix Sattler, and co-created by a large and diverse multidisciplinary team, this unusual project sets out to stimulate dialogue between West African craft, European science, and design. more

We cordially invite you to the panel discussion »System Ausstellung« with Hans Dieter Zimmermann, and Cluster Members Nina Samuel and Felix Sattler in the context of the exhibition »Language in the Technical Age«. Starting with a review of Walter Höllerer's exhibition »Welt aus Sprache« (World of Language), which took place in 1972 at the Akademie der Künste Berlin (West) and broke completely new ground with the design of immersive environments, the panel will discuss current issues of exhibition conception between art and science, nature and culture. This will be followed by drinks as part of the finissage. more

Don't miss the Round Table »Politics and Poetics of Sand« which is part of the format series accompanying the exhibition »Design Lab #13: Material Legacies« at Kunstgewerbemuseum. The Round Tables represent each of the exhibiting projects and the involved researchers and artists in a moderated dialogue with guests from different disciplines. The format brings a variety of perspectives to the exhibited works, its material legacies and entangled discourses and invites the public to engage. On February 9th design anthropologist and Cluster Member Michaela Büsse will discuss her work with geographer Katherine Dawson (University College London), communication expert Hannah Tollefson (McGill University Montreal) and environmental anthropologist Jerry Zee (Princeton University). Moderation: Jeff Diamanti (University of Amsterdam). more

In the winter semester 2022/23, »Coding IxD« entered its seventh round. This time, students were researching and discussing the possibilities of data physicalization to take informed action based on personal data. The results of their explorations can be experienced during an exhibition at the CityLAB Berlin from February, 16th–23rd, 2023. On February 15th, from 6-9 pm, you are kindly invited to the opening night, to get an exclusive glimpse of the project results and get in touch with the students.
The interdisciplinary course for students from the Department of Computer Science at Freie Universität Berlin and the Department of Product Design at kunsthochschule weißensee is based on a long-standing cooperation between MoA members from these institutions: Claudia Müller-Birn (Freie Universität Berlin) from the Human-Centered Computing Research Group and Carola Zwick, Judith Glaser and Thomas Ness from the Embodied Interaction Group at kunsthochschule weißensee. more

We hereby cordially invite you to a press event in the exhibition »DAOULA | sheen – West African Wild Silk on its Way«. The press event will take place on February 16th, 3.00 pm at the Tieranatomisches Theater and will be accompanied by a live demonstration of the project »MoA Research Prototype 1 | Minimal Machines« with a subsequent discussion of the work. The demonstration involves live work on an architectural structure inspired by the geometric principles of silk cocoons. The researchers are present and give an insight into the materials used as well as the analogue and digital tools. more

On February 22nd-23rd, 2023, MoA Member Michael Friedman and Daniela Zetti of TU Munich will organize a workshop at the Deutsches Museum entitled »Paper(s) as Epistemic Carrier of Knowledge. A history of provoking thought and memory«. The event aims to think on paper as an object of circulations of knowledge and of practices of enabling and transforming collective memory. Paper here should be however considered in plural, not only due to the various functions it had and has, but also since its characterization as an epistemic object. more

We cordially invite you to our last Round Table »On Fibres and Mixtures« which is part of the format series accompanying the exhibition »Design Lab #13: Material Legacies« at Kunstgewerbemuseum and at the same time its cosing event. The Round Tables represent each of the exhibiting projects and the involved researchers and artists in a moderated dialogue with guests from different disciplines. The format brings a variety of perspectives to the exhibited works, its material legacies and entangled discourses and invites the public to engage. On February 23 Professor for material design and Cluster Member Christiane Sauer will disuss the work with Emanuele Coccia, Peter Fratzl and Beatriz Morales. Moderation: Architect and Cluster Member Iva Resetar more