From November 1st to 10th, Berlin will once again host the Berlin Science Week, a 10-day international festival that brings together the world's most innovative scientific organizations in Berlin and online to celebrate science and facilitate an open and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and knowledge. The Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« will provide insights into its research at two locations: Firstly, at the Humboldt Lab in the Humboldt Forum, which opened its doors this summer, and secondly, at the Tieranatomisches Theater on the North Campus of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin withing the exhibition »Stretching Materialities«. more

Our next »Talking Matters« contribution has a special feature: the talk by environmental historian Verena Winiwarter from Universität für Bodenkultur Wien is also the keynote of the »Filtering Legacies« workshop that »Matters of Activity« is co-hosting with Technische Universität Berlin on November 11th and 12th. So please note the difference in time and day from our usual schedule! Verena Winiwarter's talk will focus on naturally occurring radioactive materials that are »technologically enhanced« (TENORMs) and play a role in numerous processes when people exploit natural resources, such as fracking. As long as the material was naturally occurring deep in the earth, it had little effect. But once concentrated and brought to the light of day it presents a borderline case. The talk aims to use the borderline case of TENORMs as a lens through which to view the greater question of human interventions into natural systems and their consequences for society. more

Filtering Technologies are at the center of many current processes of our transformational age as they can alleviate the impact of industrial societies in their planetary dimension. We understand the process of filtering as a scalable environing technique that differentiates and maintains symbolic and material environments alike. Filtering is a process that matters in a twofold way: It is a material process and a symbolic activity. Applying filters means negotiating between the wanted and the unwanted, between the polluted and the untouched environment, and between what is considered dangerous or safe. The workshop organized by Alwin Cubasch, Vanessa Engelmann, Ronja Quast, Heike Weber and Verena Winiwarter aims for a better understanding of the ecologic economy of wastes, sinks and waste legacies which resulted from the hope to unmake the adverse byproducts of filtering activities. What have been the challenges and pitfalls of the past – and what can we learn for the future design and technology of filters? more

This year's MoA Annual Conference is all about matter in motion. We will discuss transition and contingency, processes of acquiring and losing form, and the creative potential of the unfinished and indeterminate. We live, create and act in a time of tipping points. On a planetary scale, the tipping point is understood as an abrupt and irreversible change that is causing the Earth´s climate and other systems to fall out of their stable state. Such transitional phenomena are particularly significant in climate research, but no less in material, biological, anthropological and aesthetic contexts. more

On Tuesday, 23rd November 2021, Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Robotics and Director of the Cluster of Excellence »Science of Intelligence« Oliver Brock is a guest at our lecture series »Talking Matters«. In his talk entitled »Intelligence Without a Brain – Soft Robotics«, he will argue that intelligent behavior requires the fine-tuned interplay between brain, body, and environment, a central aspect that AI research has stubbornly ignored for the last 60 years. more