Matters of Activity
Rethinking Materiality, Rethinking Knowledge

We are thrilled to announce the release of Matters of Activity. Rethinking Materiality, Rethinking Knowledge on 21 September 2026! Edited by Claudia Mareis, Carolin Ott, and Babette Werner, and published by Birkhäuser, this volume assembles case studies, theoretical reflections, and experimental practices across the natural sciences, humanities, and design. The Cluster’s collaborative research rethinks materiality as active, relational, and historically situated. Materials are explored not as passive resources but as active participants in processes of making, sensing, and knowing. At this book’s core lies a quiet but radical idea: Matter does not merely serve human thought; it participates in how we think, build, and understand our environments. Fibers, surfaces, and tools created from tree bark, fungi, and wool join digital data and clouds as active partners in perceptual and design processes that cross scales, temporalities, and spaces and open new pathways for human–material interaction.

Available in print and open access!

https://birkhauser.com/de/book/9783035629774