Minimal Machines 1

»Minimal Machines« was an MoA Design Research Studio investigating the development of machines for non-augmented and augmented spinning on an architectural scale. The machines were to be used as devices in conjunction with a designed material. Given that one of the core paradigms of designing matter is the abolition of machines in favor of matter’s own inner activity, these machines were to be minimal. This could imply tools that are designed to perform the bare minimum required in the assembly of a designed material but it could also mean that matter is designed to become operational—or machinic—itself.

On the one hand »Minimal Machines« allowed collecting information about the construction process. On the other, they processed this information and returned it iteratively into that very process to form an increasingly collective construction intelligence. The studio was structured in three successive phases and an overarching phase X. In phase 1 the interrelation of body movement and the making and laying of a textile material was investigated. In phase 2 these observations were translated into minimal machines for crafts(wo)manship that allow to both record and inform these movements of making. In phase 3 a room-scale prototype was collectively constructed which could be situated in an outdoor location. In phase X the documenting of, the writing about and the archiving of design research work was practiced.

Supervision

Professor Dr.-Ing. Karola Dierichs
Jessica Farmer, BA
Dr. Mareike Stoll
Laurence Douny, PhD
Dr. Michaela Eder
Nikolai Rosenthal, MSc
Charlett Wenig
Elaine Bonavia, MSc (weißensee school of art and design berlin)

Students

Madleen Albrecht
Sara Hassoune
Elisa Martignoni
Sebastián Plaza Kutzbach
Marie Rasper