Syntopia 1—Soma I Body, Minimal Machines by Matters of Activity. Copyright: Sebastián Plaza Kutzbach
Cultures of Mixed Reality for Architectural and Construction Robotics
Minimal machines are understood as experimental approaches to kinetic processes in an age of robotics, where both hardware and software are reduced to their essential minimum. Cluster members Karola Dierichs and Karin Krauthausen together with Glenda Caldwell (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Dagmar Reinhardt (University of Sydney, Australia) aim to edit a Topical Collection reflecting on the rapidly emerging field of Mixed Reality (MR) in architecture, considering not only its technological aspects but also its cultural and human-centered implications. They invite contributions from the fields of Computational Design and Construction as well as the Humanities.
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Publication »Raue Reihe«, edited by Horst Bredekamp with a first issue by Regine Hengge on »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism«. Copyright: Matters of Activity
Edited by Horst Bredekamp with a First Issue by Regine Hengge on »The Essential Role of Microbes in Planetary Metabolism«
The academic series »Raue Reihe / Raw Studies« is a new publication organ of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« edited by Horst Bredekamp. Modeled on »grey literature« formats, such as the preprints of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin or the legendary Merve volumes, its issues will appear at irregular intervals and aim to support the publishing of Cluster literature in terms of processes, and rapidity, spontaneity, and process character. Its title, »Raue Reihe«, emphasizes the resistance of matter that continues to be the decisive determination of existence in all its varieties in our digital age.
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Book Cover Perraudin, L. 2024. Elementare Ekstasen. Sondierungen der Technosphäre. Series: Future Ecologies, Lüneburg: meson Press.
Monografie von Clustermitglied Léa Perraudin Open Access veröffentlicht
Elementare Ekstasen überschwemmen, erodieren und evaporieren die wohlsortierten Grenzziehungen zwischen Technik, Umwelt und Mensch. Als Neuverortung im Spannungsfeld medienökologischer, neomaterialistischer und technikfeministischer Theoriebildung sondiert Léa Perraudin all jene Widerständigkeiten und Un/Verfügbarkeiten, die von techno-kapitalistisch protegierten Operationen nicht zu tilgen sind.
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Marco Tamborini: Biorobotik zur Einführung
Neue Publikation von Clustermitglied Marco Tamborini
Was ist Biorobotik? Unter welchen philosophischen, historischen und ethischen Voraussetzungen können bioinspirierte Roboter gebaut werden? Wie haben sich das Bild des Menschen und das Verhältnis von Natur und Technik durch die Herstellung von biohybriden Robotern verändert?
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Copyright: Sistemas Materiales
Pioneering Publication on Biomaterials Launched in Buenos Aires
»Trazos« is a pioneering publication in Spanish in the interdisciplinary field of biomaterials developments. The book is divided into three sections which explore, interrogate, shape, and reflect on these scientific and creative advancements. This book encourages interaction between the Spanish-speaking community and provides access to a topic predominantly discussed in English. It seeks to stimulate dialogue and amplify the reach of the Latin American biomaterials field to a broader audience. Likewise, it aspires to foster collaborations that transcend language barriers, promoting enriching exchanges of ideas and knowledge. The book, edited by MoA Associated Member Heidi Jalkh and Gisela Pozzetti, and designed by Paula Rodríguez, includes contributions by MoA researchers Bastian Beyer, Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten, Wolfgang Schäffner, Daniel Suárez, Charlett Wenig and by Rodrigo Martin Iglesias, Coordinator of the Master Open Design.
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Cover Material Trajectories, 2023. Coypright Meson Press
Book Launch on 23 February at Pro qm Bookstore
»Material Trajectories: Designing With Care?« turns towards material-driven design processes with the aim of relocating technoscientific trajectories. Concerned with new forms of caretaking, it combines positions from the extended fields of design research and humanities scholarship including practice-based approaches. The contributions are an outcome of the 2021 Annual Conference of the German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF), organized in cooperation with »Matters of Activity«. The volume is edited by MoA members Léa Perraudin, Clemens Winkler and Claudia Mareis, and Matthias Held, Prorector for Research at Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd, and published as part of the Future Ecologies Series in 2023 by Meson Press. The digital edition can be downloaded free of charge on the publisher’s website
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Copyright: Matters of Activity
Michael Friedman Presents 1st Transcription, Translation and Study of Jungius' Unpublished Manuscript »Texturæ Contemplatio«
Michael Friedman's book offers an analysis of Joachim Jungius' »Texturæ Contemplatio« - a hitherto-unpublished manuscript written in German and Latin that deals with weaving, knitting and other textile practices, attempting to present as well various fabrics and textile techniques in a scientifical and even mathematical framework. The book aims to provide the epistemological, technical and historic framework for Jungius’ manuscript, inspecting fabrics, weaving techniques as well as looms and other textile machines in the Holy Roman Empire during the Early Modern Period. It also offers a unique investigation of the notion and metaphor of ›texture‹ during this period, and explores, within the wider context of the ›meeting‹ or ›trading zones‹ thesis, the relations between artisans and natural philosophers during the 17th century. Save the date for the Book Presentation on Thursday, February 22nd, 2024.
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Cover of »Architectures of Weaving«: »Stone Web«. Copyright: weißensee school of art and design berlin / Natascha Unger, Idalene Rapp
Now Open Access
The volume »Architectures of Weaving«, a rich anthology edited by MoA members Christiane Sauer, Mareike Stoll, Ebba Fransén Waldhör, and Maxie Schneider, published by Jovis Verlag, Berlin in November 2022, is available open access now at De Gruyter. Taking as its point of departure a symposium of the same title held in July 2021, the lavishly illustrated volume brings together contributions from numerous researchers from various disciplines of the Cluster of Excellence and experts from other institutions.
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Schematic illustration of constraints for making neural networks more similar to real brains: The models can be used as tools to predict and/or explain behavior and brain activity patterns. The brain area and connectivity diagram on the right has been kindly provided by Rosario Tomasello and the local circuit diagram in the middle is reprinted, with permission, from Schmidt et al. 2018.
Friedemann Pulvermüller and his Team Publish Study on Causal Effects of Language on Thought
The influence of language on human thinking could be stronger than previously assumed. This is the result of a new study by Professor Friedemann Pulvermüller and his team from the Brain Language Laboratory at Freie Universität Berlin. In this study, the researchers examined the modeling of human concept formation and the impact of language mechanisms on the emergence of concepts. The results were recently published in the journal »Progress in Neurobiology«.
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Plektonik Structural Textiles column – continuous wooden ›Active Yarns‹ 40 mm diameter loops. Copyright: Daniel Suárez & Natalija Miodragović
Cluster Members Beyer, Miodragović, Mossé and Suárez Publish in Proceedings of the UIA World Congress of Architects Copenhagen 2023
The book provides new perspectives from leading researchers accentuating and examining the central role of the built environment in conceiving and implementing multifaceted solutions for the complex challenges of our understanding of planetary resources and circularity, revealing critical potentials for architecture and design to contribute in more informed and long-term ways to the urgent transition of our society. Bastian Beyer et. al. contributed with the article »Towards a Bacterially-Induced Textile Architecture« and Daniel Suárez and Natalija Miodragović an article on »Plektonik— Active Yarns for Adaptive Loop-Based Material Systems«.
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Leben machen. Die Zoëpolitik der synthetischen Biologie. Copyright: DeGruyter
Publikation von Clustermitglied Martin Müller Open Access veröffentlicht
Die synthetische Biologie versucht sich gegenwärtig am Re-Design ganzer Gattungen, arbeitet an der ›resurrectio‹ längst ausgestorbener Arten zur Stabilisierung kollabierender Ökosysteme und greift mittels der Genomeditierungstechnologie CRISPR gezielt in die menschliche Keimbahn ein.
Für eine Kritik dieser prometheischen Biologie verbindet Martin Müller Ansätze aus Medien- und Kulturwissenschaft mit Designtheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie und Wissensgeschichte. Seine ›Genealogie der Zoëpolitik‹ ist gleichsam eine neue Macht- und Lebenstheorie. Sie beschreibt einen ›Willen zum Lebenmachen‹, der um 1800 entstand. Dieser intensivierte sich und eskalierte im 20. Jahrhundert in der ›molekularen Revolution‹ und heute im Auftauchen der synthetischen Biologie, welche die planetarische Natur und das biologische Leben in Gänze als ein Interventionsfeld ingenieurtechnischer Kalküle begreift. more
Für eine Kritik dieser prometheischen Biologie verbindet Martin Müller Ansätze aus Medien- und Kulturwissenschaft mit Designtheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie und Wissensgeschichte. Seine ›Genealogie der Zoëpolitik‹ ist gleichsam eine neue Macht- und Lebenstheorie. Sie beschreibt einen ›Willen zum Lebenmachen‹, der um 1800 entstand. Dieser intensivierte sich und eskalierte im 20. Jahrhundert in der ›molekularen Revolution‹ und heute im Auftauchen der synthetischen Biologie, welche die planetarische Natur und das biologische Leben in Gänze als ein Interventionsfeld ingenieurtechnischer Kalküle begreift. more
Design, Gestaltung, Formatività. Philosophies of Making. Copyright: Birkhäuser, 2022
A Central Cluster Publication Edited by Patricia Ribault Released – Now Available Open Access
After the release of the anthology edited by Patricia Ribault, including contributions by Cluster members Samuel Bianchini, Cecile Bidan, Horst Bredekamp, Mason Dean, Emile De Visscher, Peter Fratzl, Lorenzo Guiducci, Leonie Häsler, Claudia Mareis, Martin Müller, Jörg Petruschat, Emanuele Quinz, Khashayar Razghandi, Patricia Ribault, Wolfgang Schäffer and Charlett Wenig, we're happy to announce that the publication is now available open access.
Through the concepts of »Design, Gestaltung and Formatività«, this book sheds new light on the processes of formation and transformation of the material world we live in. In the first part— »Giving Form« —philosophers, historians, psychologists and cultural studies scholars question our modes of giving form, while in the second— »Form Given« — artists, designers, engineers and scientists unfold their creative processes. These »philosophies of making« invite us to reflect on what we do, what we can do, and how to do it, but they also spur us into action.
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Syntopia 1—Soma I Body. Copyright: Karola Dierichs, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, weissensee academy of art and design and Matters of Activity
Paper Published on Augmented Reality (AR) Framework
Elaine Bonavia, Jessica Farmer, Alexandre Mballa-Ekobena, Nikolai Rosenthal, Laurence Douny and Karola Dierichs have published a paper on an augmented reality (AR) framework that uses hand-based motion tracking and data capture. The main contribution lies in the use of haptic data flows rather than visual ones. The AR framework was tested in a one-to-one scale architectural application emulating the spinning behavior of silkworms.
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Image of the cortical ends of the white matter of the human brain, created in the »Matters of Activity« Cluster of Excellence. Copyright: MoA/Lucius Fekonja
In this prognostic study of 112 patients and 70 patients with glioblastoma, published in JAMA Neurology, a newly developed white matter tract density index (TDI) was significantly associated with the overall survival of patients with glioblastoma. The TDI had a stronger correlation and survival prediction than other commonly used prognostic factors. The TDI appears to be a reliable predictor of patient outcomes; given these findings, this index may be considered in future clinical trials and potentially incorporated into clinical practice.
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Copyright: »Spontaneous Generations«, https://www.spontaneousgenerations.com/
Karin Krauthausen and Michael Friedman Published Article in Special Issue of »Spontaneous Generations«
»Spontaneous Generations«, the Journal of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto launched a special issue on ›agency‹. The volume »From Bacteria to Gaia: Levels of Biological Agency« includes an article of the Cluster members Karin Krauthausen and Michael Friedman on the agency and activities of materials in the 21st century.
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Sketch by Maxime Le Calvé, 2022, Copyright: Maxime Le Calvé, Matters for Activity
Maxime Le Calvé Presented Paper at the Film Festival of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Posting graphic fieldnotes can be brewed into a method to broker some attention from busy professionals. But what are the benefits of the practice? And for a potential publisher? What are the drawbacks and inconveniences? What’s the best practice in this domain? A paper, presented by Maxime Le Calvé at the Film Festival of the Royal Anthropological Institute (London, UK), on March 7th, 2023, focuses on the collaborative ethnographic process conducted within a neurosurgery department as a »radical open-access« pre-publication.
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Chemical Reviews, Special Edition »Sustainable Materials«, Design: Ella Marushchenko, 2023. Copyright: Chemical Reviews
Editorial by Co-Director Peter Fratzl in the Special Issue of Chemical Reviews
The current special issue of Chemical Reviews entitled »Sustainable Materials« was coordinated by the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) in Potsdam-Golm, a crucial partner institution of Matters of Activity. The editorial by Cluster Co-Director Peter Fratzl, also heading the Department of Biomaterials at the (MPICI), covers quite a few aspects that are also discussed in the MoA Cluster.
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Petrification, publication at .able Journal, 2023. Copyright: Emile De Visscher, Ophélie Maurus
Emile De Visscher Publishes in Recently Launched Image-Based Journal .able
On March 23rd, 2023, Emile de Visscher's contribution about petrification was published with the launch of .able, an innovative image-based journal at the intersection of art, design, and sciences responding to the complexities of today’s society. To explore the new format of scientific publishing offered by the .able Journal, Emile de Visscher invited Ophélie Maurus, independent art director and photographer for the Petrification research project. The main focus was to take advantage of the different layers of content in the platform to present the different dimensions of the project: speculative, symbolic, technical, etc. One of the most intriguing and difficult steps concerned the referencing systems as every scientific article is structured and built upon one. But how to create references with images rather than words?
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.able Journal, Going with the Flow, 2023, Image: Gisèle Trudel. Copyright: .able
.able Journal Out Now – Join the Launch Week!
On March 23rd, 2023, .able Journal, an innovative image-based multiplatform journal for publishing research at the intersection of art, design, and sciences was launched. .able reinvents the publication form by making research accessible through images. Free of charge and distributed on numerous platforms, media, and devices, Created at the initiative of La Chaire Arts & Sciences of the École Polytechnique, the École des Arts Décoratifs – PSL, and the Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso, the journal is published by Actar Publishers and supported by some thirty international academic partners. »Matters of Activity« is proud to tell you that the Cluster is connected to this great project by several members: Editor-in-chief of .able is Samuel Bianchini, Associated Member to MoA, part of the board are MoA Co-Director Claudia Mareis and Cluster Professor Patricia Ribault. Among the first researchers to use the new publication format to present their research is MoA member Emile de Visscher.
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Cover Museale Reste, ed. by Nina Samuel and Felix Sattler, De Gruyter 2023. Copyright: De Gruyter
New Anthology Edited by Nina Samuel and Felix Sattler Focuses Museum Remnants
In December 2022, volume 18 of Bildwelten des Wissens, edited by MoA members Nina Samuel and Felix Sattler, was published with the title »Museale Reste« (Museum Remnants). Remnants are a challenge for the museum as an institution. They are ambiguous figures, and their attributions open up and thus contribute to transcending the taxonomic, disciplinary, architectural, and institutional boundaries of museums. They can be found everywhere—in exhibition spaces as well as storage depots, and in laboratories just as in the administration. In each of these contexts, there are respectively different forms of professional self-conception, knowledge, and practical handling that determine the status of remnants.
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Brain-constrained Neural Modeling Explains Fast Mapping of Words to Meaning
New Publication by Cluster Members Rosario Tomasello and Friedemann Pulvermüller
Although teaching animals a few meaningful signs is usually time-consuming, children acquire words easily after only a few exposures, a phenomenon termed »fast mapping«. Meanwhile, most neural network learning algorithms fail to achieve reliable information storage quickly, raising the question of whether a mechanistic explanation of fast mapping is possible. Here, we applied brain-constrained neural models mimicking fronto-temporal-occipital regions to simulate key features of semantic associative learning.
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Screenshot: https://revuecaptures.org; Cornelius E. Klots, A Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio Troilus) in Intimidating Mode (s.d.). Copyright: Cornelius E. Klots
Article Published by Horst Bredekamp and Kolja Turner
The essay tries to plea for incorporating concepts of evolutionary and animal imagery into an open theory of the image, that extends beyond the realm of human artifice and must no longer be viewed with an anthropocentric focus. Turning to images that are not human-made, we try to explore different image phenomena and connect them to non-human concepts of ›Beauty‹ as historically developed by Charles Darwin’s underappreciated theory of ›Sexual Selection‹ and, before him, trailblazed by William Hogarth.
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Chapter 13 »On the arcs between the equator and the ecliptic« from the first book of the Almagest from Gerard of Cremona’s Latin translation from Arabic (A-family). The chapter includes the table of solar declinations newly recalculated for Gerard’s translation. The parchment manuscript shown here (Paris, BnF, lat 16200, fol. 13v-14r) is an early witness, copied in December 1213. Copyright: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Stefan Zieme Publishes New Findings on the History of Astronomy
In its latest February issue, the Journal for the History of Astronomy has published the article »Gerard of Cremona’s Latin translation of the ›Almagest‹ and the revision of tables« by Cluster member Stefan Zieme. In his article, Stefan shows that upon translating Ptolemy's »Almagest« from Arabic into Latin in the second half of the twelfth century, Gerard of Cremona intervened into the mathematical structure of the »Almagest« and adjusted the tables of mathematical astronomy according to the textual elements. The article offers a novel approach to the history of astronomy by focusing on analog practices instead of their modern mathematical representations.
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Article »Kein Zurück zu Natur«. Copyright: FAZ
Cluster Member Martin Müller Writes a Critique of Geoengineering and Neoromantic Ecology in Times of Escalating Climate Crisis
The year 2022 was the year of »climate extremes«, concludes the report of the European Climate Observatory. The concentration of CO2 and methane in the earth's atmosphere is the highest it has been for millennia. Mitigation measures such as emissions reduction or reforestation remain disappointingly ineffective. It seems almost impossible to keep the global temperature rise below the critical two-degree mark. The habitability of the earth is at stake.
It is time for an ideological critique of today's predominant imperatives of climate rescue: neo-romantic ecology on the one hand and geoengineering on the other. Both approaches want to return to a nature that does not exist anymore – and perhaps never did. A critical comment by Martin Müller in the FAZ.
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Stone Web. Copyright: weißensee school of art and design berlin/ Natascha Unger & Idalene Rapp
Roundtable Discussion with Editors and Contributors of the Multidisciplinary Anthology
On Wednesday, January 25th, 2023, the publication »Architectures of Weaving« was launched with a transdisciplinary roundtable discussion at the Architecture Gallery Aedes in Berlin-Mitte. The editors Christiane Sauer, Mareike Stoll, Ebba Fransén Waldhör, and Maxie Schneider invited the public to exchange on the idea of »Architectures of Weaving« with book-contributors and members of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« Peter Fratzl, Lorenzo Guiducci, Regine Hengge, Heike Illing-Günther and Karin Krauthausen.
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Flyer Book Launch, 19 January 2023. Copyright: Pro qm
Anthology »Design, Gestaltung, Formatività« Focuses on Philosophies of Making
What do the gestures of a neurosurgeon, a painter, an engineer, a craftsman or a biologist have in common? Based on the concepts of ›design‹, ›gestaltung‹, and ›formatività‹, this book takes a new look at the processes of formation and transformation of the material world we live in. Researchers in history, philosophy, psychology, media, and cultural studies question the processes of giving form, while artists, designers, engineers, and scientists describe their creative processes based on their own work. We cordially invite you to take part in the presentation of the book »Design, Gestaltung, Formatività. Philosophies of Making« (Birkhäuser 2022) in the presence of the editor, MoA member Patricia Ribault, and several authors, such as Peter Fratzl, Lorenzo Guiducci, Barbara Schmidt, Jörg Petruschat, Judith Seng, Martin Müller and Khashayar Razgandhi (tbc). The graphic designer of the anthology Olaf Avenati will also be present. The book launch is on Thursday, 19th January 2023 at 7:30 pm at »Pro qm« bookstore.
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Exemplary visualization of the arcuate fasciculus. Copyright: Reisch, Böttcher, Tuncer, Schneider, Vajkoczy, Picht and Fekonja
Results of the Study Now Published on Pubmed
In this study, to which MoA Members Lucius Fekonja and Thomas Picht contributed to, the authors looked at a new way to use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS, a brain stimulation method) to map language in the brain. The new method uses information about the brain's white matter pathways to target specific areas of the brain that are important for language. The study compared this new method to a more general method that targets a wider area of the brain. We found that the new method was more effective in disrupting language abilities and provided more specific information about the brain regions involved in language. This new method could be useful in future studies of the brain's language network.
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Towards a Better Representation of Research Objects in Interdisciplinary Research
Publication About MoA's Current Research Information System now Published
Cluster researchers from humanities, design, natural and social sciences, and medicine work together, producing diverse outcomes which are all relevant for reporting to the funding agencies and society. Here, the authors Anna Arbuzova, Anne Hattwich, Alexander Struck and Martin Wagner describe the development of a researcher-oriented CRIS (Current Research Information System) embracing not only text publications but also other research outcomes on equal footing. They illustrate the flexibility of the system by introducing a new output category ›Research Prototypes‹. They discuss the challenges and benefits of a local CRIS solution for a small, non-permanent organization, in which researchers from several organizations are working on specific research topics.
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Cover »Engange with Fungi«, Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP)
New Open Access Publication by Vera Meyer and Colleagues
The recently founded Open Access publishing house Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP) has published its first book: »Engage with Fungi«. How do we want to live in the future? How do we take responsibility for the future of the Earth, for our environment, for our society? Fusing the creativity engines of science, art, and society enables us to develop visions for a sustainable future and viable paths towards it. The publication exemplifies such a transdisciplinary endeavor and focuses on collaborative research on and learning from fungi.
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Leben im Schleim. Copyright: FASZ
Read about MoA in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung, the Purpose Magazine, The Praxis Journal and Tagesspiegel
We are very happy that »Matters of Activity« has been highlighted by many different (international) news outlets lately. Next to beautiful biofilm pictures and information from Regine Hengge, Cluster Members Wolfgang Schäffner and Maxime Le Calvé have been interviewed by Purpose Magazine and The Praxis Journal from Argentina. Wolfgang Schäffner has also been interviewed in connection to the BUA initiative »BUA Calling« by Tagesspiegel Berlin. With our involvement in the Berlin Science Week news about MoA will also travel fast in the upcoming weeks.
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Ramification point of 2. order on a Riemann surface (model: 258). © Göttinger Sammlung mathematischer Modelle und Instrumente.
New Publication by MoA Member Michael Friedman on Branch Curves and Algebraic Geometry in the 20th Century
The latest book of MoA member Michael Friedman was published in September 2022 within the series »Frontiers in the History of Science« at Birkhäuser Cham. »Ramified Surfaces« offers an extensive study on the convoluted history of the research of algebraic surfaces, focusing for the first time on one of its characterizing curves: the branch curve. Starting with separate beginnings during the 19th century with descriptive geometry as well as knot theory, the book focuses on the 20th century and will be of special interest for both historians of science and mathematicians.
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Cover: Museums, Transculturality, and the Nationstate. Copyright:transcript
New Publication by Cluster Member Nina Samuel
While the nation-state gave rise to the advent of museums, its influence in times of transculturality and post-/decolonial studies appears to have vanished. But is this really the case? With case studies from various geo- and sociopolitical contexts from around the globe, the contributors investigate which roles the nation-state continues to play in museums, collections, and heritage. They answer the question to which degree the nation-state still determines practices of collection and circulation and its amount of power to shape contemporary narratives. The volume thus examines the contradictions at play when the necessary claim for transculturality meets the institutions of the nation-state. With contributions by Stanislas Spero Adotevi, Sebastián Eduardo Dávila, Natasha Ginwala, Monica Hanna, Rajkamal Kahlon, Suzana Milevska, Mirjam Shatanawi, Kavita Singh, Ruth Stamm, Andrea Witcomb.
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Multiscale architectures. Left: the wooden tower of Lake Mjøsa, Norway Reproduced with permission from [1]. Copyright: Voll Arkitekter AS & Ricardo Foto. Right: the internal structure of wood based on parallel tube-like wood cells with diameters in the range of tens of microns (shown for several wood species from top to bottom). The white arrow points to a sketch where nanometer-thick cellulose fibrils are indicated by black lines [2] John Wiley & Sons. Copyright: 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Special Issue Edited by Cluster Members K. Razghandi, C. Sauer and P. Fratzl
Architecture stands as a paradigm for the development of structural entities, which define functionality from the nanoscale to entire buildings. However, the distinction between structure and material becomes totally blurred in biological systems where it is impossible to distinguish between material and device or organ. A tree stem, as a prototypical example, is both material and plant organ with specific biological functions. Partially inspired by this, there are recent parallel movements—in materials development as well as in architectural design—towards the merging of materiality, structure and function into one integral construction system.
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Collection Overview - Tessellation Archive. Copyright: Felix Rasehorn
An Online Collection of Tiled Tissues and Architectures from Across the Natural World
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
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Colourful Revolution 1, »paintballing« of the refurbished building of the Government of Macedonia, Skopje, 1 May 2016. Copyright: Sašo Stanojkoviќ
Discussion and Book Launch with Sebastián Eduardo, Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Susanne Leeb, Nina Samuel, Abhijan Toto and Raul Walch
On May 29, 11:30 am–01:30 pm, Cluster member Nina Samuel and co-editor of »Museums, Transculturality, and the Nation-State. Case Studies from a Global Context« presented, together with colleagues and guests, the recently published anthology in the Hamburger Bahnhof. The multiauthor book examines the contradictions and tensions that arise when contemporary demands for transculturality and decoloniality meet the institutions of the nation-state.
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Poster Materials Matter. Copyright: Matters of Activity
Conversation and Workshop about Central Cluster Anthology »Active Materials«
We are very pleased to present the audio broadcast of the public panel discussion that took place on May 4, 2022, at the Humboldt Lab. In the interdisciplinary discussion, central theses of the Central Cluster Anthology »Active Materials« were presented. The cross-disciplinary conversation with Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Michaela Eder, Peter Fratzl, and Richard Weinkamer aimed to address one of the burning questions of our epoch: the possibility of engineering smart, active, or bio-inspired materials and the meaning these enhanced materials might have for solving the contemporary and future challenges of these tumultuous times. The event was moderated by MoA members Michael Friedman and Karin Krauthausen, who were also co-authors of the anthology. Be sure to listen in!
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Cover Chris Salter, Sensing Machines 2022. Copyright: The MIT Press
Chris Salter's Latest Publication »Sensing Machines«
In his new book »Sensing Machines«, Chris Salter, Associated Member to the »Object Space Agency« project, examines how we are tracked, surveilled, tantalized, and seduced by machines ranging from smart watches and mood trackers to massive immersive art installations. There are more of these electronic devices in the world than there are people — in 2020, thirty to fifty billion of them (versus 7.8 billion people), with more than a trillion expected in the next decade. Sensing technology turns our experience into data; but the book’s story isn't just about what these machines want from us, but what we want from them — new sensations, the thrill of the uncanny, and magic that will transport us from our daily grind.
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Cover Publication »Grenzen der Formalisierung«. Copyright: Spector Books
New Publication by Cluster Members Michael Friedman and Angelika Seppi
What role does mathematical formalization play in our understanding of knowledge and science, and how does it influence our conceptions of the unknown, of the unconscious as well as of the non-conscious? What is the relationship between the monopolization of calculable rationality and the increasing computerization of our Lebenswelt? And, last but not least, when reality is translated into symbols, what resistance does this process encounter?
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Collagen fiber bundle after mineralization with bone mineral calcium phosphate under an electron microscope. Copyright: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
A Team of MPICI Researchers Discovers New Properties of Collagen
A team at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) has discovered new properties of collagen: During the intercalation of minerals in collagen fibers, a contraction tension is generated that is hundreds of times stronger than muscle strength. »This universal mechanism of mineralization of organic fiber tissues could be transferred to technical hybrid materials, for example, to achieve high breaking strength there,« says Prof. Dr. Peter Fratzl, Director at the institute and Co-Director of »Matters of Activity«.
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Distribution of the patients’ lesions. Copyright: Lucius Fekonja
New Findings by MoA Researcher Lucius Fekonja and Colleagues Published in »Communications Biology«
How do tumors in the motor system affect the structural connectome? Tumors and their location distinctly alter both local and global brain connectivity within the ipsilesional hemisphere of glioma patients. This study, led by Cluster Member Lucius Fekonja, links the complex relationships between function and the underlying matter, the brain's white matter, and demonstrates how tumor activity affects the cerebral network using graph analysis and network-based statistics. The work was done in the framework of »Cutting«/»Adaptive Digital Twin« and initiates its new Cluster phase by enriching our understanding of structural characteristics of active materials, their functional and scientific implications in clinical and translational medicine and neuroscience. The publication in »Communications Biology« further highlights the interdisciplinary aspect of the study.
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Cover of the publication »Atem/Breath. Gestalterische, ökologische und soziale Dimensionen/ Morphological, Ecological and Social Dimensions«, edited by Linn Burchert and Iva Rešetar.
New Anthology Co-edited by Cluster Member Iva Rešetar
In the course of breathing – in the process of constant exchange and crossing of boundaries between the organism and its environment – air as an »immaterial» material becomes active. For the first time, this anthology, edited by Linn Burchert and Iva Rešetar, brings together studies on breath from the perspective of the arts and humanities, as well as experimental scientific and design practices. Focusing on the period from 1900 to the present day, the publication covers an era during which air has become a precarious medium: whether in the context of climate change or global pandemic, space technology or gas warfare, air is now co-created and manipulated by humans. Against this backdrop, breath appears as an elusive yet vital substance that reveals the interconnections between the physical, symbolic, technological and social realms.
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3D printed prototypes by B. Pekcagliyan, W. Rybakova, N. Vega, & P. Greta for »Subterranean Matters« Project, in »Stretching Senses School«, Matters of Activity.
New Publications present Findings of Stretching Senses School at TA T Berlin
Playful approaches can directly affect our sensory faculties beyond the realm of power and knowledge. The »stretching senses school« was an education-as-research project at the Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin (TA T) attached to the exhibition »Stretching Materialities«. This workshop-based contribution to the exhibition was framed as a collaboration between anthropology and immersive interaction art. Cluster members engaged with creative coders and digital artists in experimental curation work, with the intention to raise awareness of the public on the multiscale and embedded interconnections between humans and other earthly beings. Four new publications by MoA members and participants now introduce the method and implementation of the workshop which was carried out last fall in the Tieranatomisches Theater and discuss the experimental testing in three specific projects.
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Copyright: The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press
New Investigations on Speech Act Understanding by MoA Members Published in Cerebral Cortex
During conversations, speech prosody provides important clues about the speaker’s communicative intentions. In many languages, a rising vocal pitch at the end of a sentence typically expresses a question function, whereas a falling pitch suggests a statement. In their latest publication entitled »Instantaneous Neural Processing of Communicative Functions Conveyed by Speech Prosody«, Rosario Tomasello, Luigi Grisoni, Isabella Boux, Daniela Sammler, and Friedemann Pulvermüller investigated the neurophysiological basis of intonation and speech act understanding with high-density electroencephalography (EEG) to determine whether prosodic features are reflected at the neurophysiological level.
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Horst Bredekamp, Michelangelo. Copyright: Verlag Klaus Wagenbach
Horst Bredekamp's Biography of the Divine Artist Among 15 Nominations
Our warmest congratulations to Cluster Co-Director Horst Bredekamp whose monumental biography of Michelangelo was nominated for the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair 2022 in the category »Non-Fiction/Essayistic«. 15 authors and their works have been nominated for the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair, therefore 5 in the category Non-Fiction/Essayistic.
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Kanzi, a bonobo (Pan paniscus), performing a match-to-sample task at his home Ape Initiative
in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Print-screen from: Margiotoudi K et al., Proc. R. Soc. B, February 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1717) [see online video materials].
MoA Member Friedemann Pulvermüller Involved in Significant International Study
Is the ability to perceive connections between words that »sound round« and things that »look round« specific to humans? Or can other animals, including our closest living relatives, the great apes, also infer that a meaningless speech sound is ›sharp‹ or ›round‹ and refers to a curved or spiky shape? An international and multidisciplinary team of researchers, including MoA member Friedemann Pulvermüller, has now been able to answer this question using a new experiment with a language-competent bonobo. The results of the collaborative study by multidisciplinary researchers in Europe and the United States, led by Konstantina Margiotoudi, was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B on February 2nd, 2022.
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Cover »Modell Hütte«. Copyright: diaphanes Verlag
Contributions from the Natural Sciences, Humanities, and Design Approach the Hut as a Model
At the end of December 2021, the anthology »Modell Hütte. Von emergenten Strukturen, schützender Haut und gebauter Umwelt« (translated: »Model Hut. Of emergent structures, protective skin and built environment«) was published by diaphanes Verlag. In it, the editors, MoA member Karin Krauthausen and Rebecca Ladewig, bring together multidisciplinary contributions that approach the hut as a model in many different ways. The German volume goes back to two conferences on the »Typology of the Hut« (in 2016 and 2017) of the Cluster of Excellence »Image Knowledge Gestaltung«, but was also expanded afterwards with additional contributions.
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Cover of publication »Active Materials«, edited by: Peter Fratzl, Michael Friedman, Karin Krauthausen and Wolfgang Schäffner. Published December 2021. Copyright: De Gruyter
Central Cluster Anthology Published on 20 December 2021
What are active materials? This book aims to introduce and redefine conceptions of matter by considering materials as entities that ›sense‹ and respond to their environment. By examining the modeling of, the experiments on, and the construction of these materials, and by developing a theory of their structure, their collective activity, and their functionality, this volume identifies and develops a novel scientific approach to active materials. Moreover, essays on the history and philosophy of metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and materials science provide these various approaches to active materials with a historical and cultural context. The Open Access anthology was published on December 20th, 2021.
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Horst Bredekamp, Michelangelo. Copyright: Verlag Klaus Wagenbach
Bredekamp's Biography of the Divine Artist Enters its 2nd Edition After Just One Month
Only a few weeks after the monumental comprehensive account of the artistic genius Michelangelo by our Cluster Co-Director Horst Bredekamp was published by Klaus Wagenbach, the magnificent volume with almost 900 illustrations on almost as many pages was already entering its 2nd edition. In »Michelangelo« Bredekamp takes a look at his life from the point of view of the work and understands the œuvre as a stimulus for the vita. As sensitively as precisely, he examines each individual work of art by Michelangelo's hand in the context of contemporary history and art history, as well as within the development of the artist.
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Lesion overlay map of brain tumor patients, Copyright: Lucius Fekonja
Latest Research Results by MoA Members Published in the Renowned Journal »Cortex«
MoA researchers have succeeded in determining more precisely the relation between certain brain networks and language function. The interdisciplinary team investigated language dysfunction on a voxel level using the voxel-lesion-symptom-mapping method in glioma patients. Among the contributors are MoA members Lucius Fekonja (Scientific Visualization) and Thomas Picht (Digital Neurosurgery) from the Image Guidance Lab at Charité Berlin and Friedemann Pulvermüller (Neuroscience, Linguistics, and Psychology) and Felix Dreyer (Linguistics and Brain Research) from the Brain Language Laboratory at Freie Universität Berlin.
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Advanced Materials Design Based on Waste Wood and Bark
New Paper by Members of »Weaving« published in »Philosophical Transactions A«
Cluster members Charlett Wenig, Friedrich J. Reppe, Karin Krauthausen, Peter Fratzl and Michaela Eder together with colleagues published a paper in the journal »Philosophical Transactions A« by »The Royal Society«. Trees belong to the largest living organisms on Earth and plants in general are one of our main renewable resources. Wood as a material has been used since the beginning of humankind. Today, forestry still provides raw materials for a variety of applications, for example in the building industry, in paper manufacturing and for various wood products.
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Fantastic Voyage 2021. Copyright: Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2021
Article by Members of the MoA »Cutting« Project Published in Journal »Neurosurgery«
In their article in the prominent neurosurgical journal, researchers from the MoA »Cutting« project describe how future tools will enable practitioners to treat brain diseases with unmatched accuracy by integrating analog and digital tools in new hybrid devices and workflows.
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Towards a Material Basis for Symbols
Cluster Members and Researchers at University of Plymouth Use Novel Network Models for Understanding the Human Ability to Manipulate Symbols and Language
The paper »Biological Constraints on Neural Network Models of Cognitive Function« is one of the first key outputs from a recently initiated Advanced Grant funded by the European Research Council called »Material Constraints Enabling Human Cognition«.
In this project and in the Cluster, Friedemann Pulvermüller and his team are now systematically approaching material-based answers to questions such as the following: How can humans learn a vocabulary of 10,000s of words whereas our closest relatives are normally stuck with 10s? How is it possible that little children quickly interlink signs with meanings, upon only one experience in the extreme, although our closest relatives have great difficulty building such links and neural networks require excessive time for learning them? By which mechanisms can we build abstract concepts and what contribution (if any) makes language to this process (… and many others)?
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Adam Elsheimer, The Flight into Egypt, 1609, oil on copper, 31 × 41 cm. Copyright: Alte Pinakothek, München.
Stefan Zieme's Article about Adam Elsheimer Published in the Journal for the History of Knowledge
In his article »Imagining the Heavens: Adam Elsheimer’s Flight into Egypt and the Renaissance Night Sky«, the historian of science and knowledge Stefan Zieme (Project »Symbolic Material«) proposes a revisionist interpretation of Elsheimer’s most famous artwork based on an analysis of the technical and cultural practices of discerning and imagining the night sky around 1600.
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Hella Jongerius, Woven Cosmos – Pliable Architecture (2021), Copyright: Hella Jongerius / VG Bild-Kunst 2021, Photo: Laura Fiorio.
Essay by Regine Hengge and Karin Krauthausen on the Occasion of the Exhibition »Hella Jongerius: Woven Cosmos« Published
Regine Hengge's and Karin Krauthausen's essay »The Event of Fibre« has been published in the volume accompanying the exhibition »Hella Jongerius: Woven Cosmos« which was shown in Berlin's Gropius Bau from April 29th to September 15th, 2021.
Whether in DNA interactions, bacterial biofilms or city architectures, weaving can be a model for different and relational »ecologies of life«. Ranging across artistic practices, cell biology, and human forms, molecular biologist Hengge and cultural historian Krauthausen (both Project »Weaving«) examine what we can learn from nature's enmeshed processes.
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Copyright: Mohammad Fardin Gholami, 2020
New Publication by Jürgen P. Rabe, Mohammad Fardin Gholami and Colleagues
Together with their colleagues, Cluster members Jürgen P. Rabe and Mohammad Fardin Gholami published the paper »Graphene‐Assisted Synthesis of 2D Polyglycerols as Innovative Platforms for Multivalent Virus Interactions« in the international journal »Advanced Functional Materials«. 2D nanomaterials have garnered widespread attention in biomedicine and bioengineering due to their unique physicochemical properties. However, poor functionality, low solubility, intrinsic toxicity, and nonspecific interactions at biointerfaces have hampered their application in vivo.
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»Materialwissenschaft – von der Biomimese zur Bioinspiration«
Guest Article from Peter Fratzl in the »Austria Presse Agentur – Science«
Peter Fratzl has published a guest article in »Austria Presse Agentur – Science« in the series »Lehrmeisterin Natur«. Under the title »Materialwissenschaft – von der Biomimese zur Bioinspiration«, he explores the question of what makes natural materials so interesting for materials scientists. On the one hand, there are the renewable raw materials such as wood or cotton, which are widely used as building materials or textiles. On the other hand, it is the fact that nature succeeds in producing materials with an incredible variety of properties and applications from comparatively few and not always very high-quality basic materials. The article is available in German.
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Bookcover »Milieu Fragmente«. Design: Florian Lamm, Sascia Reibel. Copyrigt: Spector Books.
Edited by Rebekka Ladewig and Angelika Seppi
Siri, Big Data, affective computing, interconnected bodies—the plethora of heterogeneous fragments that our present is split up into is unimaginably vast. Their composition is a question of milieu. The concept of determining how living beings relate to each other and to their natural environments was originally associated with the life sciences. While this concept was valid, if we are to bring the milieu concept up to date, we need to give particular consideration to current technological and aesthetic conditions.
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Copyright: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742706120305365?dgcid=author
Journal »Acta Biomaterialia« accepted Paper by Cluster Members Johann Pratschke, Igor M. Sauer, Marie Weinhart and Colleagues
Together with their colleagues, Cluster members Johann Pratschke, Igor Sauer and Marie Weinhart published the paper »Engineering an endothelialized, endocrine Neo-Pancreas: Evaluation of islet functionality in an ex vivo model« in the international journal »Acta Biomaterialia« (Impact Factor: 7.242).
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Biomaterials, Vol. 257, October 2020. Copyright: Elsevier
Journal »Biomaterials« Accepted Paper by A. Daneshgar, O. Klein, G. Nebrich, M. Weinhart, P. Tang, A. Arnold, I. Ullah, J. Pohl, S. Moosburner, N. Raschzok, B. Strücker, M. Bahra, J. Pratschke, I.M. Sauer, and K.H. Hillebrandt
Together with their colleagues, Cluster members Johann Pratschke, Igor Sauer and Marie Weinhart published the paper »The human liver matrisome. Proteomic analysis of native and fibrotic human liver extracellular matrices for organ engineering approaches« in the international and highly ranked journal »Biomaterials«.
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An Environment for Sustainable Research Software in Germany and Beyond
Preprint Published on the »Current State, Open Challenges, and Call for Action«
Together with other researchers Cluster member Alexander Struck published a preprint on the »Environment for Sustainable Research Software in Germany and Beyond: Current State, Open Challenges, and Call for Action«. They state that, research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself.
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Cover Make It Real. Copyright: Diaphanes
Published by Karin Krauthausen and Stephan Kammer
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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Where Analog Solutions are More Efficient than Digital Ones
Interview with Peter Fratzl in Austrian »DerStandard«
In »DerStandard« MoA's Co-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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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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Copyright: Institute of Network Cultures
From Critical Media Lab (Ibach, M., Büsse, M., Gerloff, F., Bedö, V., Miyazaki, S., Allen, J.). In The Critical Makers Reader: (Un)learning Technology
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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Müller, M., Neubert, C., eds. 2019. Standardisierung und Naturalisierung. Automatismen. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink.
The German publication »Standardisierung und Naturalisierung« includes contributions among others from: Florian Sprenger, Anna Echterhölter, Stefan Rieger, Laura Moisi, Tobias Eichinger, MoA member Patricia Ribault, Antonio Lucci, MoA member Martin Müller und Thomas Macho.
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Bacterial cellulose curtain. Experiments: Bastian Beyer and Iva Rešetar (design), Skander Hathroubi (microbiology). Photo: Bastian Beyer, adapted by Ada Favaron. Project coordination: Elisabeth Obermeier & Franziska Wegener
Research Phase 2019–2022
We are pleased to announce that the report of the Cluster’s first research phase (2019–2022) is now available in print and pdf. It documents research questions, methods and outcomes from our research projects and serves as an outreach publication, providing an illustrated overview of the many Cluster activities over the past four years and highlighting events and formats across projects. Many thanks to all who contributed!
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Sand Corn. Copyright: Michaela Büsse
The edited volume »Granular Configurations: Sand, Materiality and Planetary Urbanization« will bring together contributions from geography, geology, social sciences, art, and humanities that investigate sand as a medium, material, and object of study.
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