Poster Lecture Series 2024, Photo: Charlotte Linton. Copyright: Matters of Activity.
New Lecture Series Organized by MoA Member Lucy Norris Starts on 2 May
Rapidly increasing socio-ecological damage and the urgent need for care, repair, and recovery have led to renewed calls for regenerative design as a means of wayfinding towards new forms of just and sustainable life on earth, prompting critical questions concerning the reconfigured pasts they invoke to the possible futures they open up. Aiming to (re)design the way we live to support our interdependence on natural ecosystems, regenerative systems thinking is being applied to fundamental fields of human activity, from food production and agriculture to medicine, textiles, architecture, rural revival, and the urban built environment to other-worldly materialities. The lecture series organized by Lucy Norris, which begins on May 2nd, will, among other things, explore how traces of former ways of being in the world and concepts such as ›indigenous knowledge‹ are referenced as ways to move forward and ask what futures are being imagined by whom and for whom, and how some forms of living are enabled while other possibilities are negated.
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Charlett Wenig, Bark Sphere, 2021. Copyright: Alexander Magerl
Matters of Activity und CollActive Materials starten Kooperation mit Futurium Lab
»Matters of Activity« und das Experimentallabor für Wissenschaftskommunikation »CollActive Materials« starteten im März eine neue Veranstaltungsreihe im Futurium Lab. Unter dem Titel »Materialzukünfte besuchen« finden über vier Monate vier Workshops statt, die die Forschung des Clusters mit der Zivilgesellschaft zusammenbringen und in denen gemeinsam über Materialzukünfte spekuliert wird. Begleitet werden die Veranstaltungen von einer temporären Ausstellung im Futurium Lab, die ab 4. Mai besucht werden kann.
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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Michael Friedman Presents 1st Transcription, Translation and Study of Jungius' Unpublished Manuscript »Texturæ Contemplatio«
Michael Friedman's book offers an analysis of Joachim Jungius' »Texturæ Contemplatio« - a hitherto-unpublished manuscript written in German and Latin that deals with weaving, knitting and other textile practices, attempting to present as well various fabrics and textile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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Exhibition view »Closer to Nature. Building with Mushroom, Tree, Clay«, Berlinische Galerie. Copyright: Photo: Harry Schnitger
Experimental Building by SciArt Collective MY-CO-X on Show at Berlinische Galerie
Architecture and nature inevitably compete for space. That poses a dilemma when resources are finite and the demand for space keeps growing. Besides, we know that the construction sector generates huge waste and emissions. All this has raised issues about the role of architecture: Does it need a shift in perspective? Could we build with nature instead of against it? The exhibition »Closer to Nature« at the Berlinische Galerie showcases three Berlin-based projects, that utilize the potential of mushrooms, living trees, and clay. This gives them an ecological quality, but also a completely new character: the buildings breathe, grow, and thus become alive themselves. One of the showcased projects is the experimental building MY-CO SPACE, which was developed, designed, and built by the interdisciplinary Berlin SciArt collective MY-CO-X, an initiative of the Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology at TU Berlin under the direction of MoA member Vera Meyer with contributions by Dimitra Almpani-Lekka.
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»Yu Li, a diary of cooking a curtain« by Tin Qizhen Gao, detail of curtain. Copyright: Mareike Stoll for MoA Design Research Studio Beyond the Curtain
Documentation of the Final Presentations and Exhibition
The Final Presentations of the MoA Design Research Studio »BEYOND THE CURTAIN. Creating Transient Environments« took place on February 13, 2024, at the Foyer of the Weißensee School of Art and Design Berlin. The MoA Design Research Studio »BEYOND THE CURTAIN. Creating Transient Environments« explored curtains as active spatial elements. Within the framework of the semester project, numerous inspiring and convincing works were developed.
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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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Poster Talk Series, HZK and CARMAH, 2023. Copyright: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
MoA Members Contribute to New Event Series Organized by HZK/CARMAH
On Wednesday, April 26th, the seminar series with the theme of WARP (Werkstatt für kulturelle Ausdrucksweisen und Recherche in der Praxis) will kick off with a tour through the exhibition »DAOULA | sheen« by one of the Co-curators and MoA Member Laurence Douny. MoA Pre-Doctoral Researcher Yoonha Kim will hold a talk on »Wearing Sallim« on May 3rd, and MoA Associated Member Lucy Norris about »Regenerative Fibre Cultures: Fashioning New threads of Connection« on June 14th. The talks and workshops will explore diverse forms of material knowledge in research, material culture, curation, technology, and art and are organized by Magdalena Buchczyk from the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH). They take place Wednesdays 4–5.30 pm (CEST) either at Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik or digitally on Zoom.
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Self-Shaping Textiles. Design: studioeins
On 24 November at Kunstgewerbemuseum
The Round Table »Self-Shaping Textiles at the Intersection of Fashion, Architecture and Technology« kicked off a new format series accompanying the exhibition »Design Lab #13: Material Legacies« at Kunstgewerbemuseum. The Round Tables represent each of the exhibiting project 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 November 24th Lorenzo Guiducci and Agata Kycia discussed their work with the architect Giovanni Betti and the fashion sociologist Antonella Giannone.
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Poster Material Legacies. Image: Dietrich Polenz and the Experimental Surgery Lab, 2020
Exhibition at Kunstgewerbemuseum
The exhibition »Design Lab #13: Material Legacies« at Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin explored contingencies and ruptures between traditional crafts and the most recent developments at the crossroads of material research, design, engineering, and architecture. It brought 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« in order to initiate a dialogue about the historical, contemporary, and future conditions under which materiality unfolds.
By engaging with a series of different materials and techniques the exhibition encompassed both the problematization of unsustainable pasts and presents as well as the imagination of speculative material futures. Taking materiality as a starting point, each of the exhibits investigated its sociocultural, economic, and political context in order to disentangle the multiple interrelations that arise from and with materials. more
By engaging with a series of different materials and techniques the exhibition encompassed both the problematization of unsustainable pasts and presents as well as the imagination of speculative material futures. Taking materiality as a starting point, each of the exhibits investigated its sociocultural, economic, and political context in order to disentangle the multiple interrelations that arise from and with materials. more
Poster PhD presentations 2022. Layout: Ada Favaron
Doctoral Presentations at the MoA Retreat 2022
The 2022 presentation of the Doctoral Program »Matters of Activity« at the MoA Retreat in September at Landgut Stober was both a review and an outlook of the doctoral research conducted at the Cluster between 2020 and 2022. Under the title »Scaling Matters: From the Lab to the Field, «Pre-Doctoral Researchers at varying stages of their research — from the very beginning to the final phase of their theses — presented their heterogeneous work whilst continuing to negotiate common themes, methods, questions and tools. The format combined talks and an exhibition and invited MoA Members to engage individually with the presentation and a selection of their research objects.
Thanks to everyone involved for making possible this all-around successful event. Enjoy some visual impressions of the exhibition, as well as the talks and have a look at the booklet.
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MoA Exhibition »Stretching Materialities«. Copyright: Offshore Design
Hidden Activities in Objects and Spaces at Tieranatomisches Theater
Matter is dead? Objects are lifeless? Think again! In the exhibition »Stretching Materialities« the liveliness and activity of matter could be experienced in a completely new way. From September 16th, 2021 to March 4th, 2022, the Tieranatomisches Theater in Berlin became an interactive playground: an actual cloud levitated in the middle of the room, reacting to body heat and movement, hovering around the visitors like a strange creature. Stones revealed their weathering as a dynamic process of change. Large willow structures, carefully co-crafted by humans and computers, were interwoven with the inhabitable space. Korean ›durumagi‹, a silk overcoat connecting the digital and physical realm, vibrated on the visitors’ skin as they interacted with diverse materials. Walking through the room with VR headsets on, visitors could enter a glass elevator and travel straight down into the materials presented – into the CT scan of a stone or high up into the clouds to interact with air molecules.
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Magic Circle Symposium weissensee school of art and design berlin, »Erosive Modeling«. Copyright: Kristin Dolz.
Symposium for Interdisciplinary Exchange on 25 February 2021
In the production of knowledge, design processes are fundamental, although the experimental settings in the sciences, in the arts, in design differ in assumptions, execution and conclusions. But the richness of the material, its property of being able to change itself, its active effect on the surrounding space as well as its reactive shaping to forces and energies allow other domains of knowledge immediate points of contact and give them stimuli for their own or joint knowledge production. The symposium »Magic Circle« was organized by the »Forschungskreis« of the weißensee school of art and design berlin (khb) in cooperation with »Matters of Activity«, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jörg Petruschat with contributions from various Cluster members.
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Hydroweave. Copyright: Stefanie Eichler & Juni Neyenhuys, weißensee school of art and design berlin
The Work was Realized at weißensee school of art and design berlin Within the Framework of the MoA Design Studio
»Hydroweave« by Stefanie Eichler and Juni Neyenhuys was awarded a recognition in the field of »Study« at the Raumprobe Material Award 2020. The project, which centers on a research-based design approach, was created in 2019 at weißensee school of art and design berlin as part of the MoA Design Studio »Scaling Nature (1): Wrinkles« under the direction of Prof. Christiane Sauer. Since 2005, Raumprobe has been a constantly growing online material database and physical material exhibition in Stuttgart. Raumprobe has been awarding the prestigious Material Prize annually since 2013, recognizing special materials.
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Poster Weaving Practices, Copyright: Matters of Activity
An Online Workshop on 29 October 2020
Weaving is an ancient practice that is found across cultures. It commonly designates a technique of making surfaces by interlacing two sets of materials that cross each other at a right angle. However, weaving as a manual, mechanical or digital technique of entanglement applies to a broad variety of vegetal, animal or synthetic materialities brought together to form a fabric by use of a frame such as a loom. Furthermore, weaving practices may also introduce hybrid techniques such as knitting, plaiting and braiding. This one-day, practice-based, interdisciplinary workshop brought together specialists who will highlight concepts and practices of weaving from various angles by emphasizing specific techniques, technologies, materials, patterns and design.
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Design Studio »Scaling Nature (1): Wrinkels«, Design: Juni Neyenhuys and Stefanie Eichler. Copyright: weißensee kunsthochschule berlin
at NuThinkers during Domotex Tradefair in Hanover
Students of the bachelor's program in textile and surface design investigated material activity in natural structures and developed new design strategies for active surfaces in a spatial context and showcase these at Domotex, Hanover, January 10th to 13th, 2020.
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»Architectural Yarns«. Photo: Michelle Mantel. Copyright: Matters of Activity
The Research group »Architectural Yarns« explores the possibilities of ecological regeneration and repair in architecture through textiles – by making temporary, provisional structures from fibrous, biological materials. Some of these are plants such as flax or linen, which are being rediscovered as a building material in today´s ecological crisis. Others emphasize the temporality of textiles and their climate modulating qualities using Phase Change Materials to create soft structures and thermal boundaries in the interior space. Architectural Yarns are a design framework for temporal and adaptive textile interventions within existing built space that question fixed spatial arrangements and provide variability in (re)use.
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Wild silk wrapper from the Marka Dafing in Safané, Burkina Faso (showing the sheen). Video still from the film installation at the exhibition »DAOULA | Sheen. West-African Wild Silk On Its Way« (Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin). Film installation by Thabo Thindi with film material from Salif Sawadog and others.
West-African Textile Craft Meets European Science and Design
Schematic drawing of a part of a warping board. Source: Joachim Jungius, »Texturæ Contemplatio«, fol. 55r; in: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek – Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek, Martin Fogel collection of Zettelkasten, folder: Ms XLII, 1923: delta 28 © Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek - Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek; Public Domain.
Open Space Event, 9 November 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity
MoA's Showroom and Workspace
With the »Activarium«, we want to actively engage with potential partners from the industry, start-ups, NGOs, politics and society as a whole to initiate an exploratory exchange on active materials, bio- & culture-inspired innovation as well as sustainability approaches. We want visitors to experience our prototypes to make MoA’s intentions and research tangible and accessible. The »Activarium« serves as a work-in-progress showcase of different research strands and processes. Our visitors can dive into the research as it's happening, before its published results.
Walk in and experience the »Activarium« Tuesdays, 10.00 am–12.15 pm or Thursdays, 2.00–4.00 pm! If you are a group of more than 5 people or if the opening hours do not fit your schedule, please contact us via moa.activarium@hu-berlin.de to schedule a visit!
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